The great battery myth

Entry Filed under: Mumblings, Rants

October 13th, 2008

I remember the old days when NiMH batteries powered my, now obsolete, devices... Proper battery care was essential, and even the most non-tech savvy users were quite knowlidgeable about this topic. The rules were simple - charge a new battery for 12 hours, drain completely, and make sure that any future charging was done only when the battery was nearly depleted. Simple. Even my old Siemens C35 mobile had a "battery care" option that depleted it completely and recharged it back.

And then "it" happened... Even though 6-8 hours was pretty much an adeqate time for the battery to charge and fully form, phone & gadget dealers kept increasing that period to 12 and up to 24 hours - freakishly insane! The fact that I had to wait that long when I was eager to engage in some gadget clicking with my new device was very frustrating, and yet the bar was still being raised...

Soon after LiIon battery packs were introduced, I thought that this waiting nightmare and memory effect problems were destined to get pushed in the history books. Unfortunately, even with today's LiIon batteries, that can be charged at any time and at any charge level, every store in my surrounding area almost orders me to pre-charge my gadgets for at least 12hrs before use. As an old Spartan used to say - "this is madness!"

What got me to write this thing is my friend's recent notebook purchase. Even if the battery that came with it is an Lithium one, the store clerk assured him that it is absolutely mandatory to charge the whole thing for 12hrs... THREE TIMES!

Pathetic. The pain won't obviously end soon...

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