Some consumer products that have lithium ion battery packs recommend charging the device for 8 hours before first use.
If a customer doesn't follow this procedure, does it cause irrecoverable damage to overall battery life, or is it reversible?
Almost all devices with lithium batteries have built-in safety measures to stop over-discharge, which causes irreversible damage. But in the interests of getting a good initial use most manufacturers recommend a full charge first.
More sophisticated gadgets like phones need to build up a history of useage to properly control the charge/discharge metering. That can take several cycles of 'normal' use to establish. A known good starting point with the battery fully charged helps this.
They often want a couple of complete charge/discharge cycles before or at first use. If you don't fully cycle them, you may confuse the gas gauge preventing a complete charge later. If the charging system isn't quite that smart, it still may rely on a full charge to calibrate the protection circuits.
No damage that I know of. One reason for the recommendation is that LiIon battery packs are shipped about 30% charged. That's the level at which they have the longest life and will not deteriorate in storage. You'll also see half charged LiIon batteries in the latest laptops as a "battery saver" mode. The 50% charge extends the battery life and the fast charger can get it up to 100% in a fairly short time (about 1 hr).
Some detail on what causes LiIon battery failures: Note the effects of voltage/charge extremes.
Another reason is that as of Apr 1, 2016, the ICAO/IATA limit the SoC (State of Charge) of all air transported LiIon batteries to 30% maximum charge.
State of Charge New ICAO/IATA regulations will limit the State of Charge (SOC) to 30% for all lithium ion cells and batteries on both Passenger and Cargo aircraft. Please refer to Packing Instructions 965, Section 1A, 1B and Section II. This will impact just the shipment of cells and batteries by air, not the shipment of cells and batteries "packed with" or "contained in" equipment. It's on the bottom of Pg 2 and 7. I'm sure the regulators would have specified zero SoC were this not been detrimental to the condition of the battery.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Interesting. There are some devices like drugstore electronic cigarettes which are sold fully charged to the consumer - guess they'll only be moving them by truck?
I noticed some recently went up in price. Maybe that's the reason.
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