Hello all,
I am still a bit confused as to how the dock actually works. Since i got my dock this afteroon i charged it up until the light was green with the TF in it and it has been that way ever since; I have no undocked the TF
Is this going to wear out the dock battery quicker? How can i tell? Is there a way to turn the dock off. I find it strange that the owners manual on such a new piece of technology is so limited in scope, it just tells you how to dock/undock it and charge it
It's been stated that the dock battery will charge the tablet battery while the tablet is connected to it.
Of course, when the tablet battery is topped off, the dock battery doesn't charge it. At that point, I'd assume the unit runs off of the dock battery until it's depleted, then runs off of the tablet battery. Once depleted (or discharged a bit, and I'm not sure as I don't have my dock yet) and connected to AC power, I'd suspect the tablet will charge first, then the dock battery.
BTW, did the dock come with a power supply and cable, or do you have to use the one the tablet came with?
FrayAdjacent said:
It's been stated that the dock battery will charge the tablet battery while the tablet is connected to it.
Of course, when the tablet battery is topped off, the dock battery doesn't charge it. At that point, I'd assume the unit runs off of the dock battery until it's depleted, then runs off of the tablet battery. Once depleted (or discharged a bit, and I'm not sure as I don't have my dock yet) and connected to AC power, I'd suspect the tablet will charge first, then the dock battery.
BTW, did the dock come with a power supply and cable, or do you have to use the one the tablet came with?
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no cable with it.
I guess they assume youll be charging them together. the dock bought the tablet from 80% to 100% and it self to 95% in about 40 minutes with the ac plugged in.
Your description of how it works seems to be what i was thinking because the tablet shows the lighting bolt on the tablet even when its at 100% is that good for the battery? Seems to be like the tf loses a TINY bit of charge and it just gains it back from the dock and this just keeps going on.
it's harmless.
seshmaru said:
it's harmless.
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all i needed to know. I assume i can use the notification light on the dock to know when its running low.
I heard before that the dock doesn't actually turn itself off; that is if its not connected to the tablet, so it drains its battery while not doing anything. I assume if this is true there would be some kind of firmware that puts it in a very low power state until the dock recognizes something is attached to it.
biggiephat said:
all i needed to know. I assume i can use the notification light on the dock to know when its running low.
I heard before that the dock doesn't actually turn itself off; that is if its not connected to the tablet, so it drains its battery while not doing anything. I assume if this is true there would be some kind of firmware that puts it in a very low power state until the dock recognizes something is attached to it.
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Actually it is true, and yes it goes into a low power state, although asus has said it's not low enough. They're going to release a firmware update to put the dock into deep sleep when not connected in the future instead of regular sleep which drains about at 50% of the tablet does when the tab is on standby. Of course this update will also bring up the battery power of the dock to about 9 hours since it has the same battery as the tablet.
Sucks that they don't give you another power supply and cable with the dock. I'm gonna have to buy at least one extra. I plugged the cable into my Nook Color charger just to see what it would do. Nope. Won't charge. (at least with the device on... perhaps it will with the device off?)
This means we're going to have to buy proprietary chargers and cables... and I don't think anyone has any yet.
As for the OP, I concur, don't worry about the dock battery. Batteries are like muscles- they like to be used, and don't like to be idle all the time.
As a matter of practice, I try to drain my devices about once a month (run them down to the battery warning, usually 20% or so) and then charge them up again.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...-is-the-best-way-to-use-an-li-ion-battery.ars has a good description of how Li battries work. Main points are
One of the worst things you can do to a Li-ion battery is to run it out completely all the time. Full discharges put a lot of strain on the battery, and it's much better practice to do shallow discharges to no lower than 20 percent. In a way, this is like people running for exercise— running a few miles a day is fine, but running a marathon every day is generally not sustainable. If your Li-ion powered device is running out of juice on a daily basis, you're decreasing its overall useful lifespan, and should probably work some charging stations into your day or change your devices' settings so that it's not churning through its battery so quickly.
On the other end of the spectrum, keeping a Li-ion battery fully charged is not good for it either. This isn't because Li-ion batteries can get "overcharged" (something that people used to worry about in The Olden Days of portable computers), but a Li-ion battery that doesn't get used will suffer from capacity loss, meaning that it won't be able to hold as much charge and power your gadgets for as long. Extremely shallow discharges of only a couple percent are also not enough to keep a Li-ion battery in practice, so if you're going to pull the plug, let the battery run down for a little bit.
