Cradle charging question...

[SD-Realtor]

I just got a 4155, and this is my first experience with a cradle. With my 1945 I would always unplug it when the battery showed it was full, to avoid any harm to the battery. My question is... is it bad to keep the 4155 in the cradle once the battery is completely full? I think I have heard in the past that it can harm the battery over time to have it always plugged in, even though it technically stops charging. What should I do... keep it in, or take it out when it's fully charged?

Thanks!
Jeff

[Ultima]

The iPaqs utilize a "smart" recharging system. When the battery reaches full, it switches over to a slower charge that, while placing a small amount of wear-and-tear on the battery, will not cause it to explode or damage the iPaq. There's nothing to worry about.

In the old days, we didn't have these smart chargers. I once put my Palm V on my cradle, then the battery exploded. It flew through the wall and blew up my neighbor's truck. He was pissed! We settled it out of court, luckily. ;)

[Menneisyys]

The iPaqs utilize a "smart" recharging system. When the battery reaches full, it switches over to a slower charge that, while placing a small amount of wear-and-tear on the battery, will not cause it to explode or damage the iPaq. There's nothing to worry about.


Actually,

1, it doesn't charge at all when reaching the 100% level. There's no trickle charging with lithium-based batteries, unlike with Nickel-based ones. Top-up charging, which is applied every 30-100 hours, has nothing to do wth trickle charging.

2, all Lithium-based PDA's stop charging upon this

3. Lithium-based batteries (hopefully - there may be exceptions, and your Palm battery was prolly one of them. The HardCE batteries for the 2210/1940 series are another exception) have a protection circuitry to avoid overcharging, which is deadly for a Lithium-based battery, unlike with Nickel-based ones.

I recommend the article at http://batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm on this subject.