Question about nimh batteries

[snapper]

I have a nokia cell phone, that has nimh batteries. Is it going to hurt to charge my phone before it is completely dead?? It is a hassle running down, i would prefer to charge the batery at night before it dies. So is charging it before it is dead going to give it a memory?? Whats your opinion??

Thanks!! snapper

 

[Doug Owen]

No, it does not. That's only a problem with NiCd (not NiMH) cells, and that may not even be true.

Go for it.

Doug Owen

 

[kongfuchicken]

Yeah, about that, does anyone know the thruth about these nicads?
Partial discharge seem to provoke this memory effect and discharging them too much also hurts them...
Then how the heck do I use them? Do i have to measure their voltage before i charge them?

 

[Doug Owen]

The general advice is to only flatten them once in a while, say every 20 to 50 cycles, depending.

For sure they only last so long.....

Doug Owen

 

[cheesehead]

Some claim that overcharging creates "memory". Also, rapid discharging will create "memory". It seems that if the batteries are not getting warm, then the "trickle" charge going through them shouldn't hurt them. With a Nokia phone, I'm sure they've addressed these issues and leaving it on the charger shouldn't be a problem.

Eh, I still think a "full" discharge once in a while is good-the Nokia will turn itself off before the dreaded "cell reversal" occurs, so don't worry about this either.

cheese

ps, don't ever try discharging the battery outside the phone since that's very bad for the battery, speaking from personal stupidity.

 

[gwbaltzell]

The true "memory" problem has almost never happened on earth. It is also easy to fix by varying the charge and discharge amount. The problems many call memory are really caused by cheap chargers and/or poor quality control when making the cells, and by imbalance in multi-cell packs (batteries) when discharged beyond a certain point. Charge your Nokia when ever you want and leave it on charge if you want. Its built-in controller prevents overcharge and the damage that can be caused by cell imbalance on discharge. However, take you phone back every once in a while for a firmware update. A recent one on mine greatly reduced the drain while idle. Much longer time before it needs recharging if its just sitting.

An exception is when it is new. To condition the battery it should be fully charged and allowed to nearly fully discharge (as much as reasonable to allow full use of the phone) about 5 times. However, if this was not done I would not worry too much about it.

 

[Empath]

[ QUOTE ]
I have a nokia cell phone, that has nimh batteries. Is it going to hurt to charge my phone before it is completely dead??

[/ QUOTE ]

You could hurt them by letting them go dead. They're designed for partial charges. They aren't designed to be exhausted.

[ QUOTE ]
It is a hassle running down, i would prefer to charge the batery at night before it dies. So is charging it before it is dead going to give it a memory??

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it won't give it a 'memory'.

[ QUOTE ]
Whats your opinion??

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't want opinions; you want facts. Batteries don't operate according to opinions, they operate according to facts. People operate according to opinions, and generally come up with all kinds of unnecessary concerns and assumptions; like totally discharging battery packs and concerns about "memory". Meanwhile, the battery working by facts die from treatments based on opinions. Hmmm. This is starting to sound like a rant.

Use your phone through the day. At the end of the day, put it on your charger until the next day.