A question about my charging habits

[Blue Protoman]

I just wanna know if I'm doing this right. I'd rather not see my battery's lifespan drop, or see it explode;

• I make it a priority to unplug my Pandora when it hits 100%.
  
• I never charge overnight (except one or twice when I first got mine).
  
• I don't let my battery charge drop very far; I charge it whenever I can regardless of the percentage I find it at. Again, I drop the charger at 100%. Lowest it's been recently is the mid-60's.
  
• I plan my charging carefully around the fact that you get 1% every two minutes if charging in low power mode.
  

Is this fine?

 

[vadsamoht]

The first two points shouldn't matter either way.


As for No.3, I believe that excessive partial discharge/recharge cycles may reduce the battery life somewhat, although I don't really know.

 

[ZXDunny]

If I'm correct, the only way you'll be able to stop your battery from bloating up (and destroying the case, as has been observed in a more than a few Pandoras now) is to simply not charge it at all. You'll get a good 10 hours of Pandora fun up to that point though.


Seriously though, have you considered running it on AC without the battery and saving the battery for those times you really need it? That battery is going to bloat up, all you can do is delay the inevitable.


D.

 

[Blue Protoman]

WHAT!?

 

[Nintendo]

Seriously though, have you considered running it on AC without the battery and saving the battery for those times you really need it? That battery is going to bloat up, all you can do is delay the inevitable.


D.

Mine is able to do this, but not every Pandora can. It's an undocumented feature too.

The first two points shouldn't matter either way.


As for No.3, I believe that excessive partial discharge/recharge cycles may reduce the battery life somewhat, although I don't really know.

Actually, points 1 & 2 are very, very important, imo.

 

[vadsamoht]

The first two points shouldn't matter either way.


As for No.3, I believe that excessive partial discharge/recharge cycles may reduce the battery life somewhat, although I don't really know.

Actually, points 1 & 2 are very, very important, imo.

They shouldn't be - The Pandora, like any other piece of electronics capable of recharging, should have some circuitry that prevents any damage from overcharging. It's probably not a good idea to leave it charging 24/7 or anything silly, but leaving ti past 100% for a while should be fine.

 

[Nintendo]

But wouldn't the battery expand or blow up?

 

[vadsamoht]

But wouldn't the battery expand or blow up?

That's what the circuits are there to prevent.

 

[Nintendo]

Ok, coolios. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Blue Protoman]

I'm confused; is there a genuine risk or not, assuming I keep with my habits?

 

[pmprog]

There used to be such a thing as battery "memory", where if you continually recharged a battery from 50%, it would "think" that it only had half the capacity that it did, and would start to run out sooner. However, AFAIK that was before NiCad and NiMh.


I believe it is good to completely drain the battery from time to time.

 

[Atomos]

I'm confused; is there a genuine risk or not, assuming I keep with my habits?

In my opinion your habits are ok.


Just to add my two (EURO) cents: I do charge my Pandora *each* night since October 2010 without any problems so far, especially without bloating up the battery.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

I've charged it overnight a few times, there's no problem, it just stops taking a charge after 100% and then the battery discharges as it normally would in low power mode. It should go down to a certain percentage and then start charging again. I wouldn't leave it in all the time, but there shouldn't be any harm in overnight charges.


I generally run my battery down to about 15% before I consider plugging it in again, partly because I still believe that a full charge and discharge is good battery practice (which may not be essential with modern batteries), and partly because I don't see the need to keep it topped up unless I'm going somewhere with it that I won't be able to charge it if it gets low.

 

[Nintendo]

Discharge? I think you lose 2% every 24 hours.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

When it's turned off maybe, in low power mode mine will drop about 25% or more over night

 

[tuki_cat]

Yeah, about 25% loss overnight for me too in power mode. I too have always charged the battery fully and then run it down to 15%-20% before a recharge. Not sure if this is needed but I know it used to be good practice with older batteries and I suppose I have just carried on.


I have left on overnight charge with no problems, but i would be reluctant to do this for longer. I think that is just because I had an issue years ago with some rechargeable batteries that I left on charge!

 

[Nintendo]

When it's turned off maybe, in low power mode mine will drop about 25% or more over night

Ouch! That's too much!

 

[tuki_cat]

When it's turned off maybe, in low power mode mine will drop about 25% or more over night

Ouch! That's too much!

Yeah, I have thought that too. In some cases I have seen much less than 25%, it makes me wonder if on some occassions it is isn't going into low power mode.

 

[Prometheus]

I've charged it overnight a few times, there's no problem, it just stops taking a charge after 100% and then the battery discharges as it normally would in low power mode. It should go down to a certain percentage and then start charging again. I wouldn't leave it in all the time, but there shouldn't be any harm in overnight charges.

It's worth pointing out that for some reason, not all Pandoras behave in this fashion (I have no idea why - I've actually had only one unit out of four that would stop, drop a bit, and then start charging again later, whilst the other three, current one included, needed/need unplugging when 100% is reached). If I remember correctly, this is due to be fixed in Hotfix 6, but right now it is something to be aware of.

 

[MarioPandio]

If these batteries do swell in some peoples cases due to prolonged overtime on the AC adapter, will those batteries ever lose that deformation of shape if left unused for a long time, or is it a permanent disfigurement?


Also (i'll report this in the appropriate place aswell) is anyone using HF6a4 and not getting the desired switch off of charging sometime after 100% is reached from Wizardstans fixes?


edit : Prometheus just posted before me as I posted, with something related. My first unit also used to do what WizardStan is creating automatically, in that it would hit 100% percent and if in Low-power mode would switch off the charging after about 5 further minutes and then drop to about 85% before re-commencing charging. Thats the ideal and I imagine where WS is planning to get it for everyone. It seems individual Pandora's are just that though, which makes for a serious headache but more personality I guess. I'm just the first with a lack of the second which I say so myself to save you the time, like Andrew Lloyd Webber once wondered about why people take an instant dislike to him!