Cell phone battery (new) When/how often to charge?

[MichaelD]

I bought a new cell phone (Nokia 2610...nothing special).

The guy in the store said "Charge it overnight, then run the battery completely down before you charge it again."

Well, I charged it overnight (about 10 hours). That was three days ago and the battery is still at 100%.

Should I follow his advice? Do something different? Advice, please.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

When the batteries are new, they can actually last a long time on a single charge, especially if you dont talk much. Like, weeks. What I usually do, is leave it alone until my phone starts beeping at me (for low battery). Then I plug it in.

 

[Captante]

I've actually never replaced a cell-phone battery ... whenever they start to lose a significant portion of their charge-time I just use it as an excuse to buy a new phone!

As for charging, I just re-charge whenever the battery meter drops to one bar & even though I talk & text a lot its still only every 3-4 days.

 

[BigJ]

My E510 can go for longer than a week on a single full charge.

When I do recharge, it's usually when there's no bars left on the battery and its almost completely drained.

 

[MichaelD]

ttt

 

[iamaelephant]

LIon batteries are pretty sturdy, I just give them hell and I've never had one fail. In the old days with NMHi (or earlier) batteries it was important to follow charging instructions, but not so much for LIon batteries. Don't stress about it.

 

[Dessert Tears]

Originally posted by: iamaelephant
LIon batteries are pretty sturdy, I just give them hell and I've never had one fail. In the old days with NMHi (or earlier) batteries it was important to follow charging instructions, but not so much for LIon batteries. Don't stress about it.

LIon battery systems are better due to increased sophistication of the charging circuitry. NiMH batteries with modern "smart" chargers perform very well also. The main problem with NiCd in the 80s/90s was that the chargers were simple timers that could easily overcharge the batteries - leading to the so-called "memory effect" in relatively few charge cycles.

LIon battery chemistry is actually less stable than NiMH - without smart chargers and/or built-in protection circuits, LIon batteries overcharge and ignite.

That said, all the manuals for my LIon-powered portable devices say to run the battery down for the first cycle or two. I run them down occasionally, but you're probably fine with doing it only once (maybe not even once) and forgetting about it going forward.

 

[Viperoni]

I always let my nokia 6101's battery get pretty low before recharging. Still get great battery life after 8 months of ownership.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
When the batteries are new, they can actually last a long time on a single charge, especially if you dont talk much. Like, weeks. What I usually do, is leave it alone until my phone starts beeping at me (for low battery). Then I plug it in.

I wish! My battery lasts two days if I'm lucky. And I barely use the thing. If I use it at all, I have to charge it every day.

 

[mpitts]

No reason to do it with a Lithium-Ion battery..

This was really an issue with NiCad batteries years ago.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: mpitts
No reason to do it with a Lithium-Ion battery..

This was really an issue with NiCad batteries years ago.

rgr that

 

[manlymatt83]

Man my phone sucks. I charge every 12 hours.

 

[Anonemous]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
Man my phone sucks. I charge every 12 hours.

Mine too damn A900...