1. Stang68's Avatar
    Hey everyone,

    My Storm battery barely lasts through the day so I usually charge it overnight. Is this bad for the battery? I have heard mixed things.

    Thanks!
    11-25-08 11:21 PM
  2. JRSCCivic98's Avatar
    No, nothing wrong with that at all. You can't overcharge it. The battery doesn't last because the OS is probably not optimized and you're powering a pretty big screen as well.
    11-25-08 11:26 PM
  3. Sooks's Avatar
    yah , there is no conditioning that battery.. but if its worth anything .. mine last all day on an over night charge lol
    11-25-08 11:28 PM
  4. brothamoveson's Avatar
    No you cant hurt you may also have a lot of apps running in the background.
    11-25-08 11:28 PM
  5. Stang68's Avatar
    No you cant hurt you may also have a lot of apps running in the background.
    Yeah, I'm pretty careful about that, though. Always closing the apps, not just hitting the "End" button. I think once the OS update hits the battery life will be managed a lot better.
    11-25-08 11:48 PM
  6. spazdout's Avatar
    there was a thread about this....please search.
    11-25-08 11:57 PM
  7. identityhome's Avatar
    Stang68 or anyone else-

    I had the same question about overnight charging and I guess I missed the other thread on it too. But I thought this forum was all about "Ask away... and we all can help each other"? Post #6 was kind of snarky... jus' saying!

    Back to the topic question... So just to be sure, you're saying that the proper way to close all applications is not to hit the red phone (end call) key but the back button? (not the blackberry menu button, but the other one with the curved arrow)

    I just want to be sure I'm closing all the applications out. My Storm sometimes acts a bit slow and the battery drops off rapidly early, but holds charge steady when it's half full. (I had a car like that before) I know the phones are not the same thing, but when I had a motorola q there was another way I had to close applications that wasn't as easy. If you had too many apps open, it would kill the battery. I hated that phone and ended up using it as a puck in my street hockey game.
    11-26-08 12:52 AM
  8. cwinnes's Avatar
    Blackberry key scroll to the bottom then close
    11-26-08 01:46 AM
  9. pitviper45's Avatar
    It's actually not a good idea to charge cell phones overnight. I used to have a RAZR and my battery was shot after a year from doing just that. When I asked the verizon reps why my battery life had diminished so much they asked me if I charged the phone overnight. It turns out that when the phone is plugged in and fully charged it will draw power from the battery and then at a certain point the battery will start charging again as its power level drops. This cycle continues all through the night and ends up shortening the life of the battery over time.

    Now it could be the case that RIM has designed the circuitry so that when their phones are fully charged the battery doesn't get used and the phone draws power directly from the charger, in which case I would be wrong, but to be safe I don't leave my phone plugged in overnight anymore.

    Lithium Ion batteries don't have memory effect problems so you don't have to wait until the battery is fully depleted to charge it (that can actually be detrimental if that is the only way you charge the battery), so you could throw it on the charger as soon as you get home and hope for it to be charged before bedtime (i realize this may not be possible for everyone) or just throw it on for like 20-30 minutes whenever you have the opportunity (plug it in to a computer at work, etc) to top off the battery. If I absolutely have to charge it overnight then I will turn the phone off (put it in standby, not battery pull) and then put it to charge. Since I use my phone as an alarm it wakes up in the morning by itself when the alarm goes off. (my phone is currently a Pearl 8130)

    Hope that was helpful,

    Philip
    11-26-08 03:07 AM
  10. pitviper45's Avatar
    To clarify (because I see a lot of bile thrown at verizon reps on these boards), the verizon reps are not my only source. They initially brought up the issue to me and I subsequently researched lithium ion batteries and charging methods on the interwebs. You can google lithium ion batteries yourself to verify, here is a link to get you started: http : // 123enter.blogspot.com/2007/10/technology-facts-about-battery.html

    remove the spaces before you hit enter.

    Oh and I forgot to mention that while it is good to do a full discharge/recharge every once in a while it is better for the lithium batteries' life if you do partial discharge/recharge cycles most of the time. I know this can seem counter intuitive after having to baby those crappy Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batteries but Lithium Ion batteries are different than those two kinds and require different charging procedures.

    By the way, this is also an issue with notebook batteries. A lot of times people leave their notebooks plugged in and hardly ever use them on battery. This will eventually kill your battery life. It's good to use the battery from time to time doing partial discharges and the occasional full discharge to keep the battery in good condition. I had a friend who had the same notebook as me and after 4 years his battery couldn't even make it through bootup while mine could hold a charge for ~3 hours. When I asked him if he always ran it off AC power he said yes. I realize this is anecdotal but I am putting it here as a demonstration of information that I obtained from researching the Lithium ion batteries on the web.

