Akai MPC Live 2 Retro battery issue

EnochLight wrote:

Artmuzz wrote:I have saved a few projects and samples but how do I clear them off the drive before taking the unit back to the shop?

Do *NOT* save projects or samples to the built-in storage. It's extremely limited and there is no way to access the storage when in Computer (Controller) Mode, so it doesn't show up as a removable drive. In other words, there is no way to backup your stuff. Strongly recommend you use either a USB 3 stick or fast SD Card, or optimally an installed SSD in the bottom.

As for deleting your saved content, highlight it in your browser and hit "Shift", the "Delete File". Be careful to never delete any factory supplied content, or you will cause issues.

kja wrote:I'm pretty sure that it turns the charging off when it is full.. Otherwise anytime someone used the power supply when it's full it could hurt the battery.. The light goes off when it is charged so I'm sure the charging stops as well.. I don't think there is anything wrong with leaving it plugged in, Lots of people do just this because it is one of many in the studio.. That would be crazy to not be able to keep it plugged in..

Of course you can keep it plugged in, but you will absolutely decrease the life of your lithium ion battery if you keep it at a constant charge state of 100%. I'd recommend you read up on the proper storage and use of lithium ion batteries for more information. Google "should lithium ion batteries be stored fully charged", or read below:

https://batteryguy.com/kb/knowledge-bas ... batteries/

Artmuzz wrote:It says that the battery will last 4 hours through continuous use. However, I’ve been reading on here this forum that the battery should last 6 hours..

Advertised "official" time is 4 hours on battery. Users often get between 4-6 hours, though.

So if the advertised “official” time is 4 hours then Akai will not see my Akai MPC Live 2’s internal battery as defective and I won’t get a replacement or refund as the battery is discharging at around 20% to 23% an hour (idle) which adds up to a total of around 4 hours. For example when the battery was sitting at 100% it took an hour for the battery to discharge to 80%.

I contacted my local music store and they told me to bring it in but they told me that sometimes six hours is non realistic when manufacturers give the battery running time so I don’t know whether to just accept that I’m one of the unlucky ones not get the suggested manufacturers running time.

Symianbeatz wrote:Yeah that's well short of the advertised 6 ish hours..

For the MPC Live Mk1, Akai make two different claims on the same page:

https://www.akaipro.com/mpc-live

'Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the MPC Live can run up to 6 hours without plugging into a power source.

But the tech spec section says 'up to 5 hours'.

The MPC Live 2 tech spec also claims 5 hours, while the product description just states 'hours'.

I just checked my original MPC Live box (from an early UK batch), and it states 'up to 6 hours'.

If the OP only gets 4 hours when not doing anything, I guess factors such as screen brightness, attached disks, bluetooth, USB controllers, wifi etc can all make a difference. I'm pretty sure I used to get 5-6 hours life from the MPC Live, not sure what I'd get now, I'll have to measure it (turns on his MPC Live...).

MPC-Tutor wrote:

Symianbeatz wrote:Yeah that's well short of the advertised 6 ish hours..

For the MPC Live Mk1, Akai make two different claims on the same page:

https://www.akaipro.com/mpc-live

'Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the MPC Live can run up to 6 hours without plugging into a power source.

But the tech spec section says 'up to 5 hours'.

The MPC Live 2 tech spec also claims 5 hours, while the product description just states 'hours'.

I just checked my original MPC Live box (from an early UK batch), and it states 'up to 6 hours'.

If the OP only gets 4 hours when not doing anything, I guess factors such as screen brightness, attached disks, bluetooth, USB controllers, wifi etc can all make a difference. I'm pretty sure I used to get 5-6 hours life from the MPC Live, not sure what I'd get now, I'll have to measure it (turns on his MPC Live...).

Yeah I got about 6 hrs out of my OG live back in the day, that was with an SSD installed and running pretty light projects, to be fair like you mentioned everything running in the box is an overhead and companies often overstate capacity to flatter ther own products, imho even if the new live does only last 4hrs that's still a reasonable amount of untethered fun.. personally I'd swap the unit to satisfy my curiosity, and if it still turns out to be the same I'd accept that as the norm and get on with some music..

MPC-Tutor wrote:

Symianbeatz wrote:Yeah that's well short of the advertised 6 ish hours..

For the MPC Live Mk1, Akai make two different claims on the same page:

https://www.akaipro.com/mpc-live

'Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the MPC Live can run up to 6 hours without plugging into a power source.

But the tech spec section says 'up to 5 hours'.

The MPC Live 2 tech spec also claims 5 hours, while the product description just states 'hours'.

I just checked my original MPC Live box (from an early UK batch), and it states 'up to 6 hours'.

If the OP only gets 4 hours when not doing anything, I guess factors such as screen brightness, attached disks, bluetooth, USB controllers, wifi etc can all make a difference. I'm pretty sure I used to get 5-6 hours life from the MPC Live, not sure what I'd get now, I'll have to measure it (turns on his MPC Live...).

I have screen brightness set to Night and screen time set to 2 minutes and I have both WiFi and Bluetooth switched off with no attached disks and no usb devices connected and yet the battery discharges from 100% to 80% in just 1 hour.

