Is Charging Battery All Night Bad?

[tha]-[acksaw]

I leave my Moto Droid hooked up to the stock USB charger all night. Is that a bad thing to be doing? I know it only takes a few hours to fully charge. Should I be pulling it off after its at 100%, or is it ok to leave it connected for 6 to 12 hours after its been charged? <----LOL I like to sleep!

 

[Sam]

mine says "charged" when its done, and i ASSUME that means it's not charging anymore, and just keeps the charge at max...

i hope it's not bad, i charge mine all night. and the dock for it charges it too (right?), so they must have thought of that if it were a problem..

 

[Backnblack]

Hope not....been doing that for over a month.......

 

[Thefamous1]

I don't think it keeps charging. If you notice when it's charging the light on the side lights up. When it's finished it turns off which probably means it's done.


Also, is it bad to charge the battery if it's only like half way dead? I thought it was best to charge the battery when it is really low/dead

 

[SSHGuru]

With a lith-ion you cant overcharge. I leave it in the dock all night

 

[wil318466]

I don't think it hurts to leave it charging. Also, there are suggestions that "conditioning" the battery the first time you get it doesn't do anything. After doing some google searches about lithion ion batteries, I get conflicting information.. but again, leaving it on the charger shouldn't cause a problem.

 

[SSHGuru]

The Dock is TOO bright tho... it could be nicer.

 

[OMEGA5]

no harm in charging all night, it stops charging when it's done(I have the dock so it stays in there all night). And my understanding is it is bad to let the battery go dead, so I wouldn't recommend that. These batteries aren't supposed to have any "memory" so you can charge it when its at 10% or 90% it should have no effect on the battery life or performance.

 

[dezymond]

it stops charging when it's done, but it's always good to unplug as to not waste electricity. plus if there's a power outage you want to protect it from a power surge.

 

[takeshi]

Is Charging Battery All Night Bad?

No. It's Li ion.

Also, is it bad to charge the battery if it's only like half way dead? I thought it was best to charge the battery when it is really low/dead

You're thinking of NiCad batteries.
Memory effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

it stops charging when it's done, but it's always good to unplug as to not waste electricity. plus if there's a power outage you want to protect it from a power surge.

A surge strip helps with both of those items.

 

[RinTinTigger]

Hey guys,

let mee hook you up with some information on the battery.
The modern batteries, like built in into nearly all modern devices, have something
that is called "power intelligence". That means, there is no need, like in early days, to first use all the power left in the battery, and then recharge it FULLY to make it work properly. Also there is no need to get it off the charging, when the phone says its done.

Greetz
Tigger

 

[tha]-[acksaw]

Thanks guys!

 

[Laurence5905]

Hey guys,

let mee hook you up with some information on the battery.
The modern batteries, like built in into nearly all modern devices, have something
that is called "power intelligence". That means, there is no need, like in early days, to first use all the power left in the battery, and then recharge it FULLY to make it work properly. Also there is no need to get it off the charging, when the phone says its done.

Greetz
Tigger

Yup -- if you'll notice there are several terminals on the battery. You technically only need 2 terminals (positive and negative) to charge a battery. These extra terminals on your phone battery are so the battery and phone can "communicate" while the phone is trying to charge the battery. At the very least, there will be one extra terminal for a temperature sensor so the phone can know if it's charging too fast (the battery heats up). But most modern batteries have more terminals than that.

So there's just about zero risk of overcharging your battery. The only way that's gonna happen is if something breaks in the phone or the battery.

And the Lithium Ion technology that's been in most portable devices for at least a decade does not suffer from the "memory" problems that the older Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) batteries had. You don't have to run it all the way dead before you can charge it again.

I leave my phone on the dock all night long, and the dock's power-supply is plugged into a surge-protector. I feel very comfortable with this setup.

However, ALL rechargeable batteries, no matter what kind they are, will eventually stop charging. This is normal wear-and-tear, like the brake-pads wearing out on your car. Most batteries have about 1,000 charge-discharge cycles before they won't hold a good charge anymore. This translates into almost 3 years of life, assuming you charge your battery every night. So in 3 years, you'll have to buy a new battery -- but by then, the latest and greatest phone will make the Droid look like a toy. So, just charge it whenever you want to, and don't give it a second thought. You've got years before you have to worry about it.

 

[Sam]

can i close this thread now?

 

[jbernard703]

I heard the same things when i had my RazR. They told me its "smart" and shuts it off when its fully charged. Same thing with my laptop. But i found that "they" were wrong. The charger still did something because my batteries stop holding more than a 1 charge. A guy told me that they might claim to stop but that they really didn't. He also told me that it would still get the battery hotter than resting and any heat was a big no no.