[Moonwalker]

Hi!

I'm owner of the MZ-R30 Sony portable minidisc recorder.
My dad has the MZ-R35.
Both use LIP-12H lithium accu.
I recharge the battery about every 4 days when it's nearly empty.

I'd like to know how long can it last (years of my typical use) AND, how it'll get worse meaning capacity, thus recording time. Will it degrade slowly till I'm forced to buy new one just for short recording times, like on Ni-Cd and Ni-MH or it'll die from day to day and cease to charge anymore?

Thanx.
Moonwalker

 

[LEVI]

you could try the latest net mdwalkman sony n1,its time of use after a full charge could lasts over 100 hours.

 

[leon]

Sharp says their Li-ion batteries can last for 300 charge/discharge cycles, but most Li-ion battery makers say 500 in their catalogs. Not sure which one is right.

Li-ion battery, in theory, have so little memory effect that it's virtually unaffected by that. However, after repeated use, you might find that your Li-ion battery becomes less capable of providing power, and the actual battery life decreases. In that situation, its capacity decreases steadily until it doesn't really provide much power anymore.

I read a Japanese article where the writer interviewed IBM Japan on this topic. The answer IBM gave is that Li-ion is very vulnerable to over-recharging and over-discharging; they suggest that, if you don't fully charge or discharge a Li-ion battery, it would last for much longer.

For example: it's better if you start recharging when the battery meter still reads 1/3 (and not totally empty), and if full recharging takes 2 hours, you do 1 1/2 hour instead.

It's possible that if you don't fully charge/discharge, it doesn't count as one of the 300 (or 500) cycles.

 

[bigbear]

charge and use

 

[blr]

It is true that Li-Ion cells are a lot more sensitive to charging and discharging conditions than say NiCd or NiMH ones. I personally always try to avoid Li-ions for portable audio use because the charging circuits inbuilt are simply not good enough for the sensitive Li-ion chemistry.
That said, you can expect everything between say 50 and 500 cycles without a significant capacity loss, depending on the charging conditions. As the others say, don't drain the cell completely and charge for a bit shorter time (although frequent undercharging is no no).