From this you won't harm it through overcharging by leaving it in the dock but you should remove it occasionally and let it run down a bit.
I was thinking about this the other day and I think my planned usage won't be very good for the dock's battery. I was planning to take it to work with me during the day as my second system, and not worry about taking a power cable with me. That is, I figured the dock would power the tablet throughout the day and then when I returned home I'd have plenty of power left for using the tablet by itself in the evening.
However, I think this will basically drain the dock battery pretty completely every day, representing a full discharge cycle. That means the dock battery's lifespan will be severely impacted, even as the battery in the tablet is probably made to last longer (it'll see mostly dips to 70% or so each day, and then recharges).
Maybe I'll have to get a second power cable for work after all, just to avoid killing the dock's battery.
wynand32 said:
I was thinking about this the other day and I think my planned usage won't be very good for the dock's battery. I was planning to take it to work with me during the day as my second system, and not worry about taking a power cable with me. That is, I figured the dock would power the tablet throughout the day and then when I returned home I'd have plenty of power left for using the tablet by itself in the evening.
However, I think this will basically drain the dock battery pretty completely every day, representing a full discharge cycle. That means the dock battery's lifespan will be severely impacted, even as the battery in the tablet is probably made to last longer (it'll see mostly dips to 70% or so each day, and then recharges).
Maybe I'll have to get a second power cable for work after all, just to avoid killing the dock's battery.
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i just checked my tablet on the dock today its been 24 since its been on there and i haven't touched it and now the battery is down to 99% and not charging as it was before did the dock really die that quick?
Related
Hello everyone
I was wondering if its ok to leave the transformer connected to the charger.
Is it like the Evo with trickle down when it reaches 100%
I dont want to over charge it. If it were my laptop i would disconnect the battery at full charge. But its not possible to do that with the transformer.
I want to keep my cycle count low and prevent over charing.
I also wonder what happens in a few years when the battery is shot...
Charging is what damages Li-Ion batteries... I'd recommend not keeping it on the charger all the time. Android will purposely not keep the battery at 100% to help avoid some damage.
Li-ion prefer to be around 20-80% charge.
When battery is 100% and you keep the charger connected, heat will begin to build up and eventually you will kill your battery.
I'd do as with a notebook: charge till 100%, then remove battery or charger (in case of the tablet charger ) . Then use your tablet and recharge when needed / desired. And from time to time a full charge / discharge cycle won't do any harm.
Just my 2 cents.
Regards.
These tablets don't automatically recognize when it's fully charged and turn off the charging?
Ravynmagi said:
These tablets don't automatically recognize when it's fully charged and turn off the charging?
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They do. There are other threads asking why thier TF's don't show 100% when unplgged from the charger. Same as it does on my Evo.
I think pretty much every modern device recognizes a full charge and responds accordingly. In fact, MacBooks will throttle performance if the battery ISN'T kept in while the system is running on A/C.
Heat will damage a battery, but it's not heat from charging but heat from operation. If a notebook is poorly designed and the battery is near a heat source, then removing the battery might be a good idea (except with the aforementioned MacBooks), but that's independent of the charging issue.
I think it's fine to keep it plugged in. These devices are smart enough to manage such things. Of course, the TF's charging cable's so short it's hard to use when plugged in, but that's a different issue entirely.
CalvinH said:
When battery is 100% and you keep the charger connected, heat will begin to build up and eventually you will kill your battery.
I'd do as with a notebook: charge till 100%, then remove battery or charger (in case of the tablet charger ) . Then use your tablet and recharge when needed / desired. And from time to time a full charge / discharge cycle won't do any harm.
Just my 2 cents.
Regards.
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From what I understand this process cannot and will not kill the battery. This did happen in the old type of batteries with the ,emory effect but these new batteries and the OS's management system for charging does not allow the battery to be killed.
it will heat up and that would happen as there is a flow of electricity but not to a level that would kill the battery.
Cheers
IS it normal to go from 4% battery to 99% in under 3 hours ?
I thought this was supposed to take 8 hours to charge.
Cheers,
gpearson1968
gpearson1968 said:
IS it normal to go from 4% battery to 99% in under 3 hours ?
I thought this was supposed to take 8 hours to charge.
Cheers,
gpearson1968
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Yes that's normal. It's meant to take about 3hrs.
