Author Topic: Battery Life! Read Me! (Read 4871 times)

DaemonsGR · « **on:** March 13, 2006, 10:04:50 am »

From this site: Site

Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.

What do you believe about that? Should we charge Z before full discharge?

-Tasos

Mjolinor · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2006, 10:20:47 am »

Absolutely you should. IIRC it's best to keep LiIon and Li polymer at around 60% charge wherever possible. That maximises charge and life.

bluedevils · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2006, 11:22:04 am »

You do not need to fully discharge the battery like the nimh batteries. Occasionally (once a month or longer depending on usage) you may want to do a deep discharge and recharge. This will recalibrate the circuitry in the battery. This circuitry keeps track of battery status so it doesn't overcharge.

YoG · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2006, 12:15:33 pm »

how do you "do a deep discharge and recharge"?
do you just leave the Z powered on until it's powered off?

YoG.

Mjolinor · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2006, 01:07:34 pm »

Normally the control circuitry will go into learn mode once the battery is discharged to the point where it won't turn on. It is also normal to stay in learn mode until fully charged so you shouldn't discharge then partially charge. It should be discharged and then left on charge until fully charged.

If the Zaurus has this type of charge circuitry then you are best just leaving it alone as turning it on when it is nearly charged can make the electronics think the charge is complete and it can leave you with a false full level.

speculatrix · « **Reply #5 on:** March 14, 2006, 07:13:05 pm »

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Normally the control circuitry will go into learn mode once the battery is discharged to the point where it won't turn on. It is also normal to stay in learn mode until fully charged so you shouldn't discharge then partially charge. It should be discharged and then left on charge until fully charged.

If the Zaurus has this type of charge circuitry then you are best just leaving it alone as turning it on when it is nearly charged can make the electronics think the charge is complete and it can leave you with a false full level.
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I'm not convinced the zaurus' charge control is that clever... I think it's a classic LiIon two phase charger: constant-current until the battery reaches a certain threshold voltage and then trickle charge until its "full". This was how most lithium chargers were made until coulomb counters and other sophisticated things were created.

One key thing is not to let the battery get too hot when charging, or, to use it when the battery is really really cold. That, AIUI, really reduces the life of the cells.

xamindar · « **Reply #6 on:** March 14, 2006, 07:31:33 pm »

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If the Zaurus has this type of charge circuitry then you are best just leaving it alone as turning it on when it is nearly charged can make the electronics think the charge is complete and it can leave you with a false full level.
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I can't imagine anyone wanting to design a charger in this way. It would mean that if the battery was charged at 60% and you turn it on then all you can charge to from now on is 60%. There would be a lot of upset people if this was the case.

Mjolinor · « **Reply #7 on:** March 15, 2006, 02:56:53 am »

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I can't imagine anyone wanting to design a charger in this way. It would mean that if the battery was charged at 60% and you turn it on then all you can charge to from now on is 60%. There would be a lot of upset people if this was the case.
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No, it only goes into learn mode at the low extreme of the charge cycle. If you have Linux on an Ipaq you can cat all the numbers and settings from the PROC directory. If you let it go as flat as you can then as soon as you apply a charger it writes that value to flash and uses it as the low reference. It stays in learn mode until fully charged or the charger is removed. That is why the instructions with an Ipaq tell you to fully charge it when new. It can lead to stupid problems if those numbers get screwed.

Da_Blitz · « **Reply #8 on:** March 15, 2006, 05:55:48 am »

Intresting, i have noticed that i am getting reduced battery life and i do run the battery to about 10% each day (then it shuts down like windows CE, i dont care if i lose my current state as my data is on Flash)

guess i will have to recondition it, bat as i have external battery packs i might just top it up when not in use

xamindar · « **Reply #9 on:** March 15, 2006, 12:29:01 pm »

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i have external battery packs i might just top it up when not in use
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Could you post a pic of the external battery packs? I'm curious.

DaemonsGR · « **Reply #10 on:** March 18, 2006, 10:12:30 am »

Let me ask you smthng!
1) If you have use 20% of battery (80% remaining) do you plug it when you get home?(or office )
2) If you have finished charging and working while in extrernal power and you unplug it for some hours without using it (lets say you did need it in your work) then you plug it again if you want to use it in the home?

I used to leave it to discharge to plug it again!

That do you believe?

thnx,
tasos

bluedevils · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2006, 02:00:27 pm »

1) yes when I know I will need a full charge later (the next time I use it)
2) it shouldn't do any real harm, but sometimes I just unplug it while doing some work at home anyways.

Da_Blitz · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2006, 06:45:06 pm »

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=...a78db437319a596

thats the battery pack i have

DaemonsGR · « **Reply #13 on:** March 19, 2006, 06:50:16 am »

Quote

Let me ask you smthng!
1) If you have use 20% of battery (80% remaining) do you plug it when you get home?(or office )
2) If you have finished charging and working while in extrernal power and you unplug it for some hours without using it (lets say you did need it in your work) then you plug it again if you want to use it in the home?

I used to leave it to discharge to plug it again!

That do you believe?

thnx,
tasos
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Anyone else doing this on li-ion batteries?

pdahandyman · « **Reply #14 on:** March 21, 2006, 05:25:14 pm »

What about batteries that do not recharge correctly? I purchased a new EA-BL08 from LFL for $15 (its an aftermarket no-name brand) when my original would no longer charge, but the new one has the same issue. This leads me to think that its a power module issue or the OS I have on it (QTopia 2.1.2 on an SL-5600) just can't deal with the data. I also can't restore the original OS, but that's a post for another topic...

Any ideas?

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Author Topic: Battery Life! Read Me! (Read 4871 times)