When is it better to charge battery?

[ghassan]

Is it better to wait until the AXIM battery is almost empty before charging it, or is it fine to charge at any time even if the battery is almost full.. which is better to prolong the life of the batter?

[ceej13]

The good thing about these batteries is that you can charge it anytime.

[wahern]

I recharge mine any chance I get as I never know when I will need that extra couple of minutes!!

[Double-Trinity]

Lithium Ion don't have memory effect, their major disadvantage is that they are expensive to make, and are generally pretty small, but with that you get a light yet powerful battery that you really don't have to think about. Ni/MH and Ni/cad for example crystallize if you don't discharge them befroe rechargin,g the charger stands even have a discharge. The problem with this is you have to always be thinking 'do I want to charge now? I'll have to dischage then wait for it to charge all the way', but with Li/Ion you really don't need to worry about it, just charge whenever you can.

[ghassan]

Thanks!

My Axim is making me happier every day!

[Sandi]

I just park Ax in his cradle every night w/ his Dell night light on and he's good to go in the AM!!

[Dylan]

Having said that I have a laptop with a Lithium Ion battery which after 2 years of mostly mains powered use (ie being on mains power for 7 hours a day) now doesn't work at all on its battery. I'm guessing there may be better ways to prolong Lithium Ion batteries. I don't fancy replacing all the batteries for every battery-powered device I own every 2 years.

Anyone here know any technical info on the best ways to preserve these batteries?

[E B]

This is a great explanation from "Mike C" from another thread:

Battery life ... number of charge cycles ... is greatly reduced if you deep discharge the battery. Going from full to zero every time only gives something like 400 cycles. Going from full to 75% every time gives 10,000 cycles. Those may not be the exact numbers, but the difference is huge.

Use it as you need it, but never deep discharge if you don't have to, and charge as soon as possible for the longest battery life.

[ceej13]

And someone posted this:
How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

[Double-Trinity]

Originally posted by E B
This is a great explanation from "Mike C" from another thread:

Battery life ... number of charge cycles ... is greatly reduced if you deep discharge the battery. Going from full to zero every time only gives something like 400 cycles. Going from full to 75% every time gives 10,000 cycles. Those may not be the exact numbers, but the difference is huge.

Use it as you need it, but never deep discharge if you don't have to, and charge as soon as possible for the longest battery life.

Hmm... so it's the outright opposite of NiCad batteries? you want to avoid charging when it's really low, vs. avoid charhing when it's really full. I guess that could mean if you have 2 batteries, switch them out while they both still have a good amount of charge left on them, rather than waiting until one goes dead?

Come to think of it... this might be the reason why Pocket PCs give "battery charge" warnings at 40%... before that had always seemed a bit... odd to me... but if it prolongs the battery life a lot, it makes sense.