iPad iPad batteries die after months of no use, but I need to leave iPads ready to use at a moments notice. Plugged in 24/7 Photo album strategy

[Capeto]

This is such an odd way of doing it, I can’t believe only one other poster has pointed it out. I can only assume you somehow came across all these iPads and repurposed them for this.

I’d honestly recommend just getting a single newer iPad (the 64GB Gen 9 has been going on sale for $250 recently) and putting all the pictures there; if you have more than 64GB of pics, either get an iCloud subscription or go for the 256GB model. Keep the iPad turned off and turn it on as needed to preserve the battery over the long term– booting the iPad up should take around 30 seconds.

 

[SpotOnT]

This is such an odd way of doing it, I can’t believe only one other poster has pointed it out. I can only assume you somehow came across all these iPads and repurposed them for this.

I’d honestly recommend just getting a single newer iPad (the 64GB Gen 9 has been going on sale for $250 recently) and putting all the pictures there; if you have more than 64GB of pics, either get an iCloud subscription or go for the 256GB model. Keep the iPad turned off and turn it on as needed to preserve the battery over the long term– booting the iPad up should take around 30 seconds.

I think a lot of people agree this is probably not the best solution (personally I would just put the photos on a NAS and let anyone in the house view the photos from whatever device they wanted - such as their own phone or iPad, or even on the living room TV), but OP seems to like this set up. It has the classic photo album feel, which maybe inspires people to look through the photos.

As others have mentioned, an electrical timer would help keep the batteries alive longer. Or maybe get longer charging cables, and place them near where people sit, so they can just look through the photos with the iPads plugged in?

 

[matsan]

We had similar issues with our Maglites - they sit in the charging cradles all the time and after a year we needed to replace the batteries because they lasted only a minute or so.
Home Assistant runs the rest of the home automation and we now have an automation of plugs that turn on once a week for charging and monitors the power consumption. If it drops below 4W they turn off again. Keeping the batteries changed but not fully so. Since a new battery for Maglite is $65 the Shelly plugs $29/each was well worth it.

 

[East India Company]

The best way to minimiser the degradation of a Li-ion battery is to operate it between 20 % and 80 % as well as the number of times (and the amount) you charge and discharge. These type of battery keep best being at 50 %.
If you want to park a device for a long time, charge it at 50 % and turn it completely off. Unfortunately because the OFF state of an iPad is not really off, there will be a little bit of leakage and the battery will slowly deplete over time. You’ll have to charge it more than 50 % accordingly.

Bottom line is, when apple is forced to open the App Store, look for this Mac app Al dente. With it you can see the limit to which your iPad is getting charged meaning you can leave them plugged in constantly!

 

[4389842]

I know, they are not suppose to be left plug in. So what ideas do people have? How can I have these sitting un used the majority of the time, but ready to enjoy at a moments notice? It might be months in between use.

Maybe there is a gadget, tool, or software that addresses this?

Thanks!
Ethan-

How about this: you organize your images in Photos.app albums and use your single main iPad for viewing purposes. Bonus points for also backing up your photos to Dropbox or any similar cloud service.

The monthly fees will be cheaper than maintaining multiple iPads and your data will be protected from loss.

Keep it simple…

 

[4389842]

This is such an odd way of doing it, I can’t believe only one other poster has pointed it out. I can only assume you somehow came across all these iPads and repurposed them for this.

I’d honestly recommend just getting a single newer iPad (the 64GB Gen 9 has been going on sale for $250 recently) and putting all the pictures there; if you have more than 64GB of pics, either get an iCloud subscription or go for the 256GB model. Keep the iPad turned off and turn it on as needed to preserve the battery over the long term– booting the iPad up should take around 30 seconds.

Besides it being a bad idea to use an actual iPad as storage, you could also just turn the iPads off with 70% charge when not ‘viewing’.

Honestly, there are probably tons of better ways to achieve the ‘album feel’ OP is going for. Loading image onto a socket powered digital picture frame for example…

Whatever floats their boat I guess …

 

[4389842]

An iPad 2 (ios 9) doesn't have the files app or support external HDD.

Dropbox, OneDrive, Photos,… what is OP going to do once some of the devices are so old they do not run any of these apps which would allow him to offload their data and with the device itself ultimately kicking the bucket?

 

[JamesMay82]

ha I'm just here to criticise

It would be cheaper to print all the photos, by a nice album and a bookshelf!

also do apple do iPad battery replacements? my daughter cracker her front screen and they just gave us a refurb as they said they don't do the screens. I didn't ask about batteries but I assume it would be the same.

 

[BadMacRumours]

Even a cheap programmable timer switch would work fine - no need for an expensive solution. I use this $12 timer -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MVF16JG/

Smart plugs are no longer expensive. For $20 you can get a pack of 4 - cheaper than the product you linked.

 

[BadMacRumours]

ha I'm just here to criticise

It would be cheaper to print all the photos, by a nice album and a bookshelf!

also do apple do iPad battery replacements? my daughter cracker her front screen and they just gave us a refurb as they said they don't do the screens. I didn't ask about batteries but I assume it would be the same.

