Will it hurt the battery to charge it every morning?

[jimmib]

charging every morning

I am wondering if it will hurt the battery to just charge it every morning while I am reading the news online....not sure if I need to let it get low before charging like the old ni-cad batteries....really liking my band so far just wish the battery lasted longer

 

[B Hammer]

Re: charging every morning

From what I understand about lithium-ion batteries, you do not need to allow the battery to remain low. Despite that, lithium-ion batteries perform optimally when not at full charge. This doesn't mean you should not charge it to 100%. Many small electronic devices never charge the battery to 100% even though the reading on the device indicates otherwise. The 100% value is actually a less-than-full value.

Charge it if you feel like it. The battery doesn't have the same draw backs as nickel-cadmium. However, after 1 to 2 years lithium-ion batteries will not hold the same potential as they do initially.

 

[Snapperlicious]

Re: charging every morning

The life of Lithium batteries is more based on charge cycles rather than how little or how much you charge the battery. Most lithium batteries are rated for a specific number of cycles, but that rating doesn't mean the battery will cease to function once it reaches that number of cycles. I have read conflicting information on what is a cycle. I generally charge my lithium devices only when needed, and I typically get good life out of my lithium batteries.

My wife used to put her phone on the charger every time she was in the car. Her battery started to show significant degradation after just a year. I had the same phone and only charged mine when needed, so the amount of time my battery spent charging was significantly less. My battery was in much better shape after the same amount of time and lasted much longer than my wife's. It's just one example, and it could be due to sample variation or other factors, but I have seen it often enough that lithium batteries generally don't hold up well when they are charged often. Now I am no battery expert and just sharing what I know and what I've witnessed first hand. Maybe someone else can chime in on the science of it all.

 

[g2red89]

Re: charging every morning

I was just about to post a new thread about this. The battery life seems very sparse compared to the first one. Do you have the small by chance? I do and heard the battery is smaller then the bigger sizes. I think I probably need to just let it fully die then charge, but I've never done that even with my old band. But I should at least let it get really low, I just don't want to run the risk of it dieing on my when the day is still young and I don't have a way to charge it.

 

[DroidUser42]

Re: charging every morning

The life of Lithium batteries is more based on charge cycles rather than how little or how much you charge the battery. Most lithium batteries are rated for a specific number of cycles,

But not all cycles are the same. According to this page, you'll get the most total Amp-hours out of your battery if you recharge at 50% rather than doing complete cycles (or at 75%). I think worst leaving it on the charger for extended periods of time. I think that's where your wife did in her battery - too much time at 100%.

I recharge my B1 every morning and have had no trouble with battery life. The one time I skipped a morning, it went dead during the night.

 

[Snapperlicious]

Re: charging every morning

But not all cycles are the same. According to this page, you'll get the most total Amp-hours out of your battery if you recharge at 50% rather than doing complete cycles (or at 75%). I think worst leaving it on the charger for extended periods of time. I think that's where your wife did in her battery - too much time at 100%.

I agree, and I forgot to mention that in my post. Lithium batteries do not like to be drained completely.

The battery life seems very sparse compared to the first one.

I have a medium, and I got a full 2 days out of my first full charge and it still wasn't dead. That was with no gps based workouts, typical checking of alerts, and the watch function on rotate. The small supposedly has a 15% smaller battery, but that's still about 41+ hours of use compared to what I got with my medium.