How long should it take a new set of AirPods to charge?
 

I've used AirPods for several years. It's time to get a new set. I bought a set from Amazon. I charged it for 4 days. It never fully charged. I returned it and got a replacement. It has now been charging for 2 days and still is not fully charged. I searched online and found a source that said it should charge in 30 minutes. Is it possible that I have received duds two times in a row? If so, what do I do to get a good set?

should not be longer than 30 minutes to an hour. the battery capacity is very small. are you using wired or wireless charging? might be your charger that is the issue?

30 minutes or less has always been my experience. Unless you have some kind of faulty power source, their being duds is the most likely conclusion. I'd try a third, and if it happens again, I'd probably consider another merchant.

Thanks. I'm on day 3 and the second set isn't charged. I am using a wired connection; I used a fast charger for about 24 hours. No joy. I guess I'll be returning this set to Amazon as well.

Is it staying around 80%? Maybe because you never used it so it has not learnt you charging routine so it starts at the default 80%.

From Apple:
Optimized Battery Charging is designed to reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by reducing the time your AirPods Pro spend fully charged. AirPods Pro and your iOS or iPadOS device learn from your daily charging routine and will wait to charge your AirPods Pro past 80% until just before you need to use them.

It kept flashing white, not orange, not green. I never paired it because I believed that the white meant it had not charged sufficiently.

Flashing white means it is in pairing mode, waiting to be paired to your phone. Normally you go into pairing mode by press and hold the round reset button at the back of the case. I tried to google how to get out of pairing mode and can't seem to find anything. So, for science, I took out my wife's airpods and "press and hold" the reset button. Sure enough, it is now flashing white. So I thought to get out of pairing mode, I just need to press and hold again. Nope, nothing happened. I read that if you press and hold for 15 seconds, it will completely factory reset the airpods which I don't really want to do. So now I have a flashing white airpod case and have to explain to my wife when she got home..... Probably have to re-pair her phone LOL.

EDIT: Update... I left it alone for a while, now it back to "Green". So if you unplug the case, leave it alone for a while, does it still flash white? Maybe you just need to pair it to your phone first for new Airpods. It has been a while since I got new ones.

@Need, thank you for the investigation - and my apologies to your wife. Oops! It's a shame that Apple didn't give the information that you just gave me. I googled several times and never found the very simple explanation that you gave.

What I do at the start of getting a new set is to plug it in to charge while doing the pairing process to set it up. I also leave it next to the associated iPhone with the paired iPhone having an online connection to help push out and update to the latest firmware for the sets. If the charging to green point is taking too long, after pairing the set, leave the cap of the charging case open (with the airpods still in them) and go to Settings > Bluetooth > select "i" for the paired device (while it's connected and has the case top open), and turn off "optimized charging" or whatever it's called until the case charges fully (along with the Airpods in them).

I've bought most of my sets via Amazon, and haven't had a dud yet -- but some have a fault that means that Apple needs to replace them:

https://9to5mac.com/2020/10/30/apple...-sound-issues/

Good things sometimes come from my naivete. I'm getting a set of Airpod 3s via a friend who works at Apple. I don't follow Apple and didn't know they were a thing til talking to him about my problem.

I think they also lowered the price for Airpod 2 too if that was the one you were charging. Are you going to return them and just tell them "It won't charge"? LOL :D

I ordered Airpod 1s from Amazon. The first pair was returned and replaced with the second. The second pair was returned after 3 days of charging. Amazon has refunded the purchase.