IRideSantaCruz

does anyone know what happens if u dont charge your battery for the first 4 hours, and just turn it on. becuase i didnt, and now it only takes about 30 min to charge, and the battery meter dosent actually show where the battery actually is on power. So, what im wondering is will this bring down battery life, and does your battery meter show u actualy power of your battery or does it go down after a while.

Mjbsgreys

Not sure if this will help you or not. The battery with the unit is Lithium Ion, if I remember correctly, they are not supposed to build a memory like the old Ni-Cads did. Should not matter, also depends on how low the battery's charge is as to how long it will take it to reach maximum capacity. If nothing else, try letting the battery run down to where it shuts itself off, and then pop it back in the cradle. If not, there is always Dell Tech Support, provided the individual you get has a fairly good grasp on the language of Enlish. Hope this helpa ya!! :D

JakeRich

DO NOT RUN THE BATTERY ALL THE WAY DOWN! That action is very hard on LI ION batteries and significantly shortens their overall life. LI ION batteries like a full charge, don't like deep discharges, don't develop memory like NiCAD and don't need to be conditioned. Just keep it charged as much as you can.

Not charging the battery full on the first use is hard on the battery, but not usually fatal. Just keep it as full as you can. As an example, the battery can be charged about 10,000+ times if it stays above 80%, but only 500 times if it goes below 20% every cycle.





Read more here.

Astounded EEG

dont worry about not fully charging the battery on first use. your battery is fine. I did the same thing and mine still operates as well as anybody else's when comparing battery tests.


as for the 30 minute charge time...the only way to tell if the battery is fully charged is to wait until the green light is on. the meter isn't reliable during charges, but accurate enough in normal use.

janine248

When I got my Axim, I did what was suggested in the manual and charged it for 4 hours....plugged it in at night when I went to bed, woke up and it was good to go....of course, that particular night, I couldn't stand sleeping for more than 4 hours knowing what was waiting for me when I woke up
:)

XKalibuR

Quote:

Originally posted by JakeRich DO NOT RUN THE BATTERY ALL THE WAY DOWN! That action is very hard on LI ION batteries and significantly shortens their overall life. LI ION batteries like a full charge, don't like deep discharges, don't develop memory like NiCAD and don't need to be conditioned. Just keep it charged as much as you can. Not charging the battery full on the first use is hard on the battery, but not usually fatal. Just keep it as full as you can. As an example, the battery can be charged about 10,000+ times if it stays above 80%, but only 500 times if it goes below 20% every cycle.

last week i forgot gsplayer on (playing from shoutcast) and i fell asleep with the ax on all night, batter was at 0% :hide: I've only done it once.. it doesnt really hurt it right? usually i'll charge from 50% or so. sometimes 70% i'll charge when home

MentalV

never charged it the first time for 4 hours, used it for maybe an hour or so when i got the Ax, didnt even knew you had to do it... but my battery is fine thank god, I get more than 8 hours of MP3 playing out of my Ax! :)

Astounded EEG

i've taken the battery to 0% at least once or twice too, i'm sure its not good for the battery, but it didnt have any noticeable effects.

schrags11

I didnt charget mine for 4 hours when i first got it and it charges quick. I mean it goes from like 50% to 100% in like 5 minutes.

JakeRich

Quote:

Originally posted by Astounded EEG i've taken the battery to 0% at least once or twice too, i'm sure its not good for the battery, but it didnt have any noticeable effects.

If you keep the battery above 80%, you can run 10,000+ charge cycles. If you let it drop below 20% every time, the battery will fail in about 500 cycles. So, assuming linearity, each full discharge takes off about 20+ cycles of lesser discharge.

XKalibuR

nobody can keep them above 80%.. i mean 40 or 50 is reasonable lol :)

jakerich how often do you recharge?

IRideSantaCruz

MentalV what program did u use, and what settings for it to play 8 hours

__________________
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Astounded EEG

Quote:

Originally posted by JakeRich If you keep the battery above 80%, you can run 10,000+ charge cycles. If you let it drop below 20% every time, the battery will fail in about 500 cycles. So, assuming linearity, each full discharge takes off about 20+ cycles of lesser discharge.

a 20% (100-80) recharge is kind of ridiculous....if you take that 10,000 figure and compensate for this by dividing by 5, you get 2,000 cycles. therefore a one-time 100% discharge really only takes off about 3 additional full battery charges.

JakeRich

Quote:

Originally posted by XKalibuR nobody can keep them above 80%.. i mean 40 or 50 is reasonable lol :) jakerich how often do you recharge?

Every day. IN fact, at work it is plugged in all day unless I am away from my desk. It rarely gets below 80%.

Quote:

Originally posted by AstoundedEEGa 20% (100-80) recharge is kind of ridiculous....if you take that 10,000 figure and compensate for this by dividing by 5, you get 2,000 cycles. therefore a one-time 100% discharge really only takes off about 3 additional full battery charges.

Not really, my ax rarely drops below 80%. I get just over an hour of 'on' time for that 20%, which is usually plenty for me each day. I don't play games, I don't play movies or music. I use it as a work computer that I can carry.

I'm not sure what the rest of your math is trying to say. The battery companies say that if you keep it above 80%, the recharge cycles you can expect are 10,000+, below 20% each time nets 300-500 cycles. They are silent on what to expect in the 20-80% range. I'm not sure why you divided by 5. If you discharge the battery below 20%, you will lose about 20 cycles of charge from 80-100% How many 50% cycles that represents is anybody's guess, but the characteristics of LI-ION is that the major damage is done somewhere less than 50%, so the "loss" rate for someone who mostly recharges at 50% but occasionally let's it drop below 20 is probably closer to 20 than 3. Of course, if you routinely discharge the battery below 50%, letting it go to 20% once in a while will only cost you 3-4 cycles, but you are starting with a lot fewer available in the first place. Also, the deeper the discharge on LI-ION the faster it discharges the next time. The curve is fairly flat on that loss, so you may not see it for a long time, but there is a "knee" in the curve where all of a sudden the battery discharges very quickly, even when fully charged.

In general, the best advice is to keep the battery topped off if you can.

micahlegg

Quote:

Originally posted by JakeRich If you keep the battery above 80%, you can run 10,000+ charge cycles. If you let it drop below 20% every time, the battery will fail in about 500 cycles. So, assuming linearity, each full discharge takes off about 20+ cycles of lesser discharge.

I agree with jake, the battery may not last as long in the long run.
It may run fine now, but wait a year or so.;)

I havent seen you in awhile jakerich.:D