Charging a cellular phone battery.

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Picard

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I gots myself one of them new cellular phones today. It say its a SonyEricsson C902. The dude at the shop say I should charge the cellular phone for 16 hours before I use it. But after just 3 hours it already say its fully charged. Is the dude at the shop a dumb-ass or should I continue wiff the charging. Why?

kfanxbai.
 
Nice phone. Sold mine yesterday.

People will tell you different things about a battery needing one long 1st charge. I am not sure either way. Have done it with some phones and not with others and have not really noticed a difference in battery performance/life
 
I have browsed the web, read manuals and asked around multiple times regarding this issue. No manual ever states this 13+ hour thing - the closest I've come is the Nokia manuals specifying that a new battery might take 2 or 3 charge cycles before it reaches full capacity.

I know some manufacturers even provides half-charged batteries when you buy a phone.

So I wouldn't worry too much - what I would do is plug it in, charge it for 3 hours and then turn it on. Keep it in the charger for as long as you possibly can, but "play" with it already!!
 
Easy way to test if its still plugged in once charged is to feel if the charger is still warm, it its cold then its obviously not charging the phone anymore so you can take it off. +1 to the nokia manual
 
Yeah, if there is life in the battery when you get it then play around with it until it dies and then charge it fully for the 1st time. Works for me :)
 
adsl3g said:
Easy way to test if its still plugged in once charged is to feel if the charger is still warm, it its cold then its obviously not charging the phone anymore so you can take it off. +1 to the nokia manual
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You're assuming that all chargers are switching power supplies, which they aren't. Lots of chargers will stay on regardless of whether it's charging or not.
 
quik said:
You're assuming that all chargers are switching power supplies, which they aren't. Lots of chargers will stay on regardless of whether it's charging or not.
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All my cell phone chargers are cold when the phone is fully charged and still plugged in - that includes Samsung, Nokia, iPhone and SE. So I suppose they are all 'switching 'chargers.
 
I call BS on the whole 'charge for 16 hours' thing. Haven't done it once, with any of my rechargeable gadgets & I don't see my goodies lasting anywhere less than what's reasonable between charges...
 
enigma243 said:
I call BS on the whole 'charge for 16 hours' thing. Haven't done it once, with any of my rechargeable gadgets & I don't see my goodies lasting anywhere less than what's reasonable between charges...
Click to expand...

+1
 
With my old Samsung D820 I have actually noticed that the battery life was better after I charged the second battery for 16 hours, could have just been a bad battery as well.

What are your guys take on charging a phone before it is fully discharged? This is something that people often do, but does it really have an effect on battery life?
 
This is actally a debatable topic.... ive always got the 16 hour first charge talk whenever i got a new phone... according to MTN/Italk, this long chrge actually ensures the cells in the battery actually "build" themselves properly ... but personally i dont know how much truth that holds ....
 
Picard said:
I gots myself one of them new cellular phones today. It say its a SonyEricsson C902. The dude at the shop say I should charge the cellular phone for 16 hours before I use it. But after just 3 hours it already say its fully charged. Is the dude at the shop a dumb-ass or should I continue wiff the charging. Why?

kfanxbai.
Click to expand...

Wait! I have a C902! Don't think I've ever charged it for 16 hours in one go...
 
the thing is the phone STOPS charging after the battery is full so it makes no sense...

I asked specifically lately whether i should charge my phone and at vodaworld i was told no, its not applicable anymore, i mean we have newer types of batteries...
 
The whole charge for 16hours thing was for NiCad batteries. Its clear the dealers havent updated their sales people on the new technology.

The new phones come with Li-Ion batteries, and dont need the whole 16 hour charge to activate all the cells.
 
Ni-Cad batteries circa 1998 were recommended to be charged for 16 hours. No need for Li-ion etc.

The "charge it for 16 hours" is still in use because the retailer hopes you'll read the handbook while you are "forced" to wait 16 long hours to play with the new toy!!

Even switching chargers consume some current just by being plugged it. They only really get warm when charging. If we all unplugged a cellphone chargers when they are not in use, you could save enough electricity to have a free shower every ten years! :D
 
I did notice, however, that only after 2 full charge-discharge cycles did i get the full 4 day standby time expected.
 
I think that you should be able to have full battery life if you charge it on-the-fly, but should allow for a charge-discharge cycle in between.
 
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