    -Philip
    11-26-08 03:33 AM
  11. Stang68's Avatar
    Stang68 or anyone else-

    I had the same question about overnight charging and I guess I missed the other thread on it too. But I thought this forum was all about "Ask away... and we all can help each other"? Post #6 was kind of snarky... jus' saying
    Oh well, you see, he is a youngin' here and just likes to act big and tough like the other people who only know how to type "use the search button".
    11-26-08 09:33 AM
  12. scottlucky13's Avatar
    To clarify (because I see a lot of bile thrown at verizon reps on these boards), the verizon reps are not my only source. They initially brought up the issue to me and I subsequently researched lithium ion batteries and charging methods on the interwebs. You can google lithium ion batteries yourself to verify, here is a link to get you started: http : // 123enter.blogspot.com/2007/10/technology-facts-about-battery.html

    remove the spaces before you hit enter.

    Oh and I forgot to mention that while it is good to do a full discharge/recharge every once in a while it is better for the lithium batteries' life if you do partial discharge/recharge cycles most of the time. I know this can seem counter intuitive after having to baby those crappy Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batteries but Lithium Ion batteries are different than those two kinds and require different charging procedures.

    By the way, this is also an issue with notebook batteries. A lot of times people leave their notebooks plugged in and hardly ever use them on battery. This will eventually kill your battery life. It's good to use the battery from time to time doing partial discharges and the occasional full discharge to keep the battery in good condition. I had a friend who had the same notebook as me and after 4 years his battery couldn't even make it through bootup while mine could hold a charge for ~3 hours. When I asked him if he always ran it off AC power he said yes. I realize this is anecdotal but I am putting it here as a demonstration of information that I obtained from researching the Lithium ion batteries on the web.

    -Philip
    I to have done research and totally agree with what Philips has said. My previous BB phone was an 8830 and i would only charge it maybe 2 or 4 hours every 4 or 5 days(this was with my USB cable not the wall charger). Then maybe once a month i would let it drain all the way down and do a charge overnight (with wall charger).

    Currently with my Storm i am getting about 2 days of use out of it then have to charge it. Again i am only charging it about 2 to 4 hours every 2 days or when it says 100%.

    I would also like to say i would not qualify myself as an average user. I would say i am a little below that. I don't surf the web that much and maybe only check my phone 10-15 times a day. I do a lot of email, BBM, and texting. A Total of maybe 50-75 messages a day between all 3, reading/replying..etc.

    my 2 cents.
    11-26-08 11:07 AM
  13. bugg77's Avatar
    It's actually not a good idea to charge cell phones overnight. I used to have a RAZR and my battery was shot after a year from doing just that. When I asked the verizon reps why my battery life had diminished so much they asked me if I charged the phone overnight. It turns out that when the phone is plugged in and fully charged it will draw power from the battery and then at a certain point the battery will start charging again as its power level drops. This cycle continues all through the night and ends up shortening the life of the battery over time.

    Now it could be the case that RIM has designed the circuitry so that when their phones are fully charged the battery doesn't get used and the phone draws power directly from the charger, in which case I would be wrong, but to be safe I don't leave my phone plugged in overnight anymore.

    Lithium Ion batteries don't have memory effect problems so you don't have to wait until the battery is fully depleted to charge it (that can actually be detrimental if that is the only way you charge the battery), so you could throw it on the charger as soon as you get home and hope for it to be charged before bedtime (i realize this may not be possible for everyone) or just throw it on for like 20-30 minutes whenever you have the opportunity (plug it in to a computer at work, etc) to top off the battery. If I absolutely have to charge it overnight then I will turn the phone off (put it in standby, not battery pull) and then put it to charge. Since I use my phone as an alarm it wakes up in the morning by itself when the alarm goes off. (my phone is currently a Pearl 8130)

    Hope that was helpful,

    Philip
    So as I read this I think you're contradicting yourself. The Li-Ion batteries do not have a memory (as you correctly stated) and they do not like to be run completely down before being recharged (as you also correctly stated). These batteries do like to be "topped off" and that's why the short charges are beneficial. However, there is no harm in leaving a Li-Ion battery plugged in overnight. The worst that will happen is that it will repeatedly get "topped off" throughout the night.

    Now this would be a totally different story if we were talking about Li-Po (Litium Polymer) batteries, but the Li-Ion are fine for overnight charging.
    11-26-08 11:26 AM
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