Thanks guys...
Still dont know about it. Because I think its like my EVO and technology got so good that my battery is protected.
I really dont want my transformer to become a expensive paper weight or non-mobile because after a few years it has 45 mins battery life.
I've got the first full charge and full depletion done. Is it ok to use while charging now as long as I fully charge and fully deplete it a couple more times?
error12 said:
Thanks guys...
Still dont know about it. Because I think its like my EVO and technology got so good that my battery is protected.
I really dont want my transformer to become a expensive paper weight or non-mobile because after a few years it has 45 mins battery life.
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batteries will degrade over time....would you be keeping this tablet for over 2-3 years? a simple battery change could work if ever needed
I am no expert, but I have spent some time searching around the internet looking for information on the best methods for improving the life of a battery. Most of the information I have found said it is bad to completely discharge a Li-polymer battery. The articarles stated it was best to charge the battery when it reaches 20% to avoid shortening its life.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Batteries are like muscles - they like to be exercised.
Leaving the unit plugged in WILL NOT HURT YOUR BATTERY. Period. The charging circuitry in modern devices is smart enough to cut current to the battery once it has reached a certain level of resistance.
Batteries do not like being deeply discharged. Most devices will shut off before the battery gets too deeply discharged, but it's never a good idea to tempt fate by running it until the device shuts off.
What really determines a battery's life is the number of cycles it has been put through. A cycle would be a full charge followed by a full (or to a lower end threshold) discharge.
The old original Lithium Ion batteries used in laptops would usually last about 300 full cycles or so - about a year if you used it on the battery every day. Partial discharges of course only count as fractions of a cycle.
Given the life of these types of devices, considering we'll likely upgrade to the next big thing in a year or so, I don't think anyone here will come close to 'wearing out' a battery.
EMINENT1 said:
I've got the first full charge and full depletion done. Is it ok to use while charging now as long as I fully charge and fully deplete it a couple more times?
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As stated, these are Li-Ion batteries, and they do not need to be trained. The only reason you might need to do any training is to calibrate Android's understanding of the battery (although I doubt you need to do a full discharge for that, either).
It's not going to suddenly kill it, but it will over time hurt your battery's life.
I went ahead and did a full discharge/charge cycle, but only because Asus said to do so in the manual. Maybe the copywriter just copied/pasted from a circa 1990's manual for a device with a NiCd battery, but I figured if they're suggesting it, I might as well do it.
I kinda like them always together and then just separate them whenever I want to use the Tablet alone.
Will there be any detrimental effects like the Total battery life will lessen after a long time?
i dont believe so, i run mine that way now, mostly a tablet but every once in a while ill disconnect it and run the batteries to 0 just to get a recharge.
blessedswine said:
i dont believe so, i run mine that way now, mostly a tablet but every once in a while ill disconnect it and run the batteries to 0 just to get a recharge.
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Thanks! I was afraid 'cause I've heard rumors that if you leave phones charging overnight or if you always have laptops plugged in, the battery life would lessen eventually.
with all battery powered electronics i allow them to discharge fully once a month.
yuhenyo said:
Thanks! I was afraid 'cause I've heard rumors that if you leave phones charging overnight or if you always have laptops plugged in, the battery life would lessen eventually.
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There have been reports of some docks with horrible battery drain. Test yours with these instructions I got in a PM a few months ago from someone representing themselves as from Asus (many other XDA members got the same PM). I RMA'ed my dock after testing and it's been great since.
The following is a step-by-step guide on how to verify if your unit can support the new optional battery saving mode:
(1) Make sure your software is updated to 8.2.3.13 or later; and your mobile dock is updated to 0209. ([Setting]>[About Tablet]>[Build Number] & [Mobile Dock version])
(2) Dock the Pad into the keyboard dock.
(3) Go to [Settings] > [Screen] and select [MobileDock Battery saving mode]
(4) Press power button on the Transformer Pad to make the unit go to sleep.
(5) With the option checked, if your unit does NOT wake up with the tap of a keyboard, the new battery saving mode is enabled and working.
(6) With [MobileDock Battery saving mode] checked,iIf your unit still wakes up by a key press, you have the earlier design.
(7) If #6 is true and you also require the new feature, then please contact your local ASUS service center “
yuhenyo said:
Thanks! I was afraid 'cause I've heard rumors that if you leave phones charging overnight or if you always have laptops plugged in, the battery life would lessen eventually.