I have waited over a day for Akai technical support to reply to my email and still no reply. What are Akai support generally like with getting back in touch with emails?

Artmuzz wrote:I have waited over a day for Akai technical support to reply to my email and still no reply. What are Akai support generally like with getting back in touch with emails?

Based on some of the posts I see here and on facebook, unlikely to get anything within a week. Calling them is the better option by all accounts.

I have screen brightness set to Night and screen time set to 2 minutes and I have both WiFi and Bluetooth switched off with no attached disks and no usb devices connected and yet the battery discharges from 100% to 80% in just 1 hour.

20% loss in one hour is not something I would be getting stressed about, that's maybe around 5 hours so not wildly out of line with advertised claims. I've been running my MPC Live here for 45 minutes now, unused with display dimmed and I'm on 84%.

Personally I've always taken battery life claims with a generous pinch of salt, be it laptops, smartphones, watches or MPCs.

EnochLight wrote:Advertised "official" time is 4 hours on battery. Users often get between 4-6 hours, though.

MPC-Tutor wrote:

Symianbeatz wrote:Yeah that's well short of the advertised 6 ish hours..

For the MPC Live Mk1, Akai make two different claims on the same page:

https://www.akaipro.com/mpc-live

'Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the MPC Live can run up to 6 hours without plugging into a power source.

But the tech spec section says 'up to 5 hours'.

The MPC Live 2 tech spec also claims 5 hours, while the product description just states 'hours'.

I just checked my original MPC Live box (from an early UK batch), and it states 'up to 6 hours'.

If the OP only gets 4 hours when not doing anything, I guess factors such as screen brightness, attached disks, bluetooth, USB controllers, wifi etc can all make a difference. I'm pretty sure I used to get 5-6 hours life from the MPC Live, not sure what I'd get now, I'll have to measure it (turns on his MPC Live...).

Right, thanks for the correction, Andy! I knew it was between 4-6 hours or something like that.

I ended up getting 4 hours 20 minutes battery life on my 4 year old MPC Live, but this was with no actual usage at all, the screen set to 'night' and dimming set at 1 minute. Internal SATA SSD and SD card installed, no USB devices attached.

I would also point out that this MPC spends 99% of its life plugged in, it is rarely run off battery and if so only for a couple of hours, and has been fully depleted maybe 5 times in its life.

MPC-Tutor wrote:I ended up getting 4 hours 20 minutes battery life on my 4 year old MPC Live, but this was with no actual usage at all, the screen set to 'night' and dimming set at 1 minute. Internal SATA SSD and SD card installed, no USB devices attached.

I would also point out that this MPC spends 99% of its life plugged in, it is rarely run off battery and if so only for a couple of hours, and has been fully depleted maybe 5 times in its life.

Were you getting 4 hours 20 minutes battery life when your MPC Live was brand new?

I would accept around 4 hours battery life on my MPC Live 2 if it was an old machine as lithium batteries have decreased lifespan the older they get. However, the problem is that my MPC Live 2 is brand new so I expected better battery life as the battery is new.

Maybe I’m just having OCD over the battery and maybe my battery is normal as you say. I don’t know if requesting a replacement would be a good idea considering the replacement might give me the same readings on battery life and my MPC Live seems to me working fine apart from me being paranoid about 4 (ish) hours battery life.

I honestly can't say 100% for sure what I was getting 4 years ago, I believe it was around 5 hours or so. Since then the firmware has changed considerably, they might have optimised battery usage, or perhaps usage has gotten less efficient due to changes in the firmware. The Live 2 also has different hardware to deal with compared to the Live 1.

Battery life for the MPC Live 2 is specifically listed as 'up to 5 hours', so at 4 hours with zero usage I guess you could argue that the battery isn't performing as advertised. It certainly sounds like you are testing in what most reasonable people would assume is the perfect environment to get the maximum battery life possible, although perhaps Akai will claim room temperature is another important factor.

BTw, you previously mentioned battery loss overnight with the unit off. Is this still occurring? How much is it losing? If the unit is completely off it shouldn't lose any charge in such a short space of time, unless the machine isn't reporting battery % correctly in the first place, which is possible. It might also lose a lot of charge powering down and booting up, so this could account for the 3% loss you said before. Worth leaving it for a couple of days to see if it loses more than 3 or 4%.

But if you feel it's faulty, return it to the retailer, or exchange for another.

MPC-Tutor wrote:I honestly can't say 100% for sure what I was getting 4 years ago, I believe it was around 5 hours or so. Since then the firmware has changed considerably, they might have optimised battery usage, or perhaps usage has gotten less efficient due to changes in the firmware. The Live 2 also has different hardware to deal with compared to the Live 1.

Battery life for the MPC Live 2 is specifically listed as 'up to 5 hours', so at 4 hours with zero usage I guess you could argue that the battery isn't performing as advertised. It certainly sounds like you are testing in what most reasonable people would assume is the perfect environment to get the maximum battery life possible, although perhaps Akai will claim room temperature is another important factor.

