Quote:
Originally Posted by TGS
That sounds about right. Noticed the green light after the unit had been charging all day, so I just unplugged it and so had no lights.
Incidentally, does anybody know whether it is "good for the battery" to let it discharge fully before recharging, as it used to be for old laptop batteries, or is it OK to keep it topped up?
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Standard 'best practices" for lithium ion batteries:
- Small "top offs" are much better for them than full charges. Fully charging it is what reduces it's life expectancy, and they don't have a memory effect (which is why top offs used to be bad for older batteries).
- Balanced with that is the issue of the meter calibration. The built in IC that reports on the charge level needs a full cycle every once in a while as a reference, otherwise the calibration can drift. That's why you've seen a couple reports that "out of the box" it will only charge up to around 95%. The calibration is slightly off.
Obviously, those two are at odds. Most recommendations are to top off for about 30 times or so, and then do a full charge/discharge cycle to correct the meter calibration.
For a brand new battery, you'll want to do a full charge/discharge cycle a couple of times to set the initial calibration. iRex used to say 5 cycles with their other devices, not sure if that still applies to the DR800, but I would assume so. The battery tech hasn't changed.