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I've not really experienced this, so much as in my personal opinion: my phones battery life has lessened considerably since I spent a few weeks of running it down to the at or near the single digits between charges. Can't say for sure though, since what also changed since then, I use it a hell of a lot more too. Now're days I will usually leave it charging if it will be sitting around a while.
My TF, the dock is often depleted or laid low without any real problems; can't say I've done the same to the tablets battery though.
Spidey01 said:
I've not really experienced this, so much as in my personal opinion: my phones battery life has lessened considerably since I spent a few weeks of running it down to the at or near the single digits between charges. Can't say for sure though, since what also changed since then, I use it a hell of a lot more too. Now're days I will usually leave it charging if it will be sitting around a while.
My TF, the dock is often depleted or laid low without any real problems; can't say I've done the same to the tablets battery though.
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owww.. another question is that would the dock ever lose power while connected to the table?t? ' cause mine still has 3% and it stopped charging the tablet.
In the case of Lithium Ion batteries (which most smart phones and tablets have nowadays, including both TF and dock), it is detrimental to let them discharge to 0% and then fully recharge. It is always best to charge whenever possible, and even leaving your TF plugged in overnight is not bad at all for the life of your battery.
al2x said:
In the case of Lithium Ion batteries (which most smart phones and tablets have nowadays, including both TF and dock), it is detrimental to let them discharge to 0% and then fully recharge. It is always best to charge whenever possible, and even leaving your TF plugged in overnight is not bad at all for the life of your battery.
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wow! great! now all my worries are gone. I guess I'll charge away then.
yuhenyo said:
owww.. another question is that would the dock ever lose power while connected to the table?t? ' cause mine still has 3% and it stopped charging the tablet.
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When I first got my TF, I was curious as to whether or not the dock would stop working once it had ran out of battery; testing it, I found the sae result. Dock sticks about 3% and the tablet continues to discharge. I assume the docking connector works both ways and allows powering the dock off the tablet.
I prefer to charge before then though, usually at like 35~19 %. When I undock, I usually leave the dock plugged in to top off, even if it was like 80%.
Hey I was just wondering if its bad for the calibration of the battery to leave the tablet docked in the keyboard all the time?
I dont use the tablet while its charging, i usually always charge it to 100% (while docked), and let the battery drain out completely (while docked) before charging it back up again.
Just don't want to mess up how the battery calibrates or anything (so in the future whenever i use the tablet by itself it won't drain out quickly due to bad calibration)
As long as you charge it to 100% and then disconnect the AC adapter, you won't have problems.
Since the TF has two batteries (one on the tablet and one on the dock), it will manage them both to drain one first and then the other.
The thing that messes up battery life is if you continuosly charge it despite not being drained. Also it isn't wise to let the TF die on battery and then recharge. Recharging the tablet when it asks for it (19-15% of battery remaining) is a good practice.
Cool thanks for the tips, this is my first Tablet (but my fourth android device), and was wondering because i noticed the dock drains out first and then the tab starts draining, but as the tablet is draining, it slowly trickle charges the dock at the same time (so it can still be used).
ex.
TF = 100%
Dock = 100%
then
TF = 98-0%
Dock = 0-3% (once the dock hits 0%, it starts charging off the TF but just enough to use it until the tablet dies)
PS. I created a sugar sync account from your referral so you could get more space lol
Sorry to revive an old thread... but for clarification, should you let both the dock AND the tablet drain before recharging, or is it ok just to recharge as soon as the dock runs out? this way the dock battery doesn't sit at 3% until the tablet battery dies (sometimes a 2-3 days)...
also, how long is too long to leave the tablet/dock plugged in after its been charged? (e.g. if you plug it in before you go to sleep it will be fully charged at least a couple of hours before you unplug it... is this frying the battery?)
thanks and much appreciated!