Photo books have many other downsides.

 

[WoodTableFromIkea]

How about this: you organize your images in Photos.app albums and use your single main iPad for viewing purposes. Bonus points for also backing up your photos to Dropbox or any similar cloud service.

The monthly fees will be cheaper than maintaining multiple iPads and your data will be protected from loss.

Keep it simple…

But then they couldn't be "quirky" about their way of doing it, could they?

You have to think of the longterm digital karma that they will get by showing off such a unique and quirky way of doing the most mundane stuff.

 

[hagjohn]

Seems like a really expensive way to save photos.

 

[sparksd]

Smart plugs are no longer expensive. For $20 you can get a pack of 4 - cheaper than the product you linked.

I like the linked one - no WiFi needed.

 

[genXmac]

That’s a lot of iPads - are they each full with photos?

How much storage have you used?

It's actually been a very successful project. Each ipad is 128GB (but one 64GB) most are about 80 percent full.

I think what has worked the best, is that when family comes to visit, they can sit in the living room, grab an ipad, and quickly view pictures from that year.

Someone else asked, "why not just do it on 1 ipad". I started there, but there were a few problems. First, not enough space. but more so, I wanted something always ready to go. So these ipads are stripped of all apps expect for photos, and a few sharing apps.

The albums, well, there are hundreds of albums in each libary. Various events, soccer, gymnastics, and such. So if this was all on 1 ipad, it was too over whelming. Someone had to go through all images to get to browse.

But wait, you say... Someone could just apply a filter or search... or I could make folders to do this same thing. Well, yes. but my target was Aunt rose, to not have to ask me where to tap, how to "turn it on" or search. So, in this method, any novice family member can grab and go.

And even me, super geek, when I just want to find a picture of my son playing lacross, I can grat the year, and it is so much easier and faster to browse.

This was suppose to kind of imitate the old days when we'd all keep shelves of photo albums on a book shelf. But in this case, it's hundreds of thousands of pictures easily and neatly organized.

Oh one more thing. Each ipad is 1st gen. So, they were like $200 each or less used. Yes... partly why I'm having battery problems. but that's okay. At any time, I can replace any ipad with a new one and simply restore and load.

Each library is created separate by using Power Photos, and I have 2 USB-C drives (one kept at home and one at work) just in case...

But for now, this is the project!

 

[JamesMay82]

It's actually been a very successful project. Each ipad is 128GB (but one 64GB) most are about 80 percent full.

I think what has worked the best, is that when family comes to visit, they can sit in the living room, grab an ipad, and quickly view pictures from that year.

Someone else asked, "why not just do it on 1 ipad". I started there, but there were a few problems. First, not enough space. but more so, I wanted something always ready to go. So these ipads are stripped of all apps expect for photos, and a few sharing apps.

The albums, well, there are hundreds of albums in each libary. Various events, soccer, gymnastics, and such. So if this was all on 1 ipad, it was too over whelming. Someone had to go through all images to get to browse.

But wait, you say... Someone could just apply a filter or search... or I could make folders to do this same thing. Well, yes. but my target was Aunt rose, to not have to ask me where to tap, how to "turn it on" or search. So, in this method, any novice family member can grab and go.

And even me, super geek, when I just want to find a picture of my son playing lacross, I can grat the year, and it is so much easier and faster to browse.

This was suppose to kind of imitate the old days when we'd all keep shelves of photo albums on a book shelf. But in this case, it's hundreds of thousands of pictures easily and neatly organized.

Oh one more thing. Each ipad is 1st gen. So, they were like $200 each or less used. Yes... partly why I'm having battery problems. but that's okay. At any time, I can replace any ipad with a new one and simply restore and load.

Each library is created separate by using Power Photos, and I have 2 USB-C drives (one kept at home and one at work) just in case...

But for now, this is the project!

makes more sense to me now.. I’m guessing you have lots of family visiting fairly regularly.

while you seem so organised, I’m curious how do you organise all your photos for you personally on your Mac? Is it a laptop nor desktop and do you have a large internal or rely on external drives?

i only ask because since we’ve had kids the -photo library is just growing so fast.. I tend to just keep mine in date order but I keep thinking I need to be creating more albums As you tend to now view them when they are all grouped together in their thousands.. I must admit I like Apple photos for this and the photo of the day they recommend

 

[saudor]

128gb ipads didnt exist until iPad 4 if i remember correctly. Anyways sounds like a lot of headache for something that goes unused 6 months at a time. Even icloud photos is idiot proof.

Easiest approach is to use a timer to top up the charge every so often or keep them turned off. ipads start up fast so it's not that hard to power them all up before family shows up or something)

 

[Ctrlos]

I'd genuinely be interested in why you have this setup. Is it part of a project for members of the public to browse?

 

[kpcboopathi]

128gb ipads didnt exist until iPad 4 if i remember correctly. Anyways sounds like a lot of headache for something that goes unused 6 months at a time. Even icloud photos is idiot proof.

