let it sit without the charger, and the battery dies and every now & then hold the top button to see if you get the little charging symbol on the bottom, basically telling you to connect it to the charger, also don't leave it on the charger over night because the home button is hitting on of the cords on the inside telling the ipod that it is overcharged, so at night turn the ipod off as normal, and DO NOT charge. Some times if you know that you will not be using the ipod for long periods of time, keep the ipod on a low battery percentage so if it turns off, it will take less time for the battery to die, do this at night if you chose to leave ipod on.