D70 Battery Life per Charge

"Cadillac_Jones" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:34:53 +0200, paul wrote:

I completely drained my battery overnight because I left it plugged
into the USB cable with the power on. I didn't even think of the
possibility it would drain the battery quickly this way.

After a few seconds of panic that I somehow fried the camera I put in
the backup battery and everything worked great

----------------
Thanks for the information. I wanted to know a quick way to completely
drain the battery before a new charge cycle. Now I know ... USB
Don F

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 13:55:02 -0400, Don F wrote:

Thanks for the information. I wanted to know a quick way to completely
drain the battery before a new charge cycle. Now I know ... USB
Don F
Dan,

Two remarks:

1) manual says that batteries do not have the memory effect. Therefore it
is not needed any more to completly drain the battery before charging.

2) you do not need to leave it connected overnight, a few hours on the USB
is enough to drain the battery. At least that is my experience.

Paul

"paul" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 13:55:02 -0400, Don F wrote:

Thanks for the information. I wanted to know a quick way to
completely
drain the battery before a new charge cycle. Now I know ... USB
Don F
Dan,

Two remarks:

1) manual says that batteries do not have the memory effect. Therefore it
is not needed any more to completly drain the battery before charging.

Some say one should completely discharge for first 3 cycles and I plan to do
this - even though lithium batteries don't have memory effect. This info
is around on the web. Haven't any others heard this?


2) you do not need to leave it connected overnight, a few hours on the USB
is enough to drain the battery. At least that is my experience.

Paul

"paul" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 13:55:02 -0400, Don F wrote:

Thanks for the information. I wanted to know a quick way to
completely
drain the battery before a new charge cycle. Now I know ... USB
Don F
Dan,

Two remarks:

1) manual says that batteries do not have the memory effect. Therefore it
is not needed any more to completly drain the battery before charging.

Some say one should completely discharge for first 3 cycles and I plan to do
this - even though lithium batteries don't have memory effect. This info
is around on the web. Haven't any others heard this?


2) you do not need to leave it connected overnight, a few hours on the USB
is enough to drain the battery. At least that is my experience.

Paul

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 20:34:23 -0400, "larrylook"
wrote:


"paul" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 13:55:02 -0400, Don F wrote:

Thanks for the information. I wanted to know a quick way to
completely
drain the battery before a new charge cycle. Now I know ... USB
Don F
Dan,

Two remarks:

1) manual says that batteries do not have the memory effect. Therefore it
is not needed any more to completly drain the battery before charging.

Some say one should completely discharge for first 3 cycles and I plan to do
this - even though lithium batteries don't have memory effect. This info
is around on the web.

Many would not consider "being found on the web" as a sure fire
recommendation. :-))

And... No, I've not seen any legit info on doing this with lithium
batteries. I stuck the battery out of my D-70 into the charger for 3
hours, and have not run it flat yet. I just make sure it gets topped
off every month or so.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Haven't any others heard this?


2) you do not need to leave it connected overnight, a few hours on the USB
is enough to drain the battery. At least that is my experience.

Paul

"Roger Halstead" wrote:

Some say one should completely discharge for first 3 cycles and I plan to
do
this - even though lithium batteries don't have memory effect. This
info
is around on the web.

Many would not consider "being found on the web" as a sure fire
recommendation. :-))

And... No, I've not seen any legit info on doing this with lithium
batteries. I stuck the battery out of my D-70 into the charger for 3
hours, and have not run it flat yet. I just make sure it gets topped
off every month or so.

The evil nasty proprietary batteries are soooo flipping amazing.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

larrylook responds:

1) manual says that batteries do not have the memory effect. Therefore it
is not needed any more to completly drain the battery before charging.

Some say one should completely discharge for first 3 cycles and I plan to do
this - even though lithium batteries don't have memory effect. This info
is around on the web. Haven't any others heard this?

No. I haven't heard it. For NiMH, it takes from one to five charges to bring
them to full capacity, but there's no need to drain the batteries. Lithium
batteries may work the same way, but there's still no need to drain them.

Charlie Self
"When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do - lose." Dwight
D. Eisenhower

"larrylook" wrote in message
...

"paul" wrote in message
news
Dan,

Two remarks:

1) manual says that batteries do not have the memory effect. Therefore
it
is not needed any more to completly drain the battery before charging.

Some say one should completely discharge for first 3 cycles and I plan to
do
this - even though lithium batteries don't have memory effect. This info
is around on the web. Haven't any others heard this?


2) you do not need to leave it connected overnight, a few hours on the
USB
is enough to drain the battery. At least that is my experience.

Paul

-------------------------
Larry,
Remember my original post questioned the condition of the batteries *I
have* and questioned how battery life is effected by use. Page 205 of the
D70 manual gives some information on differences on battery life with types
of use. Remember my battery died after ~89 shots (which were spread over
about a month) as opposed to 500 to 1000 shots by others.
Two things could happen in a month.
The battery could drain from the small amount of current used even when
the camera is turned off. Nikon issues a warning to remove the battery when
the camera will not be used for a long time but what is a "long time"?
A fully charged battery has a shelf life. This is an unknown for the
Nikon EN-EL3 battery.
This is my *first* battery cycle and I am trying to find out if I have a
*bad* battery. I just want to know what to expect ... not with a *bad*
battery but a *good* one.
Hope this helps.
Don F

Roger Halstead wrote:
[]
Lithium batteries discharge all by themselves even when sitting on the
shelf. It's some % per day, but I don't remember the figure.
[]
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)

Lithium Ion?

Li-Ion have a much smaller self-discharge than NiMH - almost so small you
can ignore it over a month. NiMH can be as high as 30% per month.

73,
David

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:27:40 GMT, "David J Taylor"
wrote:

Roger Halstead wrote:
[]
Lithium batteries discharge all by themselves even when sitting on the
shelf. It's some % per day, but I don't remember the figure.
[]
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)

Lithium Ion?

Yes, Li_ion :-))


Li-Ion have a much smaller self-discharge than NiMH - almost so small you

That they do.

can ignore it over a month. NiMH can be as high as 30% per month.

You can ignore it for a month, but the capacity is diminished which
you will notice if you go out and shoot a lot of pictures. There is
a self discharge rate listed for both LI-Ion and NiMH although I seem
to have misplaced it... I'll eventually find it. I do believe it was
discussed on this group a year or two back.

I've found NiMH to apparently be higher than 30% a month. For my
radios (5W HTs) I have found a NiMH battery to be almost useless after
just setting on the shelf for a month. The same is true for the AAs I
use in the OLY E-20N. They will only be good for a few shots, while a
fresh charged set is good for about 200-300 shots.

I don't have enough experience with the Nikon battery to say what it
is after a month, but it's in good shape. It has such good capacity
that for normal shooting I don't worry about it. Yes, I ignore the
self discharge in that case, but if I'm going to do a lot of shooting,
or it's been a month, I top the battery off.

Either the D-70 uses very little current, or the 1400 MAh battery
really has a lot more real capacity than the 2200 MAh AAs I use in the
E-20N, or both. Then again, I notice the same kind of difference
between my Kenwood THG-7A (MiMH) and Yaesu VX-7R (Li-Ion)
In both cases the capacity of the LIthium Ion batteries is well less
than the NiMH, but they tend to last longer.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

73,
David