How long do I have to charge a new Camera battery?

My dad just bought a Nikon D5100 today… And I tried it for a few after I charged it full. Apparently, my dad said I had to charge it for 10 hours. What up with that? Won't that just burst the lithium out of the battery? I have experience before, I had a LG phone that I over-charged too much and the lithium ion battery swelled for months and eventually exploded.

Please… I just don't understand why people keep saying that I have to charge this new thing for 3 times the average recharge rate of a certain item when it's newly bought.

Lithium batteries reach maximum potential after the first 3-4 charges of around 8 hours each. What I noticed with newer chargers is they shut down when the battery is fully charged. You can leave it overnight and it'll be safe.

Whenever I have a question like that, the first place I look is the owners manual.

According to page 14 of the users manual, it takes 1.5 hours to fully charge an empty battery.

http://www.nikonusa.com/...oprint.pdf

You can charge it not less than 4 hours ok

Charge it until you notice that the charger indicates it's full. Use it until your camera tells you it's about empty. Repeat that 3-4 times and you will get several years good use out of the battery.

After the first few charge cycles don't be afraid to top it up (stick it in the charger when it's still mostly full) if you need to.

I've treated all my Nikon batteries this way and even the ones from 2006 are still fine.

Today's best devices have SMART technology--you can't over-charge--anything.
Re-chargable batteries are Nickle-metal Hydride or Lithium-ion.
Ni-cadmium ain't a really good re-chargable battery.
Just use the Battery Charge indicator./

Don'y worry you can charge it 3-4 hrs safely