Dead battery but still alive?!

[Cooper]

So I was playing around on my PB last night when all of a sudden my battery dropped from 61% to 0%

I did a reset, and it was the same but still functioning.

This morning I powered it on and again it is claiming 0% battery but it has been on for an hour.

Has anyone seen this?? I'm a little worried, though I'm hoping by running it a few more hours, then getting a full charge cycle in will releieve the issue.

[ifonline]

Yes. Best as I can tell, the battery monitor has been tweaked in the latest OS. The recommendation I have found is to let the unit run until it turns off from low power and then fully charge it. Do this a few times. This should reset/calibrate the tweaked battery monitor, and the remaining battery percentage should be more in line with the actual remaining battery life.

[Cooper]

Fancy thing just happened. I've been out of my office for 40 minutes, came back and the battery is reporting 40%, which makes sense to me from where it was last night.

Must be the calibration tweaking they did and it got a little confused.

If anything I hope it is an optimization to get a bit more battery life :) though I've been happy with it lasting pretty much all day so far.

[stevetaz]

Yes. Best as I can tell, the battery monitor has been tweaked in the latest OS. The recommendation I have found is to let the unit run until it turns off from low power and then fully charge it. Do this a few times. This should reset/calibrate the tweaked battery monitor, and the remaining battery percentage should be more in line with the actual remaining battery life.

Funny, but isn't this exactly what is recommended NOT be done with BB Smartphones as it harms the battery?

Hmmmm......

[ifonline]

The PlayBook turns off when the battery is low, but not completely drained. That said, and the internet being what it is, I have no idea if running the battery down and then fully recharging is the best option or not. It's just what I have found searching the internet for unusual battery monitor activity on the PlayBook.

[stevetaz]

The PlayBook turns off when the battery is low, but not completely drained.

So do the phones....

Not expecting a definitive answer, but I found the the similarities and differences very interesting. I look forward to seeing how this plays out in the coming months.

[ifonline]

Ah. Didn't know that about the phones as I always leave my phone in the charging dock each night.

[Cooper]

I think I can clairify this for you guys.

You never, ever want to try and drain a device to a 'real' 0%. Batteries NEED some power in order to charge. If you drain it completely, you kill the battery.

Having said that, most people find that every few weeks or once a month is it good to let the battery drain until the device turns off (phone or playbook)

This is an acceptable practice to keep the battery 'fresh' and provide the ability for it to maintain the best charge.

Charging every day, even when it's at 80%, to my knowledge is prefectly acceptable and does not dimish the overall capacity of the battery.

NiMH batteries are far superior to the older rechargaeables.

[aiharkness]

Point of clarification: The BlackBerry batteries are lithium ion, not nickel metal hydride (NiMH).

For what it's worth, I've run my BlackBerry handset battery down to the point the radio shuts off. I don't make it a habit, but it's happened. No harm resulted. Still, I do believe from everything I know that frequent topping off whenever you can is better in the long run for battery longevity.
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