discharge battery completely before recharge?

[wolvie77]

Hi! all. I'm using a Nikon D5000. Is it necessary to completely discharge the battery before recharging or is it ok to charge it if i have only 1 bar left.

 

[Octarine]

Hi! all. I'm using a Nikon D5000. Is it necessary to completely discharge the battery before recharging or is it ok to charge it if i have only 1 bar left.

Is it stated so in your manual? Charge when the battery is low, store in well-charged condition. If you try to discharge the battery manually you will destroy it.

 

[papajanggo33]

charge it when it is low, meaning you've got 1 bar left. so it's ok to charge at that point. not necessarily till the camera blinks indicating low battery. hope it helps.

cheers
papajanggo33

 

[Timolol]

I believe Li-on batteries do not have memory effect, so there shouldn't be a problem charging it even if it isn't completely 'drained'.

 

[tunge]

Hi! all. I'm using a Nikon D5000. Is it necessary to completely discharge the battery before recharging or is it ok to charge it if i have only 1 bar left.

it's not neccessary, in fact not advisable to let the battery discharge fully.

 

[sabee]

Hi! all. I'm using a Nikon D5000. Is it necessary to completely discharge the battery before recharging or is it ok to charge it if i have only 1 bar left.

As someone else has already mentioned before me, you should not let it discharge fully. Its best to recharge whenever you can, and when keeping it in storage, you should have at least a 3/4 charge on it.

 

[geekbrains]

I believe Li-on batteries do not have memory effect, so there shouldn't be a problem charging it even if it isn't completely 'drained'.

That's correct.

In fact, completely letting your battery drain will potentially make the voltage go lower than the threshold and may not allow you to charge the battery again.

 

[madmartian]

Hi! all. I'm using a Nikon D5000. Is it necessary to completely discharge the battery before recharging or is it ok to charge it if i have only 1 bar left.

I think that there's a safety catch level, the camera won't fire when its showing 1 bar or left with little power in it, in other words, you can't shoot till the battery goes flat. This is a built in safety device. Please correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Timolol]

I think that there's a safety catch level, the camera won't fire when its showing 1 bar or left with little power in it, in other words, you can't shoot till the battery goes flat. This is a built in safety device. Please correct me if I'm wrong

True. That's why never store batteries when empty, always leave about half-charge when storing (e.g. for 3 months).

 

[Dream Merchant]

Do a search on maintaining li-on batts.

From what I've heard, they have very specific charge/discharge/storage charge requirements.

 

[geekbrains]

I think that there's a safety catch level, the camera won't fire when its showing 1 bar or left with little power in it, in other words, you can't shoot till the battery goes flat. This is a built in safety device. Please correct me if I'm wrong

It's correct in certain aspects. However, the battery has a self discharge and the internal resistance keeps growing. When this discharges the battery below the threshold, the protection circuit will disable the charging circuity to prevent any mishap.

PS: Most of the reconditioned LiIon batteries just have this circuit fixed or charged with a surge which brings back the circuit / battery alive.

 

[Edwin Francis]

some light reference reading on the subject ...

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

 

[Blur Shadow]

I always just charge it when I need it. 3 years on, still no major issues yet.