Qns on notebook battery

I just purchased my first notebook from BenQ for school work. I have several questions to ask.

1) When I brought my notebook, the sales person said that the battery must be charged for up to 8 to 10 hours for the first time, is this really necessary? The battery already have power in it.

2) He also said that the battery should not be overcharged. How can I avoid overcharging it? Does it mean that when I use my notebook on AC supply, I must take out the battery to prevent overcharging it?

3) Is it necessary that the battery should reach 0% before re-charging it?

Thanks for any reply.

::jumpto::

Ok for question number three this depends a bit on what kind of battery you have. If it is a Nicad battery or a NiMH it sort of has something like a "memory", which means if you use it to say 50% and then recharge it everytime it will forget that it can go on longer than that 50%. To remedy this run the battery completely out every few weeks, and then recharge it. Yes it is neccesary to charge it full the first time, because the battery is either fully discharged or darn close in the laptop. Also it may say it is fully charged after 10-20 min rechargeables do this. Just remove it and then put it back in the charger to keep charging. Umm. I don't know about "overcharging". Well hope that helped.

Falcon21,

hobbdebub has mostly answered your question. I have one or two points to add:

1. A rechargeable battery has a life............something like 500~ (where ~ is the symbol for the discharge/recharge cycle) so it won't last forever. :(

2. Most rechargeable batteries come with an initial charge (they DID test it, I hope) but this is well below its potential. You need to charge it to its fullest first time, then discharge it, then recharge it to "form" the battery, so that it will work to its full capacity.....that's what hob~ has told you.

3. By overcharging, I do not think that the sales guy was electronically inaccurate in his terminology. He should probably have said "overwork" or "stress" or something?..........we probably use different terms this side of the "Pond" :)

My view is that if you are going to use the device as a true portable, then you just "form" the battery and get on with it. If you are just using a laptop because of its small footprint (size) and for portability; but will be using mains power , then please disconnect the battery once "formed" and fully charged. This will considerably prolong its life. Just re-connect, and recharge every week or so.

My basic message is that if it is going to be connected to mains power most of the time, disconnect the battery.

Hope that helps,

Cheers