Age Old Battery Debate

[cboy007]

Hello smart members of XDA. When you get a new device the manufacturer often has something that says "Fully charge before use". I've seen Google has one of these instruction cards and that's number 1 on it. I've done some research, and for every article saying the first charge on Li-on is the same as the 5th charge and thus just charge it regularly, there's an article saying charge it originally for 10 hours.

So, smart members. What is your take? Should I charge my Nexus before using it for 10 hours? Can I use the phone while it's charging for the first 10 hours? Can I just put the battery in and use it and not worry about special charging the first time?

Thanks.

(http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-21.htm has a good chart, but neglects this area).

 

[rumpleforeskin]

Li-on batteries

general rule is charge it as often as you can and when your home/office keep ya phone in a dock if you have one so it always charges.

Li-on batteries degrade more the more often they are reduced to minimum charge, so for best battery life charge as much as possible.

As for the 10 hour initial charge... who knows!!! i could not think of a technical reason why you should as once the battery is charged the phones internal regulator will not allow you to "overcharge" the device. you can always play with the device when its charging without any adverse effects (except it may take longer to charge if your watching films for example)

 

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From wikipedia:

Stage 1: Apply charging current limit until the voltage limit per cell is reached.[43]
Stage 2: Apply maximum voltage per cell limit until the current declines below 3% of rated charge current.[43]
Stage 3: Periodically apply a top-off charge about once per 500 hours.[43]
The charge time is about three to five hours, depending upon the charger used. Generally, cell phone batteries can be charged at 1C and laptop-types at 0.8C, where C is the current that would discharge the battery in one hour. Charging is usually stopped when the current goes below 0.03C but it can be left indefinitely depending on desired charging time. Some fast chargers skip stage 2 and claim the battery is ready at 70% charge.[43] Laptop battery chargers sometimes gamble, and try to charge up to 4.35v then disconnect battery. This helps to compensate internal resistance and charge up to 100% in short time.
Top-off charging is recommended to be initiated when voltage goes below 4.05 V/cell.[43]
Lithium-ion[which?] cells are charged with 4.2 ± 0.05 V/cell,except for military long-life cells where 3.92 V is used to extend battery life. Most protection circuits cut off if either 4.3 V or 90 °C is reached. If the voltage drops below 2.50 V per cell, the battery protection circuit may also render it unchargeable with regular charging equipment. Most battery protection circuits stop at 2.7–3.0 V per cell.[43]
For safety reasons it is recommended to stay within the manufacturer's stated voltage and current ratings during both charge and discharge cycles.