Battery Questions

[y_jin123]

When I get a p3, what should i do first?

Should I drain the battery, and then charge it?

or should i charge it straight out of the box?

And in the future should i wait until the battery runs out, or charge it whenever i finish using it?

Thanks

[CrowdAds]

[Dreamnine]

Charge it when you get it. Don't wait for it to fully discharge before charging as a rule.

I don't let mine get half-empty before recharging.

[stargazer]

JK98 posted a link to helpful battery information in the cold hurting a player thread. Worth a read.

Originally Posted by JK98

Cold doesn't drain the battery, it slows the chemical reactions down which create power, and if it is cold enough, the battery won't put out enough power. The battery will put out power and operate well again once it warms up. The danger though is that it gets too cold and the battery freezes and gets permanently damaged. The screen can also freeze if it gets cold enough, and be permanently damaged.


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

[curiouswonderer]

I don't think it matters too much with newer batteries. But my advice would be to not charge it too sporadically.

E.g. Don't charge it halfway, and unplug it, and then plug it in again an hour later.

[shopao]

Originally Posted by Dreamnine

Don't wait for it to fully discharge before charging as a rule.

indeed. i charge mine when there's no bar left on the battery indicator.

[TomCat39]

It's a lithion Ion battery, charge it anytime. Depleting the battery too much can be hazardous to the battery. Also it seems that the P3 can overcharge the battery which can reduce battery life so once full, don't leave it charging. The manual says don't charge over 12 hours.

Lithium Ion doesn't have memory issues like NiCd or NiMH batteries. And unlike them, they aren't limited in how many times they can be charged. Lithium Ion is good for approximately 3 years regardless of how many or how few times it's been charged unlike NiCd or NiMH batteries which have X (usually 500) amount of charges before they are no good.

If you do some reading of rechargeable batteries at wikipedia, you'll find some really good information about all the battery types and the differences. And you will find the treatment of Lithium Ion is totally different than the classical rechargeable battery types (NiCd/NiMH).

[Yoshi1984]

Im guilty of that though. I'd download music on to it unplug the USB. Then plug it back in to change something... now it seems my battery doesn't hold a charge very well.
I haven't been plugging it into the USB nearly as often lately. Im not sure if i've already put some hurt on the battery or not, it just doesn't seem to last very long.