Should I recharge my battteries?

I had a big event yesterday. I won't use my flashes again until after the holidays. What is best for them, let them sit as is then recharge them in a couple months right before the event; or recharge them now and then in a couple of months give them a top off charge? Does it matter either way?

what kind of batteries?

If you are talking about Eneloops (you should be!), just leave them be and charge before using. If you are talking about Li-ion camera batteries, charge them until the 75% light comes on, then disconnect. They don't like to be left at 100%, and if left too low, may spontaneously discharge to empty, which is also a problem. **

I think the bigger question is how do you go that long w/o shooting? I recharge batteries to capacity upon removal (at about 20-25%), and rotate my supply.


** This information is based soley on my feeble-minded recollections of stuff I thought I may have understood quite some time ago. YMMV.

I'm constantly forgetting the specifics for different battery types. I use this page as a reference. Hope it helps....


http://batteryuniversi​ty.com/learn/

Bassat wrote in post #18189677
If you are talking about Eneloops (you should be!), just leave them be and charge before using. If you are talking about Li-ion camera batteries, charge them until the 75% light comes on, then disconnect. They don't like to be left at 100%, and if left too low, may spontaneously discharge to empty, which is also a problem. **

I think the bigger question is how do you go that long w/o shooting? I recharge batteries to capacity upon removal (at about 20-25%), and rotate my supply.


** This information is based soley on my feeble-minded recollections of stuff I thought I may have understood quite some time ago. YMMV.

Yes mostly eneloops, though I guess I should ask a similar question about the AD360 batteries. I won't go that long without shooting but I'll go that long without doing the studio-type work that requires so many batteries.

If they're Lithium, they have good shelf life, let them sit, or recharge them, won't batter either way.

If they're Ni-MH, it's ideal to store them discharged and then recharge them and discharge them once per month. That's for long term storage though.

If you're just going to let them sit for one month or maybe over two months, you can probably just put them on the shelf and forget about them. Use them (discharge) and recharge them when the season is back on for you.

Very best,

360 batteries, and those like them want to be stored with a certain voltage level. I'd tell you more but I am apparently a slack arse moron who can't keep up with proper battery charge on these units.

Lithiums dont like to be or become really empty!
Best is storing them at about 40% of its capacity. (I know thats hard to guess when its at 40% with a normal charger).