BTw, you previously mentioned battery loss overnight with the unit off. Is this still occurring? How much is it losing? If the unit is completely off it shouldn't lose any charge in such a short space of time, unless the machine isn't reporting battery % correctly in the first place, which is possible. It might also lose a lot of charge powering down and booting up, so this could account for the 3% loss you said before. Worth leaving it for a couple of days to see if it loses more than 3 or 4%.

But if you feel it's faulty, return it to the retailer, or exchange for another.

Last time I had my MPC Live 2 on was a couple of days ago. When I switched my MPC Live 2 off a couple of days ago the battery was sitting at 40% when I switched it back on just a couple of minutes ago the battery is now sitting at 35%.

I’ll also note that when I first used my MPC Live 2 once I unpacked it out the box the battery was sitting at 3% and I needed to charge it. Is it usual for the device to ship brand new with very low charge left in the battery?

Also, the weather has been very warm for the past few weeks where I am and the room is very warm due to the hot weather.

After being switched off for 10 hours overnight, I switched my MPC Live 2 on and I was surprised to see the battery still at 100%. My MPC Live 2 was switched on at 7am at 100% and by 11.50am the battery was sitting at 0% and this was while it was idle most of the time.

So it looks like I’m getting 4 hours 50 minutes battery life while idle most of the time.

I don’t know what to do. I’m scared to get a replacement in case there is a defect elsewhere on the replacement as apart from me being paranoid over the battery my MPC Live 2 works perfect.

Well TBH I'm not entirely sure what the issue is. The product spec states 'up to 5 hours', you are getting a mere 20 minutes short of this. I doubt very much that it's in any way possible to actually get bang on 5 hours, hence Akai's use of the universally accepted BS phrase of 'up to'. It also sounds like your MPC is holding charge.

Forget about the battery and move on to enjoying making music with your new MPC.

It sounds like the battery is within normal operating behavior to me. For regular usage I felt for both the Live and Live II it was around the 4 hour mark. I get wanting to have the best device possible, but if I were in your shoes and trying to determine if I wanted to keep it or not... I'd probably be spending time using it and see if it fits within my workflow and process, not worrying about whether I can get another 10-20% battery life.

Unless being on battery power is a major constraint, it seems like you're over thinking it. If the battery life is a constraint, you can also look into getting external battery packs/power supplies to increase your overall capacity. Honestly though, I don't think you're going to get significant gains for the battery, even if you got a brand new, pristine battery.

One last thing, if you do need a replacement battery in the future, you can get one here https://www.mpcstuff.com/li-cell-14-8v-3350mah-4s-18650-battery-assembly-akai-mpc-live-ii/

EDIT: And boy, 3350mah is pretty small for such a large device, surprised they didn't go for larger capacity... *shrug*

MPC-Tutor wrote:Well TBH I'm not entirely sure what the issue is. The product spec states 'up to 5 hours', you are getting a mere 20 minutes short of this. I doubt very much that it's in any way possible to actually get bang on 5 hours, hence Akai's use of the universally accepted BS phrase of 'up to'. It also sounds like your MPC is holding charge.

Forget about the battery and move on to enjoying making music with your new MPC.

I eventually got 4 hours and 55 minutes out of the battery until MPC Live 2 switched itself off after sitting at 0% for 10 minutes and that was with my MPC Live 2 being idle most of the time with screen set to Night and screen time set to 1 minute with WiFi and Bluetooth switched off.

I think you are right and I think I will just keep my MPC Live 2 as I prefer the tactile buttons and pads to using an iPad and I like having the physical ports at the back for my synths, guitar and computer. I don’t think I’ll be carrying this about or using this on the train or bus as the MPC live 2 is heavier and bigger than what I thought it would be. Anyway, thanks for the advice.

NearTao wrote:It sounds like the battery is within normal operating behavior to me. For regular usage I felt for both the Live and Live II it was around the 4 hour mark. I get wanting to have the best device possible, but if I were in your shoes and trying to determine if I wanted to keep it or not... I'd probably be spending time using it and see if it fits within my workflow and process, not worrying about whether I can get another 10-20% battery life.

Unless being on battery power is a major constraint, it seems like you're over thinking it. If the battery life is a constraint, you can also look into getting external battery packs/power supplies to increase your overall capacity. Honestly though, I don't think you're going to get significant gains for the battery, even if you got a brand new, pristine battery.

One last thing, if you do need a replacement battery in the future, you can get one here https://www.mpcstuff.com/li-cell-14-8v-3350mah-4s-18650-battery-assembly-akai-mpc-live-ii/

EDIT: And boy, 3350mah is pretty small for such a large device, surprised they didn't go for larger capacity... *shrug*

Thanks for the advice.

I think I’ve got a bit of OCD when it comes to batteries on devices. It’s like on my iPad Pro and iPhone I have got to switch the percentage off in the battery settings as it drives me crazy and I get stressed out when I see the battery discharging.

Good to know there is a way to replace the battery or use external batteries on my MPC Live 2.

Seriously though since the MPC Live 2 isn’t has small and portable as I thought it would be the battery really isn’t important as I cannot see me carrying this around with me while out of the studio.