The Sony Cybershot DSC-T200 comes with an external wall mounted charger for its proprietary battery. Some Sony cameras allow you to draw power from a computer's USB port. Is this possible with the DSC-T200?
According to Page 35 of the manual, the battery can only be charged in the charger, not in the camera.
(note: the linked manual says DSCT70.pdf in the link, but the manual covers 3 versions including the T200).
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I find it convenient to just leave the charger sitting on my desk, still plugged into the wall, so that I can just pop the battery in when I need it, but I wonder if this is bad for the charger in the long term?
It doesn't appear to be doing anything without the battery in place, and it doesn't feel warm, but could there be any damage or even safety issues to consider?
I realize this may not be considered on-topic for Photo.SE, but I am interested in this specifically for my Nikon MH-18a charger and my EN-EL3e battery for my Nikon D90, though I suspect (hope?) that this will be of general interest to owners of other gear.
If you want to vote to close this question, I'm OK with that too.
No, this is safe as long as the battery is not in the charger. Some chargers may have a small power drain from being plugged in (even when not charging anything), but it shouldn't do any damage to the device to leave it plugged in.
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I am not really up-to-date regarding how today's batteries should be discharged/charged to keep their life at a maximum possible level.
I have a canon 60D camera with the LP-E6 battery, but I believe this applies to any camera/battery which isn't old and thus uses a different technology.
If I have 2 batteries available, is it a good idea to always discharge one of them completely (until the camera refuses to work anymore), and then swap it with the other while charging the empty one completely? Or is this process useless?
Someone should clear this up once and for all.
EDIT: Since there are requests to provide more info about the Canon 60D battery, here it goes:
Official Canon battery called LP-E6, DC 7.2V, 1800 mAh (Li-ion), 13Wh
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but a Li-ion cell has a nominal voltage of 3.6V, therefore to have a total voltage of 7.2V, the battery must have at least 2 cells. I said at least, because there may be another pair of total of 4 or even 8 cells in a parallel connection, resulting in higher capacity. Either way, unless I'm wrong, the Canon LP-E6 battery is multi-celled.
If the batteries are multi-celled, then yes, full discharge is good, once every couple of months. There are sensors that combine readings from multiple cells to determine capacity and balance the cells to improve efficiency and overal capacity. Other than that, Li-Ion still prefers shallow discharges.
To maximize Li-Ion batteries' life, store them in cold environment such as a refrigerator. Be sure to cover the contacts and/or wrap in bags to eliminate condensation. This also applies to letting them reach room temperature before putting them into the camera (or you risk condensation again).
I only did these kinds of things with my laptop battery whose compartment illogically placed next to the hot hard drive. Heat kills batteries.
The 60D battery does indeed look multi-celled. Still, for cameras, I'd just buy cheap 3rd-party batteries and not worry about it, personally.
Good resources:
Battery University
Candle Power Forums
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