Hardware Quick Charging Question

[sonknuck23]

Some people say that charging whenever is bad, and I usually end up waiting until whatever I'm using (in this case, my 3DS) is dead before I charge it. However, I'm about to go out for a while and my 3DS is only half charged, and just in case, I'd rather have it fully charged.

That being said, will charging it now lessen the battery life in the future? Or is it totally safe if I just plug it in now and let it charge.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Feels Good Man]

Some people say that charging whenever is bad, and I usually end up waiting until whatever I'm using (in this case, my 3DS) is dead before I charge it. However, I'm about to go out for a while and my 3DS is only half charged, and just in case, I'd rather have it fully charged.

That being said, will charging it now lessen the battery life in the future? Or is it totally safe if I just plug it in now and let it charge.

Thanks in advance.

It's worse for the battery to let your electronic completely die before charging it.

 

[sonknuck23]

I take your advance 'cause you joined GBAtemp on my birthday, you're canadian (moi aussi), and your name is "Feels Good Man".

I'll go charge it now.

 

[notmeanymore]

From what I've heard around the forums, all those tips people used to give you like "Charge your battery fully before using it for the first time." and "Completely discharge your battery before charging it." don't apply anymore because of Lithium-Ion batteries.

 

[sonknuck23]

So now, it just doesn't matter, right? I can charge whenever?

 

[aiRWaLKRe]

Its best to not let the battery die completely that will shorten life, recharge around 15% is good. Plus charging a battery shortens its life after many many chargers. The manual for the 3ds says on page 16 you can recharge the battery approximately 500 times and around then you might have about 70% of the normal time of a new battery.

 

[Fishaman P]

Here's the scoop:

Old style batteries would set their "dead" level to whatever the battery level was at when you started charging it. i.e. Early Charge = BAD.

New style batteries don't care. It's like a car's gas tank. It just uses whatever's in there. i.e. Early Charge = FINE/GOOD

 

[Zarxrax]

Does the 500 times figure quoted in the manual mean 500 FULL charges?

Like if I could get 4 hours of gameplay out of a single charge,
if I play for 1 hour and then charge it, and repeat that 3 more times,
does that count as 1 charge or 4 charges?

 

[Skitty22]

Ahh shows just how far we have come in battery tech i remember the old Ni-cads they were good but the because of the memory effect there were terrible.

In terms of the battery for the 3DS i charged it for 3.5 hours initally and it is fine , but also worth remembering a battery is chipped and knows when to cut off they are designed to do this for saftey and also to protect the device itself from short circuits , over charge and overheat so never force them to charge.

 

[spiritofcat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/helpdesk/...n-batteries/124
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-tips...attery-life/289

Allow partial discharges and avoid full ones (usually)
Unlike NiCad batteries, lithium-ion batteries do not have a charge memory. That means deep-discharge cycles are not required. In fact, it’s better for the battery to use partial-discharge cycles.
There is one exception. Battery experts suggest that after 30 charges, you should allow lithium-ion batteries to almost completely discharge. Continuous partial discharges create a condition called digital memory, decreasing the accuracy of the device’s power gauge. So let the battery discharge to the cut-off point and then recharge. The power gauge will be recalibrated.

 

[notmeanymore]

So basically, charge it every night, and fully discharge once a month? That could work.