Quote:
Originally Posted by elcreative
Definitely not... full discharge starts to cause internal crystals to form which initially reduce capacity and eventually destroy the cell(s)... this is not anecdotal information, it's from the battery manufacturers... if you leave the unit unused then it's also recommended to turn it off fully with a half charge...
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Yes, but like virtually ALL modern products with Lithium batteries, the PRS series readers are designed to make sure that 'full discharge' will NOT happen. Even when the battery gage hits zero bars remaining there is some reserve capacity, and at that point the unit will force a shutdown to protect the battery.
Having said this, I agree 100% that for best cycle-life, it's probably a good idea to charge when your battery gage is down to about half.
I thought I did notice a small improvement after a few charge discharge cycles but I think that this had more to do with usage patterns changing as you become more comfortable with the device and stop playing with features and settle down to mainly using it to read as intended.
I wouldn't worry about intentionally running the battery down to complete shutdown to calibrate the battery pack, because the Sony Readers have only a simple 4 segment readout battery gage icon, that doesn't show a detailed 'time remaining' readout like some other devices.
Also, you will probably eventually run it down to shutoff by accident sooner or later, and although I wouldn't make a habit of this, doing it once or twice (or even a dozen times) isn't going to hurt anything, because the PRS circuits are designed to force a full power down before you reach a discharge level that would hurt the battery.
So, bottom line, try to get the unit on the charger when it hits about the half way point if you can manage it, but no need to be paranoid about it. (For example, I wouldn't stop reading a good book on the train, just because the battery hits the half way point)
