Battery Discharge Function

[jrs3800]

Should this be used ? seems like it would exercise the lcd (and other things) way too much

[toshi43]

If your camera gives you a low-battery warning, using the 'Discharge' function won't take long, usually a couple of minutes.You can discharge the batteries even faster without putting undue stress on the LCD - just keep taking shots until the camera automatically shuts down, one or two usually does it.

[speaklightly]

INHO the discharge battery function is pure BS. Of course, that stands for Bible Scholar, you will understand, won't you. The batteries that we are dealing with are nickel metal hydride batteries.

Folks, nickel metal hydride batteries have NO memory. You can re-charge them whenever you desire. So forget battery discharge, unless you like doing procedures that are totally unneeded.

Sarah Joyce

[MartinR]

Hi,

It may also be worth noting the discharge characteristics of NiMH, and the older NiCd, batteries. Both of these types maintain an almost constant voltage of about 1.2 volts until they arenearly exhausted, thenthe voltage drops quickly. This makes it difficult to give a warning about batteries becoming discharged - one minute they have a partial charge and the camera works, the next minute they are dead. This discharge characteristic differs from that of zinc/carbon or alkaline cells which drop voltage much more slowly and enable low voltage warnings to be given. Try an experiment with a torch with a filamentbulb, not a LED,and say two AA batteries if that is what it takes. Using zinc/carbon cells the brightness will slooowwlyfade away, with NiMH cells you will notice the brightness drops rapidly at the end. As Sarah says, with NiMH cells you can keep topping them up, but not with NiCd's, if anybody still uses them. Using a 'smart' charger, even better if each cell is charged separately, not two in series as some chargers do, each cell will be given the correct charge to become fully charged, then go onto trickle charge. Go out for a days shooting or whatever, return home and put the cells onto charge, even if they are not exhausted. Just have a spare charged set, or two,to swop towhen the first set does become empty. Even if the repeated charging from a partially charged state does have any effect, and I don'tbelieve it does, what's the cost of a new set of NiMH's against the cost of the camera they are used in? Yes, I know some cameras take special batteries that cost a lot more to replace - but you knew that when you bought the camera!!

[Kuroyume]

i suppose this would be for people still using NiCd batteries... of course, if you are using them, you should have a charger with a built-in discharger...

[toshi43]

Actually, the 'memory effect' does exist in NiMh batteries, although much less than NiCd. It doesn't hurt to dicharge NiMh batteries, and it might help them last a bit longer.

http://www.batteryprice.com/nimh-batteries/index.html

[mzwizard]

I did the discharge feature of my Fuji S4830. But after about an hour, I realized that I had the original batteries in, and NOT the rechargeables I had bought.

Did this hurt the camera in any way? It's brand new...bought in Dec 2013.