Battery Tips

[Little Horn]

I've noticed a lot of people complaining that they've had to Zune for a day or two and their battery doesn't seem to hold a charge. This is something that I have learned in my experience with computers and other battery operated electronic devices. You have to condition your battery in order to get optimal performance out of it. Here is small guide on just how to condition your battery. This applies to anything from Laptops to Cellphones to MP3 players.

First, I have never seen an electronic device that has been packaged with a fully charged battery. I'm not sure why this is but I'm sure that there is a viable reason for it.

You've got your device and the first thing you want to do it play with it. That's great but patience is a virtue that you should use. Before you go turning your device on you need to plug your device in and allow it to FULLY charge. Not just enough to unplug it and start messing around with but FULLY charge it. Once it's fully charged you can play with it all you want.

After this, you are going to want to completely drain your battery until you can't turn the device on anymore. Then plug it in and let it charge fully again. After this your battery has been conditioned. Now this is not to say that there is no such thing as a "bad" battery but I can tell you that this will solve a lot of the problems that most people have when complaining about battery life.

[mr.handsomeman]

Originally Posted by floorpuncher

I've noticed a lot of people complaining that they've had to Zune for a day or two and their battery doesn't seem to hold a charge. This is something that I have learned in my experience with computers and other battery operated electronic devices. You have to condition your battery in order to get optimal performance out of it. Here is small guide on just how to condition your battery. This applies to anything from Laptops to Cellphones to MP3 players.

First, I have never seen an electronic device that has been packaged with a fully charged battery. I'm not sure why this is but I'm sure that there is a viable reason for it.

You've got your device and the first thing you want to do it play with it. That's great but patience is a virtue that you should use. Before you go turning your device on you need to plug your device in and allow it to FULLY charge. Not just enough to unplug it and start messing around with but FULLY charge it. Once it's fully charged you can play with it all you want.

After this, you are going to want to completely drain your battery until you can't turn the device on anymore. Then plug it in and let it charge fully again. After this your battery has been conditioned. Now this is not to say that there is no such thing as a "bad" battery but I can tell you that this will solve a lot of the problems that most people have when complaining about battery life.

huh.....how did you figure this out man? thanks for the info!

[Gow616]

Basic Lithium Battery maintenance information but I found that I have never had to do this with the Zune 80 or 30, I just fully charged them and used them.

This kind of maintenance is also good for a battery reset on a notebook, which my Lenovo has a program that does it for me.

[Scrapz616]

Originally Posted by floorpuncher

After this, you are going to want to completely drain your battery until you can't turn the device on anymore. Then plug it in and let it charge fully again. After this your battery has been conditioned. Now this is not to say that there is no such thing as a "bad" battery but I can tell you that this will solve a lot of the problems that most people have when complaining about battery life.

But I heard draining the battery completely was bad for the battery, cuz it lowers the battery life, is that true on false?

[CameleonMK]

I agree. I'm a tech geek and have personally found that this is the right stuff to do.

And scrapz it's both true and false. True, if you do it a lot. False because the first few times, your letting your battery know its limits.

[Scrapz616]

Originally Posted by CameleonMK

I agree. I'm a tech geek and have personally found that this is the right stuff to do.

And scrapz it's both true and false. True, if you do it a lot. False because the first few times, your letting your battery know its limits.

Oh, I see, thnx for clearing that up.
Well then, gj on the tips FloorPuncher.

[Gow616]

I sometimes forget being an advanced user that sometimes this information is not known by the average user. I still say that results may vary but it is a good method to follow with all lithium battery devices.

Good job on posting the information.

[Little Horn]

Originally Posted by CameleonMK

And scrapz it's both true and false. True, if you do it a lot. False because the first few times, your letting your battery know its limits.

Exactly!

Just in the past few days I think I've seen about three or four different posts with people crying about how they just bought their Zune and now it won't hold a charge. I'll put money on it that they were impatient and started zuning straight out of the box.

Also, you don't always have to follow these guidelines because every devices is different and may not be affected by using it straight out of the box but I always take the safe route and follow these rules with all of my new electronics.

I hope that this helps some people out.

[Hostile]

I still don't know if I believe that you must charge it fully before using it. It doesn't make sense why you would need to. The procedure of fully charging a battery before using it was to prevent the memory effect. Lithium Ion batteries which are used in almost all modern electronics do not have the memory effect. I do believe fully draining the battery maybe once a month helps the battery correctly hold a full charge.