To charge or not to charge? That is the question (Page 2): That depends. If I'm going to be shooting around home, I'll let the battery run down a bit. If I'm going out shooting for the...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

NJphotodoc wrote:

Hi all. When I get back from a day taking pictures... (show quote)

That depends. If I'm going to be shooting around home, I'll let the battery run down a bit. If I'm going out shooting for the day, I'll want to start with a fully charged battery. I can take an awful lot of pictures with a fully charged battery (Nikon).

Grace98 Loc: Waterlooville, Hampshire - United Kingdom

I too recharge my batteries when I retur home. I used to work with a company where most of the products used rechargeable batteries. Our engineers used to tell us that it is better to charge a battery after every use as this would prolong the life of the battery. Apparently if you have to charge the battery every time from completely flat, lessens battery life....but not sure if this is correct though...

mas24 wrote:

I recharge all my batteries when I return home. I have Force Of Habit just like you. Charge it. You never know when your power will be interrupted by a storm, etc. Does doing that constantly lessen the battery life? Perhaps, but is doesn't matter to me. Buying another battery is not going to break the bank. Better safe than sorry. I use Nikon and Watson batteries. Watson is the only third party battery I use now. They are easier to purchase than Wasabi batteries.

Neilhunt

Another place you find Li ion batteries is in ... an electric car! But replacement for that costs about $6,000 (was $20,000 a few years back).

EV car manufacturers tell you that it's charging the *last* 20% that shortens the lifetime, and that fast charging that raises the battery temperature is damaging too. Nissan goes so far as to provide a charge management system that can stop at 80% unless you press a dashboard button to fully charge if you need the extra range. And residents of hot states like Arizona have reported more issues with lost range than residents of cooler states like California.

The chemistry is the same for your camera batteries. But the price is a whole lot more reasonable.

Personally, I worry more (in an OCD kind of way) about mechanical wear on the camera battery door than I do about the lifetime of the (replaceable) battery.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

NJphotodoc wrote:

Hi all. When I get back from a day taking pictures... (show quote)

Dealers choice. You will not harm the battery with most common recharging, it is always a good idea to have your batteries fully charged. You never know when or where the aliens are going to land from outer space.

Shoeless_Photographer Loc: Lexington

NJphotodoc wrote:

Hi all. When I get back from a day taking pictures... (show quote)

I have three batteries, so I don't worry about it until the icon shows it's getting low. Then I charge it unless I'm out; then I just switch batteries until I get back home.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I rotate my batteries. I have 2 Cameras that use the same battery. I numbered them 1 thru 6. By rotating them I keep them all charged. I will take out the memory card and format a new card in the camera and change the battery. The camera is ready to go and back in the bag. The battery is recharged and put back in the spear battery pack (at the bottom) and I take my card and down load it and put the in my card pac. I know when I take out the battery I load the next highest number at 6 go back to 1. I may be a nut but it is automatic now and my cameras are always ready.

DaveyDitzer Loc: Western PA

NJphotodoc wrote:

Hi all. When I get back from a day taking pictures... (show quote)

I bought 3 nikon batteries and rotate them. One consistently will charge faster and then discharge faster. Not sure if this is a "memory" issue or not. Is starts well in the camera, but when its capacity drops from full, it drops like a stone.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

mas24 wrote:

Watson is the only third party battery I use now. They are easier to purchase than Wasabi batteries.

Wasabi at bluenook.com (international distributor) with free shipping, Wal-Mart online (thru bluenook), B&H, Amazon, and many others.

mrussell

I allow my batteries to die in the camera, but I always have multiple back up batteries on hand. I own six. The camera will actually not allow the battery to completely die. It warns me at 5% and won't fire the shutter.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

OddJobber wrote:

Wasabi at bluenook.com (international distributor) with free shipping, Wal-Mart online (thru bluenook), B&H, Amazon, and many others.

Thanks for the info, but I don't buy Wasabi batteries anymore. Only Nikon and Watson. One vendor was out of stock on my Wasabi choice. They had Watson's, so I ordered one. Been stuck on them ever since.

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

I'm in the Canon camp; I don't typically recharge batteries until the gauge shows them to be less than 50%; however, if I'm going out for what may be an all day shoot, I put a fresh battery in the camera, charge the <50%-er and take both on the shoot. This also insures I'm cycling the batteries and not using one more than the other.

I know they don't have the memory problem of ni-cads, but neither am I certain that frequent recharging isn't completely harmless.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

The early failure of NiCd batteries were the result of the metallurgy of grain growth being dendritic. When the battery would discharge a Ni ion would migrate to the opposite electrode, then on 'charge' that ion would move back to the Ni electrode there to start or conrinue a dendrite (least energy statistical thermodynamics enters gere). Eventualy the dendrite would cross the electrolyte 'shorting out' portion of the battery. I do not know enough about the detailed chemistry of the anode and cathode reactions to surmise results. But to be sure, removal of atoms from one place to another and reversal will occur in accordance with statistical thermodynamics which is beyond we mere mortals pay grades.

TheShoe Loc: Lacey, WA

At the start of a trip, I always insure that all batteries are fully charged. Then after a days shooting, I replace the one in the camera with a fully charged one and recharge any that were used during the day. That way, I start each day with all batteries fully loaded. I have been dong this for years, no matter what type of camera I have. That said, it really is a necessity with my F1000Z because it eats batteries.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

NJphotodoc wrote:

Hi all. When I get back from a day taking pictures... (show quote)

Yes, Li-Ion batteries are different from 70's technology NiCad batteries. I've rarely run a battery down in a day. I have two batteries for each of my three cameras. So between uses or outings I swap batteries and recharge the now spare. Luckily I have only two styles of batteries, four of one for two cameras and two for another camera. All my batteries are OEM ones.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Grace98 wrote:

I too recharge my batteries when I retur home. I used to work with a company where most of the products used rechargeable batteries. Our engineers used to tell us that it is better to charge a battery after every use as this would prolong the life of the battery. Apparently if you have to charge the battery every time from completely flat, lessens battery life....but not sure if this is correct though...

Well, that makes four of us on this post. So, we can't be all bad. Can we? Lol.