Sansa Clip First Charge

I will my Sansa Clip tomorrow and I would to ask how long is the first charge of the sansa clip 4gB?

It depends on how charged the player is to begin with (mine came almost fully charged).  A full charge from near empty takes about 3-4 hours. 

3 - 4 hours initial charge time is a good rule-of-thumb to follow.

I bet a good answer is 3-4 hours.

:wink:

Charge your Sansa player for approximately 3 hours prior to first use. Upon first time use, it is recommended to condition the battery to maximize the useful life. The player SHOULD be fully charged and then fully discharged before recharging. Repeat this cycle for the first 3-5 times you charge the player.

@jayryl wrote:

Charge your Sansa player for approximately 3 hours prior to first use. Upon first time use, it is recommended to condition the battery to maximize the useful life. The player SHOULD be fully charged and then fully discharged before recharging. Repeat this cycle for the first 3-5 times you charge the player.

This is not necessary with the new Li-Po batteries. There’s no memory or conditioning needed.

[Quote]: A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges. [End Quote]

From http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Jayryl’s advice looks like it’s quoted directly from SanDisk’s website.  They tell you to fully charge and then fully discharge, and then repeat 3 to 5 times.  https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/242/~/charging-the-sansa-battery-for-the-first-time 

I was confused by the conflicting advice, but I started the procedure and sent customer support a question about it.  (I have a Clip+.)  They responded, “it is not necessary however it is recommended to charge the player for 3 hours prior to first use for better performance of the battery but this need not be repeated for 3-5 times. As doing it prior the first use will be enough.”  There is nothing there about doing a full discharge.

In the article from Battery University, I read, “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.”

So, assuming that the kind of battery in the Clip+ is the same kind they are describing, it is counterproductive to follow the advice in SanDisk’s website, correct?  I did the full discharge only once so hopefully it is not enough by itself to kill my battery, but I am chagrined that following the manufacturer’s instructions would actually be detrimental to the life of the product (if I understand correctly).

So why on earth would a major manufacturer tell its consumers to do something like that?  Please correct me if there’s something I’m missing here.  Thanks.