[ken830]

I mostly agree with MSWLogo... People shouldn't be giving advise based on some perceived, uncontrolled, un-reproducible test results... I mean.. not even test results, but merely personal observation...

Lithium-Ion cells are created by chemists, researchers, and engineers, all of whom studied the chemistry of various cells and designed the batteries to be charged and discharged in a very specific manner for some very good reasons.

And the phone/charger manufacturers designed the battery packs and charging circuitry so that you and I don't have to have a deep understanding about the way it works.

Lithium-Ion cells should never, ever be discharged completely. In fact, they should really never be allowed to drop below about 2.7V cell to prevent permanent damage. Below 2.5V, and most won't even be usable anymore. And if it's severely discharged, internal shorts will form, creating dangerous conditions if charging is attempted. But consumers don't need to know all of this. So, the battery packs all have built-in circuitry to cut-off current when capacity reaches a pre-defined level. You and I don't have to worry about it.

Lithium-Ion cells should also never, ever be over-charged. They can be charged at a constant pre-defined current, or charge rate (about 0.8 to 1.0 C), until a threshold voltage is reached (about 4.2 V) and then the current will need to be throttled down to maintain a constant voltage. Charging should stop when the charge current to maintin the constant voltage is below a certain threshold. So, the battery chargers and phone manufacturers build-in charging circuitry that will NOT trickle-charge the battery after going through the proper charge cycle. It should be smart enough to periodically keep it topped-off with short periods of current. You and I don't have to worry about it.

Lithium-cells (as with cells of any other type of chemistry I know of) also have maximum discharge rates as well. Unlike Nickel-based cells that simply loose much of their capacity and efficiency when you discharge too quickly, Lithium-based cells can become dangerous. But they have safety circuitry to prevent that from happening too. So you and I don't have to worry about it.

We only need to keep the battery at a reasonable full level, and that's the best we can do.

There are a lot of blantent misconceptions/rumors/misinformation floating around about Lithium-Cells:
- Lithium-based cells do no exhibit "memory" effects.
- They do NOT need "cycling" or "priming" and it will not help in any way. Period.


In contrast, in the R/C hobby, we don't have a lot of these inherent safety mechanisms built-in. We use raw-cells and have to program our chargers to properly and safely charge and monitor our battery packs.