In order to preserve the battery life of the Garmin Edge 1030, what is your advice in normal usage? Should we always let the battery to go near 0%?? Should we do this once in a while?
I'm going to test battery life before I return to every day charging. (So far, I've ridden a bot over 4 hours, and the battery level says 81%. I was using Nav for the second ride of almost three hours, too.)
When I have a figure, I'll post it. And I should get my Garmin battery pack in a couple of weeks, so that I can do it all over again. You have to have some fun with a new toy....
Keep the battery as fully charged as possible at all times. In practice, this means fully charge after every use.
Interesting gaijin--I have never heard this about a lithium battery. I know the old advice to fully discharge a battery before charging nolonger applies with modern lithium ones. Garmin doesn't state that and cell phone instructions (e.g., Apple) state to charge whenever you want. So I am curious what is the logic and or reference for keeping the watch fully charged?
Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, the depth of discharge (DoD) determines the cycle count of the battery. The smaller the discharge (low DoD), the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid full discharges and charge the battery more often between uses. Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine. There is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life. The exception may be a periodic calibration of the fuel gauge on a smart battery or intelligent device. (See BU-603: How to Calibrate a “Smart” Battery)
This conforms to my understanding of contemporary Li ion cells with contemporary charge control circuitry.
