Help Is it harmful to charge it up over night?

[Musichead4444]

Does it have the battery protection things that stops if from over-charging? If it does not is it harmful to charge it overnight. And if it does have it, is it still harmful to charge it overnight?

 

[Rxpert83]

It is perfectly fine to charge your device overnight.

It knows when to stop charging

 

[brosko]

Some people on here disagree. I do not really know however.

 

[Sideman]

Rxpert83 is correct, Brosko. SGPs' do have charger circuits that control the charging process. No damage will be done.

I frequently recharge overnight (only when battery is very low), and have for the past year. It is safe to do.

 

[brosko]

Thats what I thought but there are some on here who swear that it is harmful to the batt

 

[Sideman]

Let me clarify things, Brosko. Well, with lithium cells, there is somewhat of a limit to how many charge cycles they will accept. Now, they don't have a "memory" like the old NiCad batts did...Lithium can be charged without any damage at any time. But to get the most life out of the battery, we should only charge them when the battery level is very low. This will help the battery last a longer time when compared to the same battery being charged a couple times a day to keep it "topped off".

So, in general, let the battery level drop until you get the low-battery warning. (you still have a little while before it will shut down) Then charge it to full. I know this is not always possible, or practical, but it should be the goal....the goal being to charge as few times as possible.

Again, topping it off doesn't cause damage, but doing so on a constant basis will eventually cause the battery to fail sooner than expected.

Hope this helps, my friend.

 

[brosko]

Let me clarify things, Brosko. Well, with lithium cells, there is somewhat of a limit to how many charge cycles they will accept. Now, they don't have a "memory" like the old NiCad batts did...Lithium can be charged without any damage at any time. But to get the most life out of the battery, we should only charge them when the battery level is very low. This will help the battery last a longer time when compared to the same battery being charged a couple times a day to keep it "topped off".

So, in general, let the battery level drop until you get the low-battery warning. (you still have a little while before it will shut down) Then charge it to full. I know this is not always possible, or practical, but it should be the goal....the goal being to charge as few times as possible.

Again, topping it off doesn't cause damage, but doing so on a constant basis will eventually cause the battery to fail sooner than expected.

Hope this helps, my friend.

I believe you. i have always thought that there was no harm in leaving charger connected. i am just saying some people do not. try explaining that to them

 

[Rxpert83]

I believe you. i have always thought that there was no harm in leaving charger connected. i am just saying some people do not. try explaining that to them

There are as many myths about how to maintain and correctly care for your battery as there are about Bigfoot

 

[brosko]

I can Imagine.

 

[ScandaLeX]

I charged mine overnight plenty of times. Come to think of it, everything I have usually goes on the charger overnight; if I don't, they won't be any good to me in the morning when I want to play.
I have friends who are still stuck on the myth that charging overnight is dangerous. I get tired of trying to teach them over wise.

 

[marcelf]

Let me clarify things, Brosko. Well, with lithium cells, there is somewhat of a limit to how many charge cycles they will accept. Now, they don't have a "memory" like the old NiCad batts did...Lithium can be charged without any damage at any time. But to get the most life out of the battery, we should only charge them when the battery level is very low. This will help the battery last a longer time when compared to the same battery being charged a couple times a day to keep it "topped off".

So, in general, let the battery level drop until you get the low-battery warning. (you still have a little while before it will shut down) Then charge it to full. I know this is not always possible, or practical, but it should be the goal....the goal being to charge as few times as possible.

Again, topping it off doesn't cause damage, but doing so on a constant basis will eventually cause the battery to fail sooner than expected.

Hope this helps, my friend.

Sideman is correct. To add to it as well.
All batteries benefit from being charged/discharged fully every time (it gives them full storage capacity by doing so). You can top them up after this, but every 4th go should be a full discharge/recharge cycle for protection purposes.

Most modern chargers do shut down when charged. I charge mine when off for minimum charge times (3 1/4 hours in UK).
8 months on my battery is as good as when I got it, 9 1/2 hours of video playback!


marcel


PS
by doing this my 12 year old video cameras batteries still work fine..

 

[Sideman]

Thanks for adding that extra info, Marcelf. Good advice.

I actually do pretty much what you describe. If it fully discharges by suppertime and I'll charge it overnight. But sometimes I just top the charge off overnight during the week. Then I make sure to let it fully drain at least on Friday and fully charge it overnight, or on Saturday.

And you are right...this allows us to get the maximun life from any of our lithium batteries.

By the way, just for clarification...The wall wart chargers we use only supply the appropriate voltage and current (no intellegence). The "brains" of the charging control for phones, and the like, are in the device itself. This is not the case for many other devices, like cordless lithium power tools...for them the "intelligence" is built into the charger.

 

[En4cer2k11]

If overnight charging was harmful, every device I own would be worthless by now. Besides my Galaxy Player and my Nexus 7, I've never owned a device that truly gave me an entire day's worth of moderate usage away from home. So I always charge whatever I intend to use overnight so I'll be fresh in the morning.

 

[Hook]

A great source of battery information is Battery University.

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

I just hook up my devices every night when I go to bed. I have done this going back to my Palms and, in general, consider deep discharges more harmful over the long run for Li-Ions than shallower ones.