I dont think that leaving it plugged in is frying the battery, because it stops charging when its full. Also dual battery widget info shows when the battery was charged last time. e.g. last night around 4am plugged in tablet with dock to charge, woke up at 9am, both batteries were 100% (and not hot as while charging) and battery widget showed exact time when it stopped charging, which was around 7am. Rest of the time while plugged in it does nothing i guess
hairpower said:
I dont think that leaving it plugged in is frying the battery, because it stops charging when its full. Also dual battery widget info shows when the battery was charged last time. e.g. last night around 4am plugged in tablet with dock to charge, woke up at 9am, both batteries were 100% (and not hot as while charging) and battery widget showed exact time when it stopped charging, which was around 7am. Rest of the time while plugged in it does nothing i guess
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Thanks for sharing your experiences and the logic... That makes sense to me too... However, I do notice sometimes that the charger is quite hot still in the morning.... which makes me wonder. Add to this the whole idea of product life-cycle and planned obsolescence (and things such as internal non-user changeable battery) and I get a bit sceptical... but thats probably just me...
Modern batteries don't like to be drained and last longer if they're 'topped up' on a regular basis. The only time a battery should be drained now-days is if your calibration is off and the software needs to see where the 'top' and 'bottom' of the charge range is.
Also, if your charger continues to charge your battery once it's at 100% you should have that replaced as it's broken.
The old habit of 'deep cycling' your battery is for older style batteries.
If I'm not using my tablet it's on the dock, on a charge. It's fine.
Is there a way to monitor the dock battery?
grgmre said:
Modern batteries don't like to be drained and last longer if they're 'topped up' on a regular basis. The only time a battery should be drained now-days is if your calibration is off and the software needs to see where the 'top' and 'bottom' of the charge range is.
Also, if your charger continues to charge your battery once it's at 100% you should have that replaced as it's broken.
The old habit of 'deep cycling' your battery is for older style batteries.
If I'm not using my tablet it's on the dock, on a charge. It's fine.
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thanks!!
JerzyIroc said:
Is there a way to monitor the dock battery?
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Yep, get the Dual Battery widget:
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.flexlabs.widgets.dualbattery&hl=en
JerzyIroc said:
Is there a way to monitor the dock battery?
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Click to collapse
try 'dual battery widget' available in market... (if this is what you are talking about...)
Or check out the themes/apps section for the official widget from the prime. There's one themed to look like our tf101. That's what I use.
EDIT: here's the one I'm using
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21533800&postcount=37
hi friends,
got my tf300 32gb + keyboard dock from best buy, US...rooted it and updated it to .29 f/w......running excellent...no issues
the first charge was done for 8hrs with tab+dock...it is still running great now after 2 days with still 30% juice remaining on tablet and 0% on dock (i store the tab connected to dock, so the tab is slurping off the juice from the dock)
now i want to know ..what is the 'best' way to keep charging this awesome machine...(i know there might not be an 'ideal' way..)
should i wait till the charge in tab goes to less than 10% and then charge it with dock or should i charge them seperately, ensuring the dock doesnot reach 0% ?
how do you guys do it?..just wanna know different thoughts
I just use mine throughout the day, starting around 7:30am when I get up and ending at 10:00 when I plug it in by my bed.
By that time its usually around 45-50% on the tablet and 0% on the dock but keep in mind that I use this as my primary means to access the internet especially at my school cuz the computers suck. It then charges overnight and by the morning its full again.
I don't know if this is the most battery effiecent (ie: long term strength) but it works ok for me and I've never had any problems with other devices that have used the same basic schedule.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T
SilentStormer said:
I just use mine throughout the day, starting around 7:30am when I get up and ending at 10:00 when I plug it in by my bed.
By that time its usually around 45-50% on the tablet and 0% on the dock but keep in mind that I use this as my primary means to access the internet especially at my school cuz the computers suck. It then charges overnight and by the morning its full again.
I don't know if this is the most battery effiecent (ie: long term strength) but it works ok for me and I've never had any problems with other devices that have used the same basic schedule.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T
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The worst part about this practice is letting the dock run all the way down to 0%, because that means a full charge cycle every day. Charging the tablet at 50% or so is fine, though. If you could figure out some way to charge the dock at the same 50%, you'd be in good shape.
Might be impossible given your usage patterns, though. I'd just expect the dock battery to wear out much faster than the tablet's.
Don't think there's a practical way of avoiding running the dock to 0%.
I've read thousands of posts on the ideal way to treat modern (Li-ish) batteries, and so far I lean towards keeping them as charged as possible.
That is - they wear out faster if the're discharged alot to for instance 0%.
The old "discharge to train them" or whatever seems to be either an outdated practice or a myth, and - if I've got it right - outright bad for modern batteries. Which means some companies most likely applaud the practice to sell more stuff.
But I'm not an expert (then again - very few people seem to be).
