Charging... keep it on or disconnect?

[Guest tsutton]

Now having a nice docking station for my Vario III, one question comes up - do I leave it till it's green light coming up and remove it. Or do I leave it all the time without having to worry about it messing up the battery life?

[Guest sc0user_75]

I'm pretty certain the charge auto stops once it has reached the max charge.

[Guest hotphil]

I'd just leave it charging all the time. The light will stay green when it is fully charged. I think there's endless debate on whether it's good for the battery or not, but iirc there seems to be a lot of people who reckon that Li-Ion batteries like to be constantly charging.

[Guest jimbouk]

I personally avoid over charging - and any battery is going to perform better if you let it cycle as low as possible every now and then.

[Guest Erem]

I'm a battery guy, Lithiums actually puff up and eventually burst into flames if over charged. All commercial devices with lithiums must use smart chargers that monitor charge and terminate it when full so leaving the phone in a charge cradle is just fine.

Lithiums probably do better in phones if kept charged rather than full cycling. Unlike Nicads, they don't need exercising. The only down side to lithiums is that they have a life of about 2 years with their capacity slowly decreasing from date of manufacture.

For storage, lithiums do best if stored at 50% charge.

[Guest Alkali]

Better safe than sorry.Always remove it when "Green" shows up ;)

[Guest Erem]

Better safe than sorry.Always remove it when "Green" shows up ;)

That's wise advice for any un-attended lithium on a charger and is in most camera instructions. I keep the Kaiser at my desk in the cradle and use BT headset all day. If one of these cheap charge cradles from China lets loose on a spare battery, it certainly could ruin your day. I have more faith in the charge controller in the Kaiser itself and don't worry about leaving it on charge.

[Guest tsutton]

Interesting replies from everyone... ;)

Thanks!

[Guest Confucious]

That's wise advice for any un-attended lithium on a charger and is in most camera instructions. I keep the Kaiser at my desk in the cradle and use BT headset all day. If one of these cheap charge cradles from China lets loose on a spare battery, it certainly could ruin your day. I have more faith in the charge controller in the Kaiser itself and don't worry about leaving it on charge.

I thought the charging control was actually built in to the battery itself (not the charger) - am I wrong?

My Ameo eats batteries so I tend to leave it plugged in as much as possible and always overnight.

[Guest sc0user_75]

Guys with the VIII, if you notice, when you plug the charger in you get a sign on the top of screen showing you charger is in use. But once battery reaches 100% this sign disapears... and comes on again when the chrage drops a little.

WOuld this not be that when battery is fully charged no further charge is going in?

[Guest Erem]

I thought the charging control was actually built in to the battery itself (not the charger) - am I wrong?

My Ameo eats batteries so I tend to leave it plugged in as much as possible and always overnight.

In phones, no, their batteries are a single lithium cell, there may be a temp sensor in them that the charger uses to cut the charge should the battery overheat for any reason. Larger, multi cell lithiums usually do have smart chips in them to report charge state to the device and even balance cells on some.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Keep it on charge for the best battery life.

P

[Guest Confucious]

In phones, no, their batteries are a single lithium cell, there may be a temp sensor in them that the charger uses to cut the charge should the battery overheat for any reason. Larger, multi cell lithiums usually do have smart chips in them to report charge state to the device and even balance cells on some.

Thanks Erem, you learn something every day! ;)

[Guest Alkali]

Keep it on charge for the best battery life.

P

Come on Sir Paul, keep it off charge for best battery life.