Can I overcharge my headlight??
 

I have a Niterider Lumina 700 headlight that I use to commute. It only gets used for 15 minutes each night.

Each night when I get home, I re-charge it, and keep it charging via my computer overnight.

Is this okay? I know next to nothing about modern batteries. Am I in actuality doing more harm than good?

Shall I use the light for several days in a row before charging? (It supposedly can go for 1.5 hours or so on high).

What is the best charging technique to keep this battery lasting for as long as possible?

Thanks for helping this light/battery noob!

Hi, From the user guide (http://www.niterider.com/wp-content/...User-Guide.pdf) "Leaving the headlamp and USB charging cable connected indefinitely will not harm the battery."

As for the best way to charge it, there's lots of info here- How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University which says that small discharges and then charging will prolong the life.

Perfect, thanks! I guess it pays to read the small print, huh?

When all else fails, read the instructions. From the Man's book of life. ;)

If a Lithium Ion battery did not have protection circuitry built in to keep it from being harmed on overcharge, they would burst into flames every day and they'd be illegal to sell.

HTFU and RTFM

More accurate is, if a Lithium battery that is to be charged within the device it is used in did not have protection circuitrybuilt in....

I use lithium batteries for another hobby. They do not have built in circuitry as all they are are batteries. I have to use a seperate dedicated llithium charger to charge. Set the charger wrong and you will overcharge and burn your house down, your garage down, and there has even been instances of burning cars up because it is common (though not recommended) for people to use a car's 12v system as a power source for charging.

Not just overcharging but if I crash my airplane and damage the battery i can violently catch fire and catch anything at the crash site on fire. If the damage is minor and I don't notice it and continu using the battery, it can catch fire during charging correctly the next time.

Wow, so charming. You, my friend, are a boil on the ass of humanity. Love 'ya!

Generally there is no problem with doing that on the life of your battery, however it may make any battery level indicators less accurate over time. To avoid this you would want to do a more complete discharge and charge on occasion to calibrate this.