General Battery Life Question

[twitchyzero]

I just have a general question and I'm not sure if anyone would be able to answer it here since I googled and the info was outdated.

I know when I used to buy electronics many would have notice to charge 8-24 hours before initial use. I don't seem to see this notice anymore.

I'm just curious if that's still standard practice in order to prolong your battery life? I'm talking cell phones, headsets, laptops etc (pehaps it's not including Li ion batteries?)

I'm asking because so many electronics now come with unremovable batteries...so it's good to know ways to prolong battery life i guess

[fs604]

Nowadays almost everything uses lithium batteries. These kids of batteries don't need that charge overnight stuff. With old batteries(magnesium?) you had to charge overnight.
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[RangeRoverTurbo]

It really vary from electronic to electronic. But most of it, expect only around ~2000 charges and you still start noticing a decrease in it's life.

[JesseBlue]

i don't think its a matter of the number of charges that decreases its life...i would look at it more that a battery would have a life expectancy period because of the 'chemical ingredients' and quality of how it was put together...the way it charges plays a huge factor but this varies from battery to battery...

[mrks]

I found the key prolong battery life of Li-Ions is to avoid a constant drain to 0% or to keep it fully charged.

When I get a new device I just charge it until full then let it sit for another 2 hours, in case there is a trickle charge. Then I use it until the device shuts off. This lets the device get a good base calibration of the battery.
Afterwards I like to recharge my devices at 40-50% and then do a full drain cycle every month or so. Most of my batteries still have a good health after 1-2 years.

My MacBook has a 88% health rating after 2 years of use and still gets over 5 hours of use on a charge.

Here's some interesting battery info from the company of iproducts with unremovable batteries:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

[twitchyzero]

good discussion
I have a bad habit of leaving the charger in even if it is fully charged. What if you have a product that you rarely use, would it be better to drain it fully before putting it away?

[t8v6]

people keep telling me to first charge my electronics to 100%. Then use and drain the battery to 0 before charging again. if you do this the first few times you use it the battery life will be prolonged. not sure well this actually works :/

[VK79]

^

For NiCd I believe so, for NiMh don't need to do that, for LiIon, you will decrease its performance if you drain it to 0% or keep it at 100% for extended periods of time.

That is the general idea I got when I spent hours one day googling to learn how to maintain my eneloops and laptops/tablets.

[mrks]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

good discussion
I have a bad habit of leaving the charger in even if it is fully charged. What if you have a product that you rarely use, would it be better to drain it fully before putting it away?

For long term storage, over 6 months, you should keep the battery at 50%.
The reason is that at 0% the battery might lose the small charge and will never be able to recharge again.
At 100% the battery will lose its maximum capacity over time.

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by VK79

That is the general idea I got when I spent hours one day googling to learn how to maintain my eneloops and laptops/tablets.

[ddr]

so.. how do you keep them at not 100%? i usually charge them fully and rotate using them ...

[mrks]

Originally Posted by ddr

so.. how do you keep them at not 100%? i usually charge them fully and rotate using them ...

If you're talking about eneloops, I do the same thing. Mine are charged and ready to use because they're cheap to replace.

My previous posts are mainly referring to notebook, iPhone and iPad batteries, which cost a lot more to replace.