Easiest approach is to use a timer to top up the charge every so often or keep them turned off. ipads start up fast so it's not that hard to power them all up before family shows up or something)

OP would’ve meant Air 1. Those iPads are connected with lightning cable and looking like Air models

 

[code-m]

An iPad 2 (ios 9) doesn't have the files app or support external HDD.

Ah you seem to have overlooked what was being suggested. OP has many iPad 2’s at a cost of $200 each which by count from the picture seems to be close to $1K if not over. If OP upgrades to an iPad 9th Gen or even 10th Gen it will have the most OS, battery, USB-C or lightening including wifi protocol vice throwing it on a smart switch or mechanical one or even replacing several batteries.

 

[code-m]

iPadOS does have optimised battery charging. Personally I’ve found this feature very unpredictable for devices that are permanently connected to a charger. I had a laptop that took a year for optimised battery charging to kick in. Then I unplugged it once, and it took another 6 months for optimised battery charging to work again. The other problem is that 80% is still too high for this use case. There’s a direct correlation between cell voltage and cell degradation, storing at 40% is known to be the sweet spot for longevity in lithium batteries.

So I think the suggestions regarding a smart plug are going to be more effective. Set up an automation in the Shortcuts app that turns the plug on when the battery reaches 40% and turns the plug off when the battery reaches 60%.

It does, that is not I was referencing which is that iPadOS does not indicate battery health like iOS unless I am missing something.

 

[Powerbooky]

Accept the inevitable fact you may have to replace the lithium-ion battery of an iPad (or any other portable device) after 3 to 5 years.

Lithium-ion batteries, used in most devices including iPad's, have a very limited life span compared to a car battery for example. They deteriorate in 3 to 5 years or when completely discharged/charged 300-500 times, whatever comes first. That is the moment when the actual capacity usually has dropped below 70% of the rated value. The capacity usually drops slow in the first years and drops faster over time. The milage can vary a lot. It mostly depends on the ambient temperature, size of the battery, how much the device is draining the battery and of course the production quality of the battery itself. Factors you practically have no control over.

To stretch the lifetime of lithium-ion battery a bit you can do this: Use the device (iPad in this case) with power adapter connected if possible. If you can't, then connect it to the charger soon after use.
Yes, you can leave an iPad connected to a charger for longer periods of time. Low-power chargers (8-15 watts) will do fine. Fast-charging wears the battery way more.
You could also just turn the iPad off when it is not in use for longer periods of time, that will certainly lower the wear. The only disadvantage is that is will not update iCloud photos then and after turning the device on, there will be some updating going on taking time.

I have my devices on the power adapter whenever available and that has stretched their life a lot. My current Macbook Pro still uses the original battery. The battery doesn't last the 8-10 hours it used to, but I can get an hour when not using power hungry applications.

Myths that keep coming up concerning lithium-ion batteries:

Leaving a iPad on its charger is bad:

• No. The charge is controlled by circuits inside the device. If will stop when full. In fact, especially when in use the device will use the power adapter instead of the battery.

Side-notes:​

yes, there are cases where portable devices got damaged, due to bad design. I have some bad experiences too: HP laptops that had serious flaws in their battery circuits causing overheated battery packs (1st class fire hazard). But that was 10 years ago.​

The one valid reason to leave an iPad disconnected from its charger: if you live in an area with an unreliable power grid (high fluctuating voltages, surges, lightning risk).​

Topping-off the device is bad:

• No, waiting for completely depleting the battery and then do a full charge causes more wear than charging whenever possible.
  
  Side-note:
  Completely discharging a laptop battery was normal for Nikkel Cadmium batteries back in the day (to prevent the so called "memory effect"). Those batteries are not in use for any portable device for 20 years now.

Do not discharge below 20% (stored or in use):

• No, you can fully discharge without serious problems. That 20% is an old value that is used in older circuits with conventional lead batteries, as these batteries will get damaged when fully depleted.

 

[Powerbooky]

iPadOS does have optimised battery charging. Personally I’ve found this feature very unpredictable for devices that are permanently connected to a charger. I had a laptop that took a year for optimised battery charging to kick in. Then I unplugged it once, and it took another 6 months for optimised battery charging to work again. The other problem is that 80% is still too high for this use case. There’s a direct correlation between cell voltage and cell degradation, storing at 40% is known to be the sweet spot for longevity in lithium batteries.

So I think the suggestions regarding a smart plug are going to be more effective. Set up an automation in the Shortcuts app that turns the plug on when the battery reaches 40% and turns the plug off when the battery reaches 60%.

Indeed. I found that the "optimised charging" logic on my iPhone is based on the (bed time) alarms I had set, calendar items and movement (gps). It often is spot on when it needs a fast charge or a slow charge. Even when I have no alarm or calendar event set. But I think that for other devices that don't move around that much or are used by different people (like family iPads) will have a hard time predicting the right charging profile.

The "sweet spot" of battery charges is indeed around 50%, but that is when it is stored for longer times without being in use (no currents flowing). The automation option may work, but I would recommend using a low power charger (8W) to keep the currents low.