Proper battery care for a new unit

[Husker]

I was wondering from other experience, what is the best way to "break" in a new system, to get the best long term battery life, and also, are there any methods of running to get longer life?

By long life, I mean full life of the battery (not just getting 8 hours of charge from it), along with getting 8 hours (or more) per each charge.

Is it best to fully charge it (say 6 hours), and then run it to fully drain, and then repeat that a couple of times when you first get the unit? That is what the Li battery on my laptop recommended.

Also, one the battery is "broke" in, is there a problem simply running the unit all the time while it is plugged in, and not running it on battery "reserve"? Will this shorten the life?

Sorry for a n00b question, but I would rather ask now, since I think the battery is not easily replaced.

H.

[lattesurf]

the idea of charging and draining the battery for a few cycles are brought forward from the times of Nimh and nicad batteries.

Generally, li-ion batteries do not need long charges (like 8-10 hours), if your batteries needed such long charges, there might be a problem with them instead. These li-ion batteries prefer short regular charging, rather than draining almost everything and charging fully. Besides, they usually arrive new in a partially charged condition and needs only a few hours (depending on the capacity) to fully charge.

Although they prefer short charges, long term trickle charging is not recommended. Just like what you mentioned about leaving the charger on after it has been charged. Especially considering that these players are not manufactured to the best quality, where the chargers are not able to detect full charge and switch to trickle charging mode.