It's an outdated practice related to the old NiMH batteries from the 80s. If you didn't discharge NiMH batteries to 0%, then whatever percentage you charged it at would be the new 0%. For instance, if you were to plug it in at 50% one day, your battery capacity would automatically be cut in half because the battery would think 50% was "empty". NiMH batteries were eventually fixed, but even then, and even today with Li-Ion batteries, some people think they should be discharged completely.
Also, keeping Li-Ion batteries completely charged all the time is equally as bad as constantly letting them drain completely. Personally, I charge my tablet when it warns me that my battery is low, around 14%.
EndlessDissent said:
Also, keeping Li-Ion batteries completely charged all the time is equally as bad as constantly letting them drain completely. Personally, I charge my tablet when it warns me that my battery is low, around 14%.
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"as charged as possible" combined with a very mobile device = charging at 20-50% for me.
When I plug my tablet into the fully charged dock, and the tablet battery is below 60%, it discharges the full dock battery within 2 hours. In order to avoid fully discharging the dock as mentioned above, one would be constrained to only 2 hours of netbook type use (or maybe a few hours more if the tablet is fully charged) which defeats the whole benefit of 10+ hours of battery life when using with the dock.
Given this, I believe the doc battery must be able to withstand regular full battery discharges, otherwise Asus probably would have devised a different algorithm for charging.
Anyone else seem to have dock to tablet charging change in behavior after the V9.4.5.26 firmware update?
Before the current firmware I recall the dock topping off my tablet battery after the Infinity was left idle for a while. Now it seems the dock at best is only slowing the tablet's battery drain. If I reboot the tablet the dock seems to make more progress towards charging the tablet battery closer to full.
I don't quite know if I'm misremembering the old behavior, or this was a firmware change, or I should be concerned about a faulty dock to tablet connection.
sandymacjr said:
Anyone else seem to have dock to tablet charging change in behavior after the V9.4.5.26 firmware update?
Before the current firmware I recall the dock topping off my tablet battery after the Infinity was left idle for a while. Now it seems the dock at best is only slowing the tablet's battery drain. If I reboot the tablet the dock seems to make more progress towards charging the tablet battery closer to full.
I don't quite know if I'm misremembering the old behavior, or this was a firmware change, or I should be concerned about a faulty dock to tablet connection.
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Click to collapse
Mine beheaves just like yours, but I'm still on .22
When the tablet's battery is empty and I plug in the Dock it loads the tablet
but when I put the tablet with the dock together when both of them are about 70 % then the dock isn't loading the tablet
---------- Post added at 05:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:17 PM ----------
I just found out that the dock has started to charge the tablet when the tablet's battery was going under about 60%
Same behavior here
no reason dock should have charge if tablet isn't full. charge in dock is pointless.
My unreliable understanding is a 0% empty or 100% full lithium battery will have a shorter usable life span than a lithium battery maintained around 75%. I can understand that trade off for the dock battery if that is what is happening.
gottahavit said:
no reason dock should have charge if tablet isn't full. charge in dock is pointless.
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Last night I noticed that the tablet says "charging" while in the dock, and the dock depletes. It seemed pretty slow and the dock seemed to drain reasonably quickly. From what I've read, its supposed to drain both at a slower rate.
Personally, I like the idea to have the dock charge the tablet. It just makes more sense.
Mine was still not charging the tablet at 76%, now I docked it under 66% and it's charging, so I believe it goes on somewhere around 70. I think it was somewhat sooner under .21 and .22, but after installing SwiftKey (crypto-ad) I'm rarely using the dock when not using the shell (but hey, I'm on holiday!).
Edit: Stopped charging at 90% (the dock is 60% now, so ~25:40 ratio, btw), seems reasonable.
sandymacjr said:
My unreliable understanding is a 0% empty or 100% full lithium battery will have a shorter usable life span than a lithium battery maintained around 75%. I can understand that trade off for the dock battery if that is what is happening.
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Then no charger should ever charge past 75 %. Now if you want to argue not depleting the dock past 10% i would buy it.
sandymacjr said:
My unreliable understanding is a 0% empty or 100% full lithium battery will have a shorter usable life span than a lithium battery maintained around 75%. I can understand that trade off for the dock battery if that is what is happening.
