About rechargeable Lithium batteries: I saw some comments about how to handle rechargeable batteries that were misleading. I checked on the home page of a leading manufacturer and...

gmw12 Loc: Indianapolis & Windsor/UK & Montreux/Switzerl

I saw some comments about how to handle rechargeable batteries that were misleading. I checked on the home page of a leading manufacturer and found following indications:

- lithium batteries have NO memory effect and don't need 5 or 10 full charge/discharge cycles to last longer or maintain a higher capacity;

- they don't need to be discharged before recharging them;

- charging via the USB port of a computer is harmless both to the battery and the computer;

- batteries unused for a while don't need to be recharged;

Recommendations for a longer battery life:

1. 30 - 70% charge
2. avoid keeping them on 100% charge
3. avoid high temperature especially at full charge

SX2002 Loc: Adelaide, South Australia

I have two for my D90 and charge them fully when they are low...I have a battery grip and one is always flat when I charge it and the other one is near to flat...they both show as "NEW" still in the battery info....had them for about 2 years now...
How you could possibly charge them for 30-70% is beyond me, the charger has no indicator on it other than a flashing LED that stops flashing when fully charged...
The one in my other camera Konica/Minolta 5D DSLR is 7 years old and it's kept fully charged as I don't use it very often...the battery is 7 years old now and is still perfect...

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

gmw12 wrote:

I saw some comments about how to handle rechargeab... (show quote)

Hey Doc ..... everything you want to know about batteries and chargers can be found here ..... http://www.batteryuniversity.com

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

gmw12 wrote:

I saw some comments about how to handle rechargeable batteries that were misleading.

I had a strange situation yesterday. I charged four Everready AA's for my flash. The Lacrosse charger showed them all being "FULL." When I put them into the flash and tried to turn it on, the Ready light would blink but not stay lit. Using a battery tester showed that three of the batteries were way down in power. I put them back into the charger till they showed FULL again, and the flash worked fine.

I suspect that they are getting old and worn out, so I ordered more Eneloops.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

SX2002 wrote:

How you could possibly charge them for 30-70% is beyond me, the charger has no indicator on it other than a flashing LED that stops flashing when fully charged...

LaCrossse has a charger that lets you charge from one battery, to four, and the display shows the level of charge. You can change the Mode to get different info about the battery.

ballsafire Loc: Lafayette, Louisiana

Wabbit wrote:

Hey Doc ..... everything you want to know about batteries and chargers can be found here ..... http://www.batteryuniversity.com

Oh- to have direct answers--there's the rub! I don't care to know all the details about a type of battery - my time is worth something to me. I am not in the business of manufacturing batteries - just knowing what to expect from them is all I need. The article is well & logically written but I don't like plowing through all that jargon/verbiage to get a simple understanding of my camera batteries. I'm sure most of us feel the same way!

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

jerryc41 wrote:

I had a strange situation yesterday. I charged four Everready AA's for my flash. The Lacrosse charger showed them all being "FULL." When I put them into the flash and tried to turn it on, the Ready light would blink but not stay lit. Using a battery tester showed that three of the batteries were way down in power. I put them back into the charger till they showed FULL again, and the flash worked fine.

Chargers have different ways of grouping batteries to charge. Some treat 4 batteries as one unit, two batteries as a unit and the most efficient charge each battery as a unit.

When a 4 battery unit is charging, the first battery to get fully recharged tells the charger the unit is ready, when actually, you don't know how many are really full.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jdubu wrote:

Chargers have different ways of grouping batteries to charge. Some treat 4 batteries as one unit, two batteries as a unit and the most efficient charge each battery as a unit.

When a 4 battery unit is charging, the first battery to get fully recharged tells the charger the unit is ready, when actually, you don't know how many are really full.

Would it be better to charge one at a time?

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

ballsafire wrote:

Oh- to have direct answers--there's the rub! I don't care to know all the details about a type of battery - my time is worth something to me. I am not in the business of manufacturing batteries - just knowing what to expect from them is all I need. The article is well & logically written but I don't like plowing through all that jargon/verbiage to get a simple understanding of my camera batteries. I'm sure most of us feel the same way!

Hey Doc ..... the OP made a statement, didn't ask a question .....

..... Do you have a question you'd like answered?

..... They're are no simple explanations for understanding batteries ..... and any correct explanation would be based on the type of batteries you're concerned about, which is still a secret .....

..... Unless you were paying me I couldn't care less about your time ..... I don't get paid to answer questions, everybody that helps here is doing it for free .....

..... since you're in a rubbing mood doc you can rub this .....

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

SX2002 wrote:

I have two for my D90 and charge them fully when t... (show quote)

Hey Doc ..... there are chargers that can give that information but they are more expensive than the ones that don't .....

..... There are also battery meters that can give you that information .....

..... They're talking extremes and chances are most folks won't bother following those guidelines anyway. The experts say that it's better for the Lithium Ion battery to be stored with a low charge (not a full charge). The chemistry inside the battery lasts longer that way when not in use.

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

jerryc41 wrote:

I had a strange situation yesterday. I charged fo... (show quote)

Time to run them on refresh in the Lacrosse.
Unless they are Eveready 2500 or 2450s, in which case they never were any good.

ballsafire Loc: Lafayette, Louisiana

Wabbit wrote:

Hey Doc ..... the OP made a statement, didn't ask ... (show quote)

Ideas of briefness or brevity is whats important to me and I think you took my criticism too personally.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

gmw12 wrote:

I saw some comments about how to handle rechargeab... (show quote)

Mostly true but Lithium-Ion batteries CAN and DO get memory effect but it takes longer. I've been through two Lithium-Ion batteries in my cell phone in three years because they rapidly depleted in storage capacity to the point of wouldn't charge at all. I've had two camera batteries get it and croak.

I have three spare Li-Ion batteries for my Panasonic Lumix and I must charge them all before going out after they've sat in the bag unused for several months because they're down at least 40%.

Everything else is pretty accurate though.