glenyoshida
12-16-2007, 10:33 AM
It's been bothering me that some manufacturers, right in the owner's manual, state that brand new mobile phone batteries should be charged, then fully depleted, then charged again before using the phone for the first time. Some even state to leave the phone charging for 24 hours before using it. So I thought I would take a little time to find out what the heck.
Here's the scoop as of Dec '07
1. No, you don't need to charge your battery for 24 hours before using it. Three hours is quite sufficient, after that you are wasting time.
2. Don't buy old lithium batteries even if they are cheap. Lithium batteries lose life at about 20% per year whether they are being used or not.
3. Don't leave your cell phone in a hot place such as a car. Heat is not good for lithium ion batteries. You lose about 6%/ year of it's life at near 0 °F and 40% at 140 °F. If the outdoor temp is in the upper 90s it's not uncommon for a car dash to reach 180 °F
4. Conversely if you have a spare battery storing it in a cool place like your refrigerator (not freezer) will prolong it's life.
5. Keeping the battery topped off (frequent charging) will make it last longer than letting the battery go dead before recharging.
Laptop side notes:
1. Consider removing the laptop battery when plugged in to keep the heat from the laptops CPU off the battery.
2. Laptops monitor the battery and have a kind of "fuel gauge". On most laptops it might be a good idea to let the laptop run down on it's batteries every 30 charges so the laptop can recalibrate it's gauge. This may help keep the laptop accurate on it's battery condition.
Here's the scoop as of Dec '07
1. No, you don't need to charge your battery for 24 hours before using it. Three hours is quite sufficient, after that you are wasting time.
2. Don't buy old lithium batteries even if they are cheap. Lithium batteries lose life at about 20% per year whether they are being used or not.
3. Don't leave your cell phone in a hot place such as a car. Heat is not good for lithium ion batteries. You lose about 6%/ year of it's life at near 0 °F and 40% at 140 °F. If the outdoor temp is in the upper 90s it's not uncommon for a car dash to reach 180 °F
4. Conversely if you have a spare battery storing it in a cool place like your refrigerator (not freezer) will prolong it's life.
5. Keeping the battery topped off (frequent charging) will make it last longer than letting the battery go dead before recharging.
Laptop side notes:
1. Consider removing the laptop battery when plugged in to keep the heat from the laptops CPU off the battery.
2. Laptops monitor the battery and have a kind of "fuel gauge". On most laptops it might be a good idea to let the laptop run down on it's batteries every 30 charges so the laptop can recalibrate it's gauge. This may help keep the laptop accurate on it's battery condition.