What's the best battery charging routine?

[brianosaur]

I have read/heard conflicting thoughts on prolonging battery lifespan.
I'm not too concerned with daily run time but obviously the longer the better.
I am more concerned about the bottom falling out and it not holding a charge for more then an hour or so in a year or two.

Charging issues like:
1. Should fully charge and then saturate for a bit?
2. Unplug as soon as it's charged?
3. Never let it trickle charge overnight?
4. Let it go from full charge to full drain before charging?
5. Charge before it goes below 40% and never let it drain out?

 

[Szadzik]

Charge it the way you like. The one thing to remember is not to drain it completely, start charging at 20% or higher. You can discharge it completely once a few months to calibrate the sensor.

 

[Deleted User]

I have read/heard conflicting thoughts on prolonging battery lifespan.

Take a look at the pages on BatteryUniversity.com where there is lots of info about batteries and how to maintain them.

1. Should fully charge and then saturate for a bit?

As Szadzik said just top it up. Li-Ion batteries in phones and tablets have an IC chip in them to monitor their condition, so when the battery is fully charged it cuts the current and prevents over-charge. The IC also prevents under-charge by cutting off the current if the battery is being drained too much or the discharge current is too high. So you can't do a trickle or saturate charge, once the battery is full, it shuts off the charging circuit.

4. Let it go from full charge to full drain before charging?
5. Charge before it goes below 40% and never let it drain out?

The best method is to simply avoid full discharge. Once it hits about 20% you really should charge it up again. And top up charges are better than fully cycling the battery. So if you're out for a couple of hours and the battery drops to only 85%, you can just top it up to 100% again when you get home. There is no harm in topping it up. And if you're charging it and suddenly need to leave with it but it's only at 90% charge, that's ok too. Just top it up again later.

As long as you avoid full discharges, you should be fine. I top mine up every night when I go to bed. I never turn it off either, just plug it in to charge and it's ready to go the next morning.

 

[Hagar3]

We have been conditioned through the use of the Nickle Cadmium batteries to fully discharge the batteries occasionallly to eliminate the memory. The Lithium Ion batteries do not like to be fully discharged. It reduces the life of the Lithium Ion batteries. I keep mine plugged in when power is available. It lets me have a full charge when I need it and helps avoid full discharge.