General battery care

[janchower]

Here is such a general and simple question that I haven't seen an answer anywhere (let alone in my player's manual!): How do you best care for the battery?

Firstly I believe all of the batteries in use with MP4 players are lithium based, and therefore not susceptable to memory effects. I checked my battery but all I could see was basic information (in chinese) about the voltage rating. Can any one confirm that Lithium is the standard?

Secondly, what is the best way to charge up the battery? Should you just use it until it drains completely, or is it better to just charge daily, similar to plugging a cell phone in at night?

From my experience I've had trouble charging my player via USB connected to a computer. Maybe the current/voltage from my computer is not enough to give an adequate charge.

I've had much better success charging via a wall charger (included with the player, which has a USB output). This seems very reliable. However, I have a question:

When the light on the charger goes from red to green, does this mean that the battery is charged? I've noticed that in this case usually the battery indicator on the MP4 player still shows that it is charging. Should I just keep going or would that be a good time to unplug the charger?

One last question I have: Is it safe to leave the player charging, say overnight (for example 12 hours or more)? Is there any danger to the battery if I do this?

Maybe this question is not as simple as I thought...



By the way I did try to do my homework before posting. For those of you who have read through all of this I would like to share an interesting technical document I found on the internet:
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

This is good general information about lithium batteries, and gives me an idea about how to care for my MP4 player. However if anyone can provide specific answers to my questions I would greatly appreciate it!!

[lattesurf]

janchower , i guess it should be lithium based (perhaps someone could translate it for us?).

For lithium batteries, it is recommended for small top-ups rather than large-tops (flat to full). As it would cause greater stress to the battery, so i would stick with daily.

Are you using a USB hub? If yes, then you will need to connect the player directly to the USB port on your computer, rather than through the hub. Connectting multiple hardware to the hub drains current away to the other hardwares, thus your player might not have enough current to charge properly.

i'm not sure about the green and red light, i've only used the adaptor once so far. But a general guideline is when charging via AC adaptor, do not leave it charging more than it should. So once it's charged fully (you can see from the player itself), disconnect it. There were cases of other people in this forum who "fried" their players by leaving it charging extended period.

[janchower]

Lattesurf - THANK YOU for your clear reply. Much appreciated and exactly what I was looking for. I'm sure this information will be useful to many others besides myself.

One last question (I promise): Is it healthy to disconnect a charging MP4 player if the charge bar is not yet 100% full?

[tadad1]

janchower, Lithium batteries have no memory issues so partial charges are not a problem. Lots of quick charges are less stressfull than prolonged full charges as the longer the player charges the more heat is generated and heat will degrade the battery quicker than any other factor. This is why mains charging is not recommended for prolonged periods or as the primary charging method because they cause the battery to heat up more than a gentle usb charge.

[janchower]

Tadad1, thank you very much for your comments. I'll have to go back and see what the problem is with my computer's USB... Maybe I just didn't give it enough of a chance. Going forward I'll try to avoid using the wall charger.

Great to know that partial charging is actually not a problem. Thanks for the reassurance!