Topping off battery OK?

[tonypantuci]

I have a tendency to top off the battery several times a day by charging via wall outlet or when plugged into my PC. Is this bad for the HTC Eris battery? Any ideas on best ways to keep the battery happy?

 

[JhankG]

Won't hurt the battery one bit. You don't have to worry about conditioning or overcharging these batteries.

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

These batteries have no memory effect like in the past.

 

[natediddy1120]

If its got a lithium battery, which I'm pretty sure it does, then the best way to charge is by doing partial charges...meaning don't let it go dead, and don't let it get all the way full all the time either.

That will lengthen the life of the battery in the long run

 

[gentlefury]

wow, NiCad hasn't been around since the 90's and people are STILL afraid of battery memory....when will that die already??

LiON battery however do have a limited charge discharge cycle before they break and can no longer accept a charge...so over charging will eventually just cause it to be dead and no longer able to take a charge....but most batteries will last over a year.

 

[Backnblack]

wow, NiCad hasn't been around since the 90's and people are STILL afraid of battery memory....when will that die already??

It was beat into them as they were growing up....give it a while.

 

[jtebrak]

I can't speak to the droid's peticular battery, but I use Lion batteries in some R/C stuff which are rated in excess of 500 cycles. I have some batteries that are well pas that and are still holding a good charge. They are also much higher output and much faster discharge rates than the droid's battery which tends to be harder on the battery.

 

[myriad46]

wow, NiCad hasn't been around since the 90's and people are STILL afraid of battery memory....when will that die already??

LiON battery however do have a limited charge discharge cycle before they break and can no longer accept a charge...so over charging will eventually just cause it to be dead and no longer able to take a charge....but most batteries will last over a year.

Still have NiMH (which do the same thing) in my cordless power tools and that is what's in almost all Hybrid cars.

 

[LtKen]

My dad used to beat me with his lithium batteries...

 

[mikes]

wow, NiCad hasn't been around since the 90's and people are STILL afraid of battery memory....when will that die already??

It's not memory effect, which a normal user would never run into with NiCd cells. (properly used, a "battery" consists of multiple cells - it's not an "AA battery," it's an "AA cell") True NiCd memory effect only occurs when cells are discharged the exact same amount (to within a few percent) over many cycles.

The problem many people call "memory" is actually voltage depression, an effect which gets amplified when cells are combined into a battery. Basically, the different cells end up sharing the load unequally, causing a premature end to the battery as a whole. NiMH cells/batteries can suffer from voltage depression.

Lithium batteries do not suffer from voltage depression (or memory effect, for that matter).

 

[snyluc13]

My dad used to beat me with his lithium batteries...

lmao... you too? I thought i was the only one.

we should form a support group.

 

[TJTHEBEST]

So how many cycles does the eris battery have. and what is a cycle? Is it a full discharge/charge or does it count as a cycle everytime you plug it in?

 

[Moondonkey]

The Lithium Ion batteries are pretty resilient.

My advice... use the battery however is best for you to keep the phone working when you need it.

I don't know about the Eris, but the Droid battery is only like $30, so if you if you work it to death.. get a new one.

 

[mikes]

Lithium cells are rated for full discharge/charge cycles. Topping them off is not a full cycle. Roughly, think of it like - topping up from 3/4 only counts as 1/4 cycle. It's actually a bit better than that - lithium cells do better with top-up cycles than with full cycles.

But, at the same time, lithium cells have a limited lifetime. Unless you store them in the freezer, 3-4 years is the most you can expect, regardless of the number of cycles.

Here's what Motorola has to say (DOD = depth of discharge):

The relationship between DOD and cycle life is logarithmic. In other words, the number of cycles yielded by a battery goes up exponentially the lower the DOD. Research studies have shown that the typical cellular phone user depletes their battery about 25 to 30 percent before recharging. Testing has shown that at this low level of DOD a lithium-ion battery can expect between 5 and 6 times the cycle numbers of a battery discharged to the one hundred percent DOD level continuously.

- from this page.

 

[droidavie]

My dad used to beat me with his lithium batteries...

silly silly boy