Best Lithium-ion Batteries Charging Practices

[dareprasanna]

Hi i use a SE W810i mobile, Though its talktime and standby are quite decent i want to know how can i improve its battery perfomance and life time any suggestions?

[Pathik]

1. Keep the display brightness low

[dinesh_mettur]

Try to keep the volume level ringinf sound to level 5

[Hells_Fury]

---Edited due to wrong info---

[Pathik]

yup let ur battery drain out fully.. Only then recharge it

[ambandla]

Most Important: Do not use the phone when it is charging. That's damn harmful.

[Pathik]

@amar y is it harmful??

[ambandla]

Li-Ion Battery get hot while charging or while talking. When you do both at the same time, the battery get's extremely hot and can explode (not everytime).

[gdatuk]

• Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.
• Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.
• Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.
• Consider removing the battery from a laptop when running on fixed power. (Some laptop manufacturers are concerned about dust and moisture accumulating inside the battery casing.)
• Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing dates. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.
• If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge.

Extracted from: My blog

[Pathik]

Originally Posted by ambandla

Li-Ion Battery get hot while charging or while talking. When you do both at the same time, the battery get's extremely hot and can explode (not everytime).

i must hav done tht atleast a 1000 times but no such hazardous result...

[iMav]

ya me too ..... heard of this for the first time ....

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by Hells_Fury

One major factor that affects Li-Ion batteries is when you charge it. For example, if you keep charging the battery when its just half empty, then over time the battery capacity will reduce to only that much. This is called "Memory Effect". The best thing to do would be to re-charge your battery only when its nearly empty and even then, you should re-charge to the full battery capacity. Hope this helped.

Note that this behaviour applies to only Li-Ion batteries and not NiMH ones.

u've completely messed it up pal! the memory effect is seen in NiCd batteries. NiMH batteries do suffer from memory effect to some extent. Li based batteries (ion/polymer) haf little or no memory effect. so if the battery is li-ion/polymer then do not let it drain completely! one more word of caution: do not overcharge!

[eddie]

@gdatuk: Thanks a lot for that awesome post man

I charge my cell as soon as it displays 'Battery Low' for the first time and charge it till it displays 'Battery Full'. I do not charge it when its half empty and always charge it till it gets fully charged. I also do not continue charging it after it displays Battery Full. I never put the charger on overnight. An important thing is to never remove the charger first from the phone and then from the power outlet. Always remove it first from the power outlet and then from the phone. Doing this the other way can damage the battery as well as the charger.

[Pathik]

my battery is on charging wenever i m home.... still no reduction in battery lifetime... if i use it it lasts arnd half a day... if my dad uses it it lasts abt 3 days...
@ krazy all the ppl i know pull the fone out of the charger but no1 has damaged their fone yet

^^ This from Digit Fast Track to Mobile Telephony (page 77).
"While charging the device, do not pull the adaptor cord out from the device until the main electricity supply is switched off, as doing this could cause a spike that could damage the device"

[ambandla]

@pathiks and mav3. Yes might have done that a 1000 times but 1 overheat is enough to blow it. Ask any mobile phone manufacturer or any electronics guy who is well aware of how Li-ion batteries work.

[sourav237]

i agree wth ambandla

[djmykey]

Hmm me too pulls the plug off the mobile , however I had a bad exp with my 6600. I used to charge it every morning. So what happened over a period of time was that it used to discharge and get charged only the first specific amt. So if someday if I forget to charge it, it wud switch off automatically when that specific amount of charge was discharged. This happened around 2 months ago. Since then I'm not charging my phone unless it shows less charge. Now its working fine. But was scared as hell that I messed up the battery coz a new one costs 1200

[Hells_Fury]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

u've completely messed it up pal! the memory effect is seen in NiCd batteries. NiMH batteries do suffer from memory effect to some extent. Li based batteries (ion/polymer) haf little or no memory effect. so if the battery is li-ion/polymer then do not let it drain completely! one more word of caution: do not overcharge!

Sorry bout that..Got confused. Edited original post.

[dareprasanna]

Are these tips same for lithium polymer type batteries also

[Tech.Masti]

heard that if "area info" is off, then it also saves battery.