How to maximize rechargble battery's chrage & life?

[statik213]

Do you keep batteries plugged into the charger as often and as long as you can or do you charge them only when they are completely dead and stop charging them as soon as they are full? Or does it not matter?

 

[thriemus]

For best battery life and performance IMHO its best to iniatally charge the battery for a long time on the first charge, use the battery until dead then charge it for the reccomended amount of time. I dont think its a good idea to leave it plugged in on charge as this causes the battery to heat up.

.. my 2 cents

 

[statik213]

'k thx, anyone else?

 

[Mday]

with NiCads, you would use the battery until it's extremely low on power since they exhibit memory effects.
with NiMH, you do not have to "drain" the battery since they do not exhibit memory effects much at all.
with Lithium (ion or polymer, or whatnot), if you completely drain the battery, you just killed it and you will need a new one.

if you have a battery powered device that recharges the battery while it's plugged in, keep it plugged in.

There are battery chargers (AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, etc) that can trickle charge, where you keep the batteries in there and keep the charger plugged into the wall. The charger keeps the batteries 'topped up'. This is useful if you constantly switch between sets of batteries. Also, when you do use these batteries in sets, keep them that way.

it's always bad to overcharge any battery.

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: Mday
with NiCads, you would use the battery until it's extremely low on power since they exhibit memory effects.
with NiMH, you do not have to "drain" the battery since they do not exhibit memory effects much at all.
with Lithium (ion or polymer, or whatnot), if you completely drain the battery, you just killed it and you will need a new one.

if you have a battery powered device that recharges the battery while it's plugged in, keep it plugged in.

There are battery chargers (AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, etc) that can trickle charge, where you keep the batteries in there and keep the charger plugged into the wall. The charger keeps the batteries 'topped up'. This is useful if you constantly switch between sets of batteries. Also, when you do use these batteries in sets, keep them that way.

it's always bad to overcharge any battery.

OK, so do normal laptop and cellphone chargers have the smarts to stop charging when the battery is full?
And to confirm, Lithium batteries can be charged as often as possible without any damage, right?

Thansk for the info

 

[Calin]

Cellphones might have the circuitry to "know" when to stop charging the battery - however, it is recommended to keep it "charging" only for the needed amount of time

 

[icarus4586]

If you're using a Li-Ion battery in a laptop, cellphone, or some other computerized thing, it's not possible to completely drain the battery. The minimum voltage that the chips need is above that provided when the battery is almost empty, so if the computer shuts off and says the battery is at 0%, it's probably only somewhere around 50% down its voltage curve. If you attached a lightbulb to the contacts (not advisable) it would still light fairly brightly.
Nickel-based batteries continuously lose charge, even when not in use. "Trickle" charging keeps these at 100% power.
Lithium-based batteries have almost no charge loss when not in use. They also require more circuitry to charge, for a number of reasons: temp needs to be within spec, overcharge easier (which is bad)... You can't "trickle" charge lithium batteries, because they'll overcharge.
All that to say this:
Ni-Cad: use until they're dead, then charge.
Ni-MH: preferrably use until they're almost dead, then charge. However, there probably won't be any bad effects from charging halfway through.
Li-Ion / Li-Poly: don't do anything that would completely drain them. Don't short circuit. Charge for the recommended length of time, then take them out. If it's in a laptop or cellphone or whatever, it'll basically do this by itself.

 

[bonkers325]

Originally posted by: statik213

Originally posted by: Mday
with NiCads, you would use the battery until it's extremely low on power since they exhibit memory effects.
with NiMH, you do not have to "drain" the battery since they do not exhibit memory effects much at all.
with Lithium (ion or polymer, or whatnot), if you completely drain the battery, you just killed it and you will need a new one.

if you have a battery powered device that recharges the battery while it's plugged in, keep it plugged in.

There are battery chargers (AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, etc) that can trickle charge, where you keep the batteries in there and keep the charger plugged into the wall. The charger keeps the batteries 'topped up'. This is useful if you constantly switch between sets of batteries. Also, when you do use these batteries in sets, keep them that way.

it's always bad to overcharge any battery.

OK, so do normal laptop and cellphone chargers have the smarts to stop charging when the battery is full?
And to confirm, Lithium batteries can be charged as often as possible without any damage, right?

Thansk for the info

laptops and cellphones have on board circuitry that determines when the battery is fully charged. when you are using outlet chargers for batteries or battery packs, it is never a good idea to overcharge them even if tehy're on a trickle charge.

lithium batteries have a limited lifetime of charges if i recall, you probably shouldnt charge it as often as possible unless you are draining the batteries every day. i think if you charge every day, it will last for around 2-3 years - so for a cell phone it would be ok, since you will probably change cell phones every 2-3 years anyway.

 

[the splat in the hat]

as i understand it from my remote chopper and cars the ni cad batteries get a bacteria in them if left half charged, you can sometimes fix this by freezing the cell, or the cell dies, l changed over to metal hydryed they are awsome , trash em they love it, leave em half charged , i dont seem to have probs, l have some 6 year old aa batts here i still use in the chopper radio, awsome batts, but they are dear as poison.

i could be wrong about ni cad a dude told me that at remote shop.

 

[yosuke188]

How about a wireless mouse like the MX1000? is it not such a good idea to just leave it on the docking station overnight?

 

[the splat in the hat]

with my ni cad mouse batts l swap em every 4 or 5 months with others so they can be totally discharged , same with key board or joy...
my mouse batts are almost 2 years old now , they are eveready reachargable ni cads, basicly cheap !