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cowfish

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2009
46
16
I will often take my watch off an hour before bedtime and put it on the charger until I go to bed...and shut it off overnight. If the watch stops charging once it's at 100%, I'd love to know why it is often warm after an overnight charge that should have taken only a couple of hours.


The watch stops charging at 100% and will cool down and continue to run on battery power. When the level drops to 99 or 98, the charger will kick back on briefly to charge it back up to 100 which will warm it up again. This is why it will sometimes be warm in the morning.
 

Subdiv

macrumors 6502
Jan 17, 2014
442
10
Colorado
The watch stops charging at 100% and will cool down and continue to run on battery power. When the level drops to 99 or 98, the charger will kick back on briefly to charge it back up to 100 which will warm it up again. This is why it will sometimes be warm in the morning.
Seems odd that they would want it to work that way...Apple warns against high ambient temperatures affecting a battery's ability to accept a charge, and i can't imagine that continuously reheating a battery for the sake of a few percentage points would be that different.
 

Max Girth

macrumors newbie
Feb 2, 2014
21
6
Any lithium ion battery needs smarts in the charging circuit so it doesn't overcharge and explode. Yes, some lithium ion batteries have exploded. Either cheap or damaged battery, or broken power management circuit. Doesn't happen often.

You can leave the watch on the charger as long as you want. It will only "take" the power it needs.
 

solarguy17

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2007
738
183
Things can be turned off?

I'm not certain, to be honest, if I've ever powered off my iPhone or iPad. I know I've never powered off my watch since receiving it (rebooted, yes. Powered off, no)

I hope you realize that the rebooting process actually requires the watch to power off?
A reboot is a power off and a power back on. On computers there is a button that will turn the computer off and automatically turn it back on a few seconds later. iPhones, iPads, and AWatches don't have a true "reboot" option in that the button restarts the device automatically. Instead a manual reboot is needed. Turn device off. Once device is off, turn back on.
 

cowfish

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2009
46
16
Do you shut off your watch at night?

Seems odd that they would want it to work that way...Apple warns against high ambient temperatures affecting a battery's ability to accept a charge, and i can't imagine that continuously reheating a battery for the sake of a few percentage points would be that different.


It's only a "few percentage points" now, the way it currently works. If it just charged to full and shut off, then if you put it on the charger at 10pm, it would be done around midnight and be running fully on battery power from midnight till morning. In that scenario, it's not just a few percentage points.

As far as the heat, yes it gets warm, but it's nowhere near the temp it takes to affect a lithium battery. Apple is talking about "ambient" temp. Don't leave it charging in a hot car, hot garage, in the sun, etc.. Basically they're just covering themselves for the crazy things people do to their electronics. With the ambient temp being too high, it can effect the watch's ability to dissipate any heat it may generate.
 

Subdiv

macrumors 6502
Jan 17, 2014
442
10
Colorado
It's only a "few percentage points" now, the way it currently works. If it just charged to full and shut off, then if you put it on the charger at 10pm, it would be done around midnight and be running fully on battery power from midnight till morning. In that scenario, it's not just a few percentage points.
Not quite sure why I would charge it to full, shut it off, and put it on the charger...
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,835
5,305
192.168.1.1
I hope you realize that the rebooting process actually requires the watch to power off?
A reboot is a power off and a power back on. On computers there is a button that will turn the computer off and automatically turn it back on a few seconds later. iPhones, iPads, and AWatches don't have a true "reboot" option in that the button restarts the device automatically. Instead a manual reboot is needed. Turn device off. Once device is off, turn back on.

Yes, I am aware of that. What I was trying to convey is that aside from the occasional reboot, I never power them off and leave them off.
 

cowfish

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2009
46
16
Not quite sure why I would charge it to full, shut it off, and put it on the charger...


Typo. I meant that if you had charged it to full and that was done around 10 pm and then the charger shut itself off, it would be running down your battery all night and you would not have a full charge in the morning.
 

dfine1966

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 9, 2011
425
46
Do you shut off your watch at night?

I have kept the watch on the HiRise stand charging overnight since I got the watch. In the morning, the back of the watch would always seem really warm. I decided to shut it off tonight and see if there is any difference on how the watch runs. Plus I had an nice Travel Watch case with a small pillow in it from an expensive watch I had years ago. So it is well protected.
 

Tmdlkwd

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2014
75
4
SoCal
I like having my watch on when I sleep so I can easily check time, and I like the alarm on my watch better than the loud iPhone alarm.

Lately, I've started charging my watch before bed and putting it on before I sleep. It lasts until the next night where I do it again. Usually, when I got to bed with it at 100% or close, I'll awake with 85-90%. That's plenty for a full day's use.

This^^

Then I just put it on the charger while getting ready
It's at 100% for the day
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,199
19,853
Please correct me if I'm wrong as technology may have changed, but I think the best thing you can do for your watch's battery is to run it down completely a couple nights per week. I remember reading that about iPhone and Mac batteries which should be the same type. I know doing that with Macs really seemed to help. The longest I've ever had an iPhone was two years but it got replaced for a faulty sleep/wake button so I'll never know if it really helps iPhones. However I'm—at least for now—planning on keeping this watch for 3-4 years so I'm going to do anything I can to help the battery out. Leaving it on the charger doesn't do any harm.
 

TrueBlou

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2014
4,531
3,619
Scotland
Everything I've got stays switched on, or in standby 24/7. My computer and its gawd knows how many external drives run constantly as it has servers for books, music and videos running. Television, cable box, consoles, appliances. All mine are as energy efficient as they can be and have low power states. My phones, pads and now my watch sit happily on charge while I sleep. They're never off unless I need a reboot for some reason.

The days when we had to worry about when, how much and how often we charged things are long gone. Most things will automatically stop charging when they need to do you don't even have to worry about wasting energy. I honestly can't remember the last time I properly switched something off it was so long ago.
 

dfine1966

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 9, 2011
425
46
Do you shut off your watch at night?

Well the experiment is over. I turned the watch on this morning and the operating system took a long while to turn on and it seemed glitch. It wouldn't let me put in my passcode right away. It froze. Finally after a few minutes it worked fine again. I guess I am going to leave it on all the time unless it needs to be rebooted. It delayed me from leaving this morning.
 
Last edited:

mloiterman

macrumors newbie
Aug 2, 2008
20
6
Seems like people are really over thinking this.

Does anyone truly believe that Apple would ship a product that would REQUIRE any of these bizarre powering off or battery monitoring rituals?

If you've come up with a custom protocol for battery maintenance which involves manually powering it off or waking up in the middle of the night to take it off the charger, you're obvioulsy entitled to do all that. But, know that none of that is necessary.

The watch is designed to be used all day and then charged overnight. Apple says so right here:

https://www.apple.com/watch/battery.html
 

cambookpro

macrumors 604
Feb 3, 2010
7,205
3,326
United Kingdom
It includes power reserve and screen lock options. I have found the latter very useful when the watch is exposed to moisture, since the screen can interpret the latter as touch input.

Are we talking about the latter latter or the former latter? :p


With regards to the OP, I don't think turning the watch off is necessary. I never really turn any device off unless I'm not going to use it for weeks.
 

srshaw

macrumors 6502
Aug 13, 2011
410
66
i place it on the charger when i go to bed.... i don't turn it off....

Me too. Is this not want you're meant to do. I find it awesome how I can stop my iphone's alarm with my watch. Shame It can't do my partners as well which must have the world record for snoozes pressed.
 
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