Digital Battery Question

[BLS]

I'm new to digital cameras and have a questions about batteries.

My camera came with a rechargable battery (guess most of them do). Can I hurt the battery if I leave it in the charger for a long time after it's fully charged?

Couldn't find anything in the manual about this, and I know that sooner or later I'll forget about the battery being in the charger. So I thought maybe someone here could help me.

 

[doxx]

they tend to explode when they overheat...

just kidding most modern (digital) chargers
turn off after the batteries have been fully charged

 

[crystalview]

Hey there,

I'm not sure which camera you're using but, I have a D70, and once my battery is fully charged, it turns off the charger automatically.

If you have a full charge indicator, and its been on over the full charge, see if the batter feels warm to the touch. If it is warm still after a fairly good amount of time, (maybe 30-40 minutes) its most likely was still charging after the full charge was given. If its cool, it probably turns off the charger automatically.

hope that makes sense.

*edit I guess doxx told ya the same thing. Didnt see his post.

 

[photong]

As far as my grandpa told me you have to leave them in the charger whenever not in use because they lose the charge, get weak and stop working. I'm not sure if mine turns off or not. I know the light goes off when it finishes charging and if I take the battery out, and out it back in the light goes back on and starts charging again. So I assume mine turns off. Either way, I would leave it in the charger.

P.s. Are they alkaline? Those ones suck

 

[mrsid99]

I believe the 300D uses the same battery (BP-511) and charger as the 10D and the charger will terminate charging once the battery is charged.
So, although not recommended, it wouldn't do any harm to forget and leave a battery on charge.
BTW, I suggest you check out these guys for spare batteries: http://www.sterlingtek.com/digital-camera-batteries-canon-digital-camera-batteries.html
I bought a couple of their BP-511's for use in my 10D and they work fine.
HTH

 

[walter23]

I've never had a rechargable battery system that didn't shut off once the batteries were fully charged. I can't imagine any being produced, especially if the results could be catastrophic.

 

[mrsid99]

I've never had a rechargable battery system that didn't shut off once the batteries were fully charged. I can't imagine any being produced, especially if the results could be catastrophic.

Any reasonably modern charger has some sort of charge termination but it hasn't always been that way, there's been a lot of rechargeable tools produced that used the old NiCad batteries that were essentially relying on terminal voltage to reduce the charge, net result was that the batteries would die in short order.
A lot of the cheaper car battery trickle chargers do the same thing although the results are less harmful with a lead/acid battery.

 

[Rhubarb]

A lot of battery charges that I have used have a 'trickle' charge mode which they switch to after they have fully charged the battery.

So if even after your battery has charged you may find it warm to touch because of the trickle charge.

 

[mentos_007]

and remember don't leave the batteries too long in the camera because they might go dead soon - so when you know you won't beusing the cam for some time just put the batteries out

 

[BLS]

Thanks for all your help. I have a better idea now as to how to handle the battery.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

The important thing is to be aware of the type of battery you are using.
Ni-Cad batteries have a serious problem in that they get a 'memory'. If you keep recharging them when they haven't been fully discharged they get stuck and will no longer take a full charge. They behave as if they do but their performance is becomes seriously impaired - shorter life, less power and so on.
'Professional' chargers for Ni-Cad include a discharger - the battery is fully discharged before charging starts. This optimises performance.
The same result can be achieved by using the battery until it goes dead every two or three charging cycles.
NiMH and Lithium-Ion batteries do not have this charging problem and are better in every way than Ni-Cad but are more expensive.
One of the two can hold a larger charge and tends to be more expensive - but I forget which one.

 

[cmptrdewd]

I've got a Canon powershot pro 1 and it has a auto charger so it just turns off when the batt is full. But before if you were to leave it on the charger to long it would "burn" the batt. Meaning that it would only last half the time.
But I wouldn't worry all chargers now a days will turn off or go to "trickle" when batt. is full.