EN-EL3e

[billowwang]

Hi All, does EN-EL3e need to be charged for 12hrs before the 1st use, thanks.

[supernikon]

I understand the logic of a full charge, and full discharge, which is basically done to maximize the battery's potential. Whenever you get a new electronic equipment, that comes with rechargeable batteries, they always come half charge, or in the case of my D300, Fully Charged.

I have been recommended by a friend to actually drain out the remaining power left in the new battery. Which means you should go out and shoot, play around with the functions/features, till the battery's power is flat. Only then do you do the 12 hour full charge. It is only in this case, that the whole "first time charge, charge 12 hours for better battery life" comes in to play.

My 2 cents!
Cheers!

BTW! Welcome to the forum!

[whkoh]

False, lithium ion batteries like the EN-EL3e do not need a special first charge cycle.

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm

It is also impossible to overcharge or overdischarge the battery.

[doom102938]

Wrong, leave your discharged li-ion battery for 2 months and see how many % of its max capacity it would hold fully charged.

[supernikon]

Im LOST?

So do we need to do the 12 hour charge thing or not?
As far as i know, my Macbook Pro has lithium batteries, and as you said, if you leave them alone for awhile, power is lost.

Also, on my MB Pro, there is a Battery diagnostic software, that can tell you the charge cycles, and battery health. I currently have THREE MB Pro batteries, and the first one that came together with the laptop itself, only has like 60% battery health left.

Did my research, and was told that the reason behind its dying health, is that i have overcharged it on too many occasions.
Thus shouldnt the cycle thing be true!?!?!

[Saycheese78]

Hi

For your information, the Li-Ion battery charger IC which does the battery charging actually
1) Charges your battery to full after 1-2 hrs.. it does not have the capability to learn whether it is a virgin charge battery
2) Upon "fully charged", indicate via the LED on your charger that is full charge.
3) Some charger may do a top up charge for 30min to 1 hr
4) Then the charger will stop charging completely!!!! It does not do anything to the battery beyond this stage.

In summary, when your Battery charger indicate full charge, just turn it on for another 1 hour and you are fine.

Nickel Hydride need to do a full discharge 1st and you need to charge it to full. You are correct in that. Nickel Hydride has got a memory effect.

[doom102938]

Hmm. I guess just charge for around 8 hrs on the first round.

The moment you charge the battery, it starts discharging even though it is not used immediately. If you leave it discharged and store it for a while, it will continue to discharge. This will result in the battery's inablity to hold a charge properly after exposed to such conditions.

You MacBook Pro's battery should retain about 80% after 300 charges. I am no expert in batteries but i think when you leave it plugged in, the battery would heat up over operating temperature(espcially prolonged periods, MacBook Pros are also known to run rather hot, contributing to the problem). I think this is what causes it to deteriote.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

[supernikon]

hahah thanks doom!
BTW TS,
Sorry for going OT about MB pro batteries, but was trying to draw a comparison!

[whkoh]

Originally Posted by doom102938 The moment you charge the battery, it starts discharging even though it is not used immediately. If you leave it discharged and store it for a while, it will continue to discharge. This will result in the battery's inablity to hold a charge properly after exposed to such conditions.

I was referring to discharge from use, not self-discharge. A safety circuit ensures that deep discharge from use cannot occur.

Anyway, all rechargeable cells suffer from self-discharge but for lithium ion batteries like the EN-EL3e this is negligible at 5% per month.

Lithium ion batteries lose capacity simply due to aging. It is recommended to store lithium ion batteries at 40% charge. High charge levels cause faster aging of lithium ion batteries, as do high temperatures.

It may be fruitful to do a full discharge every 30 charges to synchronise the battery gauge with the actual capacity of the battery.

[Saycheese78]

Originally Posted by whkoh I was referring to discharge from use, not self-discharge. A safety circuit ensures that deep discharge from use cannot occur. Anyway, all rechargeable cells suffer from self-discharge but for lithium ion batteries like the EN-EL3e this is negligible at 5% per month. Lithium ion batteries lose capacity simply due to aging. It is recommended to store lithium ion batteries at 40% charge. High charge levels cause faster aging of lithium ion batteries, as do high temperatures. It may be fruitful to do a full discharge every 30 charges to synchronise the battery gauge with the actual capacity of the battery.

Every Single Line is correct.. However, there is an advance battery guage which we should be seeing in the market around now that do not need to synchronise.

Storing battery at 40% charge is strongly advisable. There is even a school of thought to charge it to 40% and put it in the freezer to freeze Li-ION!!!

One very common question asked was always, Should I charge my battery when it is 30% capacity or at 0%. Anyone has any thoughts? This is highly debatable... Li-Ion age with respect to
1) How many charging cycles
2) How empty you allow it to be, it is bad for the battery if you discharge to 0% vs 30%. Of course, you can reduce number of charges by charging when it is 0%!! haha

[billowwang]

Hi all, thanks a lot for your reply.