Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer
I own a lot of Kobo units of various types. My go-to is an original Kobo Aura six-inch, but I've actually got two of those, a Kobo HD, two Kobo Minis, and a Kobo Glo. Some of these go unused for weeks or even months. My question is about best practices for preserving battery longevity (not usage time per charge, but the overall life of the battery itself). Is it better to let an unused unit just slowly discharge on its own until the batter is empty/flat, or to leave that unit plugged into a USB charger (of which I have many; doing that would be no inconvenience)? Thoughts, please? Many thanks!
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There's a lot of disinformation about Li-On batteries and continuous charging. It's an issue that usually comes up with respect to laptops but it applies to all Li-On batteries. Li-On batteries, btw, are used on all electronics devices including phones, laptops and e-readers.
Electronics batteries USED to be NIMH which had a bunch of problems with respect to charging -- both memory effects from charging before not being (almost) depleted AND overcharging. Li-On fixed both of those problems BUT you still see the same fears (and resulting disinformation) from users repeated over & over. Disregard them
You can leave your Li-On powered device charging without consequence and you can also recharge them at any point without worrying. You can also fully deplete the battery for *brief* periods. The only thing you shouldn't do is leave the battery fully depleted for many (many) months because that *will* shorten its life ... but not immediately.
The other thing is that no Li-On battery is designed to last for more than about 2-3 years although some can last for longer. That's not a function of how it's charged, it's a function of the battery itself.
Here's a YouTube video from Dell about Li-On batteries. It's specific to their laptops but it applies to all batteries, regardless of manufacturer or device.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUNDZEak9E0