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It does make sense, switching charging off and letting the battery drain partly allows the battery in the tablet to have a longer life span. It usually let's it drop 20% or so and then charges it for a certain amount. If you keep charging from 90% to 100% over and over, it depletes the life span of the tablet's battery.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
KilerG said:
It does make sense, switching charging off and letting the battery drain partly allows the battery in the tablet to have a longer life span. It usually let's it drop 20% or so and then charges it for a certain amount. If you keep charging from 90% to 100% over and over, it depletes the life span of the tablet's battery.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
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With Lithium Ion though, that shouldn't be an issue from what I understand. NiCad's, and to a MUCH lesser degre NiMh's will get that memory effect, but Li-ion's are immune to it, in fact they do better when kept charged up.
californiarailroader said:
With Lithium Ion though, that shouldn't be an issue from what I understand. NiCad's, and to a MUCH lesser degre NiMh's will get that memory effect, but Li-ion's are immune to it, in fact they do better when kept charged up.
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That is true, Li-Ions are much better off staying between 40 to 80% and don't have the dreaded memory effect of NiCd and NiMH. However, when you get close to 100% when charging the voltage is also very high, which can shorten the lifetime of the battery in the long run. That's also what KilerG is saying.
It's better for the battery to just let it discharge a bit, then charge it up again. Maintenance charging it at 100% will require a lot of juice from the dock when the tablet is in use. The charge efficiency is greatly lowered when above ~80% since you need to continue increasing the voltage, but decrease the current to avoid overheating and damaging it.
My dock is currently at 78% battery while the tablet is at 77%. It's been on battery power for about 2,5 days now, I've only used it for a short time lately as I've been busy with other things.
Last time I took it off AC and it was more actively used, the dock depleted more quickly while the tablet was being topped off by the dock every now and then. Gives the tablet a lot longer usage, although you could end up with an empty dock while the tablet is still running. That's fine with me, the dock isn't much use without the tablet.
Edit: Actually, the battery indicator wasn't updating it seems. I undocked and docked again and the numbers went from 78% and 77% (dock and tablet) to 63% and 85%. Not sure why the battery status isn't updating properly. Might just be a one-time thing.
From the Asus forum:
http://www.transformerforums.com/fo...attery-related-matters-transformer-range.html
Excerpt:
TF201/TF300/TF700
* The charger charges the docked combo all together.
* When fully charged, the tablet uses the charge first, then the dock charges the tablet. The idea being that the dock battery will be depleted while maintaining the tablet battery. See below...
The way the combo works is that the dock does not charge the tablet continuously. I believe the percentages are along the following lines..
Dock 100%
Tablet 100%
Tablet uses charge until the level is around 70%. At this point the dock will recharge the tablet back up to around 90%, if the tablet is not being used.
If the tablet is being used, then the dock "powers" the tablet, balancing the charge rate with a direct bias to ensure that the dock will eventually drop to 3-5% with the tablet at around 90%.
The dock shouldn't allow itself to become any more discharged than 3-5% & neither should the tablet. Android will warn you when the tablet drops to 14%.
The dock will still continue to function until the tablet shuts off.
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However, this is not my experience, which is why I was researching it in the first place. Dock charging behavior is inconsistent. I started seeing that the dock was no longer fully charging the pad w/o a cold boot recently (I'm still on ICS, rooted). Then it would develop the problem again after a short time, even when plugged into AC. Right now I'm plugged into AC. At start my dock had no charge and the tablet had about 60%. The AC charged the dock and the dock passed charge to the tablet until the tablet had 100% charge - correct behavior, I believe, since this is what it did when brand new (it's still quite new). Many have posted about the dock not charging the pad over time. I think there's a hardware issue of some kind, or system software problem since it temporarily will correct after a cold reboot. Or maybe there's a software conflict. I've been uninstalling stuff to free memory.
Einride said:
Edit: Actually, the battery indicator wasn't updating it seems. I undocked and docked again and the numbers went from 78% and 77% (dock and tablet) to 63% and 85%. Not sure why the battery status isn't updating properly. Might just be a one-time thing.
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I'm having this problem, too. After charging both batteries to 100%, I unplugged from AC, and I've been using the pad for a couple of hours. The battery indicators still say 100%. I think this may be a hardware problem (or an API problem) because Dual Battery Widget reports the same. Undocking and redocking did not help. I suspect only a cold reboot will help. Perhaps my prior problem was a battery indicator problem, and not a charging problem, as it seemed.