Battery cycling

[gerryex]

Hi ALL,

I've had my Acer for about 1 1/2 weeks and I am quite pleased with it. Assuming the BB return window is 14 days its coming up soon, but at this point its definitely a KEEPER!!

I know its been recommended to let the battery run down and then to give it full charge. I assume its a Lithium Ion battery which is supposed to have less of a problem with battery "memory" but its still probably a good idea to let it run down.

My question is how far should you let it go down. Around 10% or so you get a warning that the battery is low and it is recommended that you plug the charger in. And that's what I do, but I was wondering if anyone lets it go below 10% and if so how far down do you let it go.

Thanks,
Gerry

P. S. Yes, the short cord on the charger is a pain. But come on! A simple $1.50 Walmart extension cord solves the problem. May not be fancy or the best solution, but it works!!

 

[Raven312]

I've let it get below the 10% warning a few times: I was reading, almost finished with my book and didn't want to plug that short cord in, so I read until I was finished. I did charge it then. I've let it run out 3 times. That should be more than enough.

 

[gerryex]

I've let it get below the 10% warning a few times: I was reading, almost finished with my book and didn't want to plug that short cord in, so I read until I was finished. I did charge it then. I've let it run out 3 times. That should be more than enough.

Hi Raven312,

How far down did it go? Did it actually shut down on you since it was too low, or was it something like 5% or lower when you started the charge?

Thanks,
Gerry

 

[Icebike]

You can get down to 2% if you want. There is an internal protection circuit in all Li-Poly batteries that takes them off line to protect them if the voltage falls too low.
Going down to auto-shutoff once every three months is all you need.

And this has nothing at all to do with Battery memory. Li-Poly batteries don't have memory, (and the more you dig into memory the more you find out it was largely a myth even with NiCad batteries).

Running the battery down calibrates the charge measuring circuit in the phone. It essentially teaches it how low the battery can go. Without that, it just guesses where 0% charge is. Once it runs all the way down it knows for sure.

Its not good, or necessary to run Li-Poly down to zero all the time. Nor is it all that good to charge all the way up.
Adding a bit of charge when ever you have a few minutes actually leads to the best battery life.