My sansa fuze won’t turn off while charging. So it ends up running the battery down.
How can I stop this?
You can’t turn off the fuze while its charging. After a while the screen will turn off IIRC, so don’t worry about it.
but the unit keeps playing and when it’s full charge it then runs down the battery. I can’t charge this thing over night?
How are you charging it? From the computer? With a charger? From a USB hub?
Charging usually–like, always–shuts down playback. There are two sets of pins in the connector: for power (to charge) and for data (to tell the computer and Fuze they are connected). The data connection should stop the playback.
If the data connection isn’t being made, there is a problem with the cord or the port on the Fuze, unless you are using an unusual charging method.
I am using a power cord. Same thing happens with a data cord. The unit will not shut off. It rather annoying. It turns on even when you put it on hold.
@desertfox wrote:
but the unit keeps playing and when it’s full charge it then runs down the battery. I can’t charge this thing over night?
This makes no sense. You can’t run down the battery while charging, since charging is the process of adding energy to a battery.
What are you actually doing?
@desertfox wrote:
I am using a power cord. Same thing happens with a data cord. The unit will not shut off. It rather annoying. It turns on even when you put it on hold.
Putting the player on HOLD only disables the buttons. If you’re using an external charger (not your computer), your player will indeed play while charging. But it should not disharge if left playing while charging. When the battery runs down, the charging circuitry would kick back in again to recharge.
But you could always simply put the player on PAUSE when charging so it will not play and discharge the battery.
This does not (and can not) happen when charging via your computer, but there still is no way to turn the player off during this time. The screen saver will go off after 1 hour.
ok thanks, I will try the pause player. I do find this weird behavior for a player though don’t you think?
Its not possible to charge the device with the power off. The CPU must be running to control the battery charger.
I’ve run into something similar. My computer’s USB port is no longer powered after my computer shuts down. I’ve plugged it in before expecting a fully charged player in the morning, only to find my computer’s power-saver function shut itself off & the player drained.
As long as you remember to pause it before plugging it in, it shouldn’t resume playing after if loses power, and the player’s power-saver function will shut itself off, too. It won’t charge after it loses its power source, but at least it won’t drain.
I’ve never had a problem charging from the wall outlet.
THANK YOU. I am not going crazy. This is the only device that I ever baught that acts in this manner.
But what can I say. This is the best mp3 play beside the ■■■■ pod out there now. So good enough is good enough.
I thank you.
@desertfox wrote:
THANK YOU. I am not going crazy. This is the only device that I ever baught that acts in this manner.
FWIW every MP3 player with an internal battery works this way (Ipods, Sandisk, iRiver, Sony, etc). Its just how lithium batteries work. You need the CPU running to charge them since something has to do the calculations. So if you have power applied, they will be on. Some of the early ipods took this to an even more extreme degree by not having a way to switch the player off short of physically desoldering the battery.
I am not sure if you have the same problem that I had. When you said the player remained on during charging, does that mean it continues to play music? Or does the screen turn black with the word “connected” and four spinning arrows spinning counter clockwise inside the circle? If you see the spinning arrows in the cicle, you’re in good shape. That’s how it supposed to look. But if you see anything else (things that you normally see when playing music etc) that’s not good. It means you player is not charging but playing.
I bought the Sansa Fuze many months ago but I let it sit in my closet until this month. I saw a cheap Sansz kit (charging cable, skin, wall plug-in charger, and the armband) on eBay and bought it for the skin. Months later I decided to give it to my 9-year-old son but I mixed up the original cable with the eBay one. I tried to charge the unit with the eBay cable but the unit would not stop playing music. So instead of charging the battery I was draning it while it was “connected” to the computer. Took me a couple of days to realize I was using the wrong cable. I checked the manual and it specifically mentioned that one MUST use the original cable for charging or it wouldn’t work. Yes, the eBay cable fits perfectly but somehow it wouldn’t charge. So SanDisk must have done something to make the cable proprietary as a result no other cables (fit or not) can be used for that purpose.
althetrainer wrote:
I checked the manual and it specifically mentioned that one MUST use the original cable for charging or it wouldn’t work. Yes, the eBay cable fits perfectly but somehow it wouldn’t charge. So SanDisk must have done something to make the cable proprietary as a result no other cables (fit or not) can be used for that purpose.
Not necessarily true - you got a wrong or defective cable on eBay. I bought a relatively cheap Sansa Fuze car & wall USB charger combo on eBay and its cable works as advertised for charging and data transfer. It’s nice to have a backup cable. I’ve read here, though, that the Fuze’s connector is very similar to the iPod connector and iPod connector can fry the Fuze so be careful.
There’s nothing special about the original cable except that it is not defective. Generic cables FOR SANSA FUZE OR E200 are fine, assuming the generic seller isn’t sending out defective goods.
Darn. I like that explaination so much. If I think it is true, then it must be true.
What happens if I charge it overnight? 
When my Sansa Fuze freezes up while charging, I disconnect the USB and press the Power and the Home button for 10 seconds and then it shuts off. This first happened when I received the product and I thought it was defective. But I was too lazy to send it back so I tried several steps and it worked. If it’s not the home button, it’s the circle button.
Actually all you need to do is hold the power button for 15-20 seconds, no home or circle required (though obviously it doesn’t hurt).
