Laptops For Less Blog

Rechargeable Batteries: Q&A [Part I]

What’s the most important thing you should do before recharging your battery, or even plugging in your charger? As basic as it sounds, reading your manufacturer instructions is the smartest thing to do. The second smartest thing to do is contact the manufacturer if you have any additional questions. Why? If you do you’ll learn exactly how to care for your rechargeable battery and its charger. This will add runtime to your battery and you’ll get more “bang” for your buck.

So, you’ve read your manual, right? Good. Want to learn more? That means you’re in the right place. Keep reading this article to learn strategies for recharging and storing most standard rechargeable batteries. We’ll discuss NiMH, NiCd, and Lithium-ion battery strategies in more detail. Plus, you will get a solid understanding of “deep-cycling” rechargeable batteries.

Q: How often should batteries be recharged? What is the best way to store them?

NiMH

• Recharge this battery at any time. It doesn’t matter what level of energy capacity the battery holds.
• NiMH batteries can be fully discharged and recharged. A full discharge is also known as “conditioning”. We’ll cover “conditioning” later in the article.
• Didn’t you just say fully discharge? Now, fully recharge? Yes, do a full recharge to the battery before storage.
• Recharge accordingly. If you don’t use your rechargeable battery for a prolonged amount of time you’ll need to recharge it. Recharge standard NiMH batteries every 1-2 months and pre-charged NiMHs every 6-9 months.

NiCd

• Completely drain the battery before a recharge during normal use periods.
• You’ll reduce your battery’s performance if you recharge it before it’s fully exhausted of its energy. What happens if you don’t? You could experience the “memory effect”. The battery “remembers” to only store the amount of energy it expended during the most recent discharge.
• Fully drain a NiCd battery if you plan on storing it for a long time.

Lithium-ion

• Recharge these batteries anytime and often. There is no “memory effect”. Charge lithium-ion batteries no matter how little energy was used.
• Avoid fully exhausting the battery’s energy before recharging. This is a recommended practice for this battery type. Avoid recharging after medium [50%] or full [90-100%] discharges.
• Li-ion batteries cannot be overcharged. If you plug in your device for a long period of time to an electrical current it will not overcharge. How cool is that?! If the battery is full no recharging current applies to the battery. For example, a laptop battery must drop to a certain level before the recharge begins.
• If you charge your battery after shallow discharges [approximately 30% of capacity] you’ll get more charging cycles. Most batteries have an energy level gauge or indictor you can use to determine capacity. However, it’s tough for most consumers to truly know their battery’s precise capacity levels. Sometimes you will have to estimate.
• There are two opinions about long-term storage. Some experts say to store Li-ion batteries at full capacity, other experts state that users should drain the rechargeable battery to roughly 40-50% of its peak capacity.

All experts agree on one thing: store your battery in a cool location. A suggested temperature is 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Q: Is “conditioning” needed for all rechargeable batteries?

Earlier in the article we mentioned “conditioning” a battery. Conditioning is “deep cycling” a battery. The user [that's you] drains the battery of most of its capacity before a full recharge.

Some of the newer battery chargers include a conditioning “cycle” that can be done at the touch of a button! Conditioning is beneficial for frequently recharged batteries used for short periods of time. For example, a flashlight turned on and off during a camping trip.

NiMHs

• Standard NiMHs. Condition your batteries after about 10 normal recharging sessions or every three months. The three month estimate is important. If you haven’t used your battery for a long time, or if it’s lacking the runtime it did before default to the three month rule. Remember, conditioning prevents crystal formation within the batteries cells. Crystals will reduce the battery’s life.
• Pre-Charged NiMHs. Use the same rules as for standard NiMHs.

NiCds

• Every recharge session should be a conditioning session.

Lithium-Ion

• Not needed. As mentioned earlier in the article conditioning is not necessary for Li-ion rechargeable batteries.
• Capacity Gauge. If you have a battery pack with a capacity gauge it may be a good idea to fully discharge and recharge your battery. Why? This allows the capacity gauge to stay accurate by relearning its full capacity levels.

In part two of “Rechargeable Batteries: Q&A” we’re going to look at some more important questions on rechargeable batteries!

LaptopsForLess.com has a huge selection of batteries in stock, at very reasonable prices [often a fraction of the cost of manufacturers’ own brand replacements]. We stock; Laptop Batteries, Power Tool Batteries, PDA Batteries, Camera/Camcorder Batteries, Cell Phone Batteries and much more. If an electronic device contains a battery, we’ll stock that battery!