Keeping batteries charged?

I don’t use my cameras every day. So, keeping re-chargeable batteries charged is a challenge for the time when I want to grab the camera bag and shoot something, but I haven’t used the camera in two weeks.

Do any of you have a recommended charging regimen for digital camera batteries? Trickle chargers? Something else? Just putting it on the calendar and charging every X days?

PS: I have the same problem with power tool batteries.

I always have spare rechargeable batteries on hand for photo equipment, and recharge them when they are low. A few spare non-OEM batteries that don't hold a charge long get recharged whenever I remember to, but I don't rely on them for anything important. Power tool batteries get topped of at irregular intervals. That seems to work for light duty jobs.

Jim Jones said:

I always have spare rechargeable batteries on hand for photo equipment, and recharge them when they are low. A few spare non-OEM batteries that don't hold a charge long get recharged whenever I remember to, but I don't rely on them for anything important. Power tool batteries get topped of at irregular intervals. That seems to work for light duty jobs.

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I know my gopro camera continues to drain batteries after you power it off, but that's because it lacks the proper circuitry to fully disconnect the camera from it's power supply (it's a hero 3). Have you considered just taking the battery out of your camera after use? It shouldn't lose any appreciable amount of charge over time this way.

What kind of batteries are we talking about here? That will effect what you need to do.

Lithium Ion, the most popular batteries in digital cameras and cellphones will lose charge if not in use. Even if taken out of the device. The reason is they have circuitry in them that prevents them from overheating and exploding, and that runs non-stop. Remember the Samsung Galaxy Note 7? That's what happens when you don't manage a Lithium Ion battery properly. Lithium Ion batteries also don't like to be run until their fully dead. Sometimes, if they're completely drained, they may not come back. Hence why most Lithium Ions will shut off before they are fully drained. So it's best to charge these before they completely die, which means you might want to charge these on a schedule if not in use.

NiCd batteries don't mind being fully drained. In fact, they love it. They have a chemical memory and fully draining them helps to reset their memory. So if you only drain a NiCd battery half way each time before recharging them, they'll eventually believe that half way drained is fully drained. So it's best to let these completely die before recharging them. They don't, however, lose much charge if they're just sitting around, not being used. So I wouldn't charge these unless you know you're going to be using them soon.

I'm not sure about NiMH batteries. I rarely ever use them.

Most rechargeable batteries die due to heat. So leaving them on the charger is a bad idea unless the charger automatically shuts them down. It's also a bad idea to leave them in your hot car. That's why trickle chargers are usually a good idea. They don't overheat the battery too badly while charging. The bad part of a trickle charger is if you leave the battery attached to it long term and don't remove it, then you're generating unnecessary heat and slowly destroying your battery for no good reason.

So probably the best course of action is to just charge your batteries the day before you need them. If that's not convenient, then I'd buy several batteries and figure out a regimen that suits yours and the batteries needs. With several batteries on hand, it's less important that your batteries be fully charged before each shoot.

Ces1um said:

Have you considered just taking the battery out of your camera after use? It shouldn't lose any appreciable amount of charge over time this way.

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jim10219 said:

What kind of batteries are we talking about here? That will effect what you need to do. Lithium Ion, the most popular batteries in digital cameras and cellphones will lose charge if not in use. Even if taken out of the device.

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Yep. Doesn't matter if in or out of the camera.

We're talking Lithium, Sony and Panasonic. But that does bring up the question about the power tools. I have a pair of smaller drill/drivers that are Lithium, but I don't know about the heavier (and older) 18V stuff. I'll do some research.

I just wondered if anyone had set up a scheduled re-charge routine that worked. Thanks!

Nikon F5 cameras have a Nimh pack. If you don't use often, you have to use the refresh circuit
Modern lithium batteries are amazing. Most battery packs on the big pro DSLRs have more capacity to run the lens motors etc. The led screens take the most power if you use them a lot

David Brown said:

Yep. Doesn't matter if in or out of the camera.

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from wiki:
Batteries gradually self-discharge even if not connected and delivering current. Li+ rechargeable batteries have a self-discharge rate typically stated by manufacturers to be 1.5-2% per month.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery under the "self-discharge" section.

If I leave my batteries in my go pro 3 with the power off it will fully discharge in 3 days. I stand by my original statement.

David Brown said:

I don’t use my cameras every day. So, keeping re-chargeable batteries charged is a challenge for the time when I want to grab the camera bag and shoot something, but I haven’t used the camera in two weeks.

Do any of you have a recommended charging regimen for digital camera batteries? Trickle chargers? Something else? Just putting it on the calendar and charging every X days?

PS: I have the same problem with power tool batteries.

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what's best for batteries puzzles me too but, what I do for my digital camera isis:having two; one is in the camera at whatever charge level; the other is fully charged waiting at the bottom of the drawer.Whenever the camera needs a new one, the one from the drawer is ready for action and the other gets charged and goes into the drawer to wait its turn again; works that way since 2003.

I have bought a used Fujifilm X-30 and the owner's manual recommends charging the battery weekly even if the camera is not used. I'm not troubled by that advice.

I don't use rechargeable batteries conventional alkaline ones are cheap enough from Amazon.

I have a Sony A900 and 700, battereis take forever to charge, I bought an extra charger and keep one set in the charger which I top a hour or so before I shoot, if I know that I'm going to shoot. I also Pentax K2000 which uses AA batteries, always ready, very basic camera but always ready.

benjiboy said:

I don't use rechargeable batteries conventional alkaline ones are cheap enough from Amazon.

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I do the same IF a camera takes conventional alkaline batteries, such as my Minolta Maxxum 7.
However, the issue here is most newer digital cameras that require often proprietary lithium ion batteries. In my specific case: Sony and Panasonic.

Thanks for the comments. I think I am going with a scheduled charging routine. That’s what calendars are for ...

one thing I discovered with my Canon F1 motor drive FN ( which takes 12 AA batteries) is that Lithium AAs are much lighter than Alkaline ones.














































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Ces1um said:

from wiki:
Batteries gradually self-discharge even if not connected and delivering current. Li+ rechargeable batteries have a self-discharge rate typically stated by manufacturers to be 1.5-2% per month.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery under the "self-discharge" section.

If I leave my batteries in my go pro 3 with the power off it will fully discharge in 3 days. I stand by my original statement.

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1.5%-2% per month is pretty optimistic. I'm not surprised a number like that would come from a manufacturer. But that doesn't reflect my real world experience at all. In my experience, most of my camera batteries seem to lose about half their power after 2-6 months of inactivity. The older and more worn out the battery is, the quicker it self drains. And there are a lot of other things that can effect them, like the temperature at which they're stored and the power requirements of the device they're powering.

In any case, if your Go Pro fully discharges a battery in 3 days, then it's not turning off. I'm not surprised by that. A lot of devices these days don't fully shut down when you "turn them off". Still, 3 days shouldn't be normal (though it may very well be).

I wasn't meaning to say that you shouldn't take a battery out of a device. That's almost always a good idea. I was just meaning that it's not smart to expect to take a lithium ion battery out and let it sit there for months without use and then come back to find it practically fully charged.

Now the non-rechargeable lithium batteries are a different story. And they also are highly resistant to leakage. I recently pulled out a Canon Powershot A540 with lithium batteries that were probably 10 years old and had been stored in my attic. Not only did they not leak, but it powered up and I shoot enough shots to fill an afternoon without killing the batteries! I had heard those batteries were supposed to be good, but I didn't believe it until that moment.