Nikon Battery question

[trentchau]

Willymo, you're avatar was made by the hand of god.

[Tom Swaman]

Mike,

I do not remember the exact soursce of my information about the effective lifetime of these batteries being a function of the number of full charges. However, i think this is fairly widely known in the industry. I think, but as I told you, that I learned this either from Motorola or directly from Sony. My comment was serious and not intended to be trivial, i.e. the more charges the older the battery and all things wear out.

Tom

[Tom Swaman]

Mike,

Here is a link for some of Ye Olde Bedtime Perusal: How to prolong lithium-based batteries.

Enjoy,
Tom

[blumesan]

Tom,

Many thanks for the link to battery information. I had seen this site before but had lost the address. Following is an excerpt:

Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one.

This would seem to suggest that recharging the battery more frequently (rather than letting it run nearly out) would prolong the battery life.

Cheers/Mike

[Tom Swaman]

Mike,

That is correct. I rarely let my batteries run out. I tend to recharge following a shooting session and start the next one with fresh batteries and I carry three sets of batteries with me.

I know what that article says, but my recollection is that many batteries today wear out in the 15o to 2oo charge cycle range, but I also do not recall whether this figure applies to nickel metal hydride batteries or to lithium ion batteries. the exact chemistry and electrical polarization effect makes the difference.

Tom

[blumesan]

Tom,

The other interesting bit of information in that article was the statement that, if you don't plan to use your battery for a while (doesn't say how long a while), it is best to store it with less than a full charge (he recommends 40%). This would suggest that one should wait to recharge until shortly before going out for a shoot.

[Tom Swaman]

Mike,

I believe this is the reason that new cameras are usually shipped with partially charged batteries these days. If you were as old as I am you would remember when you had to charge new camera batteries for 16 to 24 hours before using.

By the way, I believe the time, namely "a while" is between 150 and 300 hours. This is all related to the electrochemistry of the cell.

Tom

[angelsfort]

Originally Posted by Willymo

Actually, Angelsfort's Dad's camera was a Fuji S5100 p&s using four AA MiNH batteries. (This camera runs forever [almost] on a fully charged set.) And he got a lot of good shots at the zoo while someone else didn't.

HEY !! As I stated in the original post...I went out and bought another battery BECAUSE of my dead battery at the zoo!! And if you got so many good shots, MISTER, then why don't you post some of them??

[blumesan]

Originally Posted by Tom Swaman

Mike,

If you were as old as I am you would remember when you had to charge new camera batteries for 16 to 24 hours before using.

Tom

Tom,
To the best of my recollection the first camera that used a battery wasn't introduced to the market until after my 30th birthday.

Mike

[Tom Swaman]

Mike,

How about those motor drives or in the old lingo, motorized film winders?

Tom