Rechargeable Battery Tips

So this lazy old geek, like many people, uses a lot of rechargeable batteries.
What I can think of is: laptop, mobile phone, cordless phone, camera, blood pressure cuff, cordless electric drill, flashlight, cordless toothbrush, cordless PC mouse.
There is a lot of information about rechargeable batteries on the Internet that can be confusing.
I will try to summarize some of them and add some of my own experience.
I welcome your comments with your own experience.
Some of my information comes from these sites: the battery information site sells batteries and charges.
The batteries of the portable world university of these sites are sponsored by a company called Cadex, which produces battery chargers.
Rechargeable battery and charger: personal opinion on many products you can\'t choose which type of battery you can use, E. G. g.
Cordless toothbrush for laptop.
Some are like cordless electric drill, you can choose the type when you buy, NiCd, NiMH, Li-Ion.
For many products that use standard battery sizes, specifically AAA and AA, you can choose the type of battery you want to use.
The number of batteries used is incredible, especially if you\'re a geek like me. See pictures.
Many products are alkaline (or zinc carbon)batteries.
When they distribute, I will always try to replace them with something that can be recharged.
Now I have a good reason to say \'try.
Alkaline (and zinc-carbon)battery is 1. 5Volts.
The basic NiCd and NiMH batteries are 1.
2 volts so may not work.
A lot of newer products like my Canon camera are actually designed for voltage and battery type, but many old products won\'t and may only work on NiMH for new charging, and it may not last long.
I think I have an atomic clock and a few remotes that can\'t work with NiMH and one of my blood pressure cuff can only work for a short time on AAA NiMH.
Suggestion: switch back to alkaline if you try rechargeable NiMH but they don\'t work.
Or you can try the rechargeable alkali.
Charge the akaline battery: I didn\'t do this but have read the following.
First, make sure your charger is able to charge the base. Most are not.
Second, every time you charge the alkaline battery, it will have less and less power and will not last for too long.
Third, many people report that they leaked when they tried to charge the regular base.
This is quite confusing (I believe)
This is an acid. (
As the reader points out)
Alkali, a very rough substance. Not recommended.
Alkaline batteries are already cheap.
Digital camera: my Canon camera will use alkaline or NiMH batteries.
So do many digital cameras.
Most users find that the battery life of the alkaline battery is not as long as the NiMH battery. it is recommended to use the NIMH battery. I do.
However, you suddenly find yourself having a discharge battery and it\'s nice to know that you always have the option to purchase and use alkaline batteries.
Definition: capacity/mAH: the amount of energy the battery can store.
MAH stands for milliamperes, or how many milliamperes are available in one hour.
A 2500 battery should be able to provide 2500 mA of an hour, or 1250 mA of two hours.
C: charging rate of charger.
1C means that the charging current is equal to the capacity, so the 3000 mA battery will be charged for one hour at 3000 mA. 0.
5C is 1500 mA of two hours.
Load current or consumption: the amount of energy that can be absorbed from the battery immediately.
A high-drain product continuously absorbs a large amount of current.
Self-discharge: many batteries discharge slowly if left in storage.
This is especially true for NiCd and NiMH batteries.
A new type of NiMH called low self-discharge.
When they sit on the shelf or are shipped to the customer, they do not unload the goods automatically.
Although it is convenient, I don\'t think these extra fees are worth it (2011).
There are two basic types of batteries: primary and secondary.
The battery is one-time.
The old dry battery is zinc carbon, and alkali is more common.
A newer type is lithium (Not lithium ion. .
The advantage of lithium is that it has higher drain performance.
They are not rechargeable.
The secondary battery is rechargeable.
There are three main types of middle school (rechargeable)
Chemical-Based Batteries: NiCd (Nickel Cadmium)NiMH (
Nickel Metal (hydrogen)Li-Ion (Lithium Ion)
Don\'t take Lee-
Ion batteries with lithium batteries.
Lithium batteries are not charged.
Little known: alkali and NiMH batteriesGood for reusable lithium ion: higher drainage performance.
In higher drain electronics, they will last longer, such as digital cameras with flash lights and cordless power tools.
Can recharge multiple times.
Bad: self-discharge problem: Nickel-when not in use-
Battery-based batteries will lose some capacity over time.
Wikipedia says NiMH will lose 5-
10% after a day, 1% per day after room temperature.
Self-discharge repair: Some recommend leaving the NiMH battery on the charger and charging it trickle.
Both me and most websites recommend removing the batteries within one day of charging as having them turned on can result in overcharging and overheating.
However, they may need to top up before using it, which is usually inconvenient.
Another possible solution is to freeze or refrigerate (
See separate steps).
Memory problem: NiCd battery, to a lesser extent, NiMH battery has something called \"memory.
What actually happens is controversial, but that means they have less capacity than before after many partial discharges and charges.
In other words, a fully charged battery will not last long.
Memory problem fix: to reduce this problem, most websites recommend that the NiCd battery should be fully discharged once a month.
Technically, this means that the battery is discharged from 1. 2 V to 1. 0 V.
In fact, this means running the device, drilling holes, mobile phones, etc. before the device is no longer working or off.
For some products that may discharge too far, far less than 1 v, be careful
Another possible solution is to freeze (
See separate steps).
Now, if there is still a memory problem with a NiCd or NiMH battery, there is usually another way to fix it.
This is the so-called re-regulation. we will discuss it in the next step. Li-
Ion batteriesGood: higher drainage performance. Li-
There is no memory problem with the ion battery.
Bad: life problems: they do have another problem, strictly speaking, life is limited due to aging.
Lifelong repair: do not discharge the battery completely.
Even after the charger is fully charged, leave the battery or device on the charger.
Try to keep the battery cool.
Some products can use different types of batteries.
My Canon camera can use alkaline or NiMH batteries.
Some mobile phones (I think)
, You can buy different types of battery products with standard size batteries, AAA, AA, C and D can usually use different types of batteries.
One of the main advantages of using Recharged is cost.
Alkaline and lithium batteries must be discarded after discharge.
Rechargeable things may be a little more expensive than alkali, but can be charged multiple times.
For most applications, I would recommend rechargeable NiMH if they work because: NiCd batteries contain toxic cadmium.
Maybe for this reason they are not so popular and hard to find.
NiMH has fewer \"memory\" problems than NiCd.
Sometimes you can choose an electric tool with a specific battery type.
Cordless power tools are a good example.
Drill bits can be purchased using NiCd, NiMH or Li-Ion batteries.
Recommended by tool dealers.
Com and myself: buy Li-
If you can afford it, buy the ion tool or you will buy NiCd.
NiCds should have a higher capacity for heavy-duty power tools than NiMHs.
In fact, I own one, all made by Maeda. The Li-
The ion is fine because I can leave it for a long time and it still retains its charge.
NiCd will lose charging in a few days and must be charged.
My Mutian Li manual-
Ion drill said: charge the battery before fully discharging.
Replace the battery when the drill bit starts to slow down.
Don\'t charge a fully charged battery. Overcharging.
Before cooling, let the hot battery cool to room temperature.
My advice.
Ion electric tools: do not discharge all the way.
Not running in a hot environment (if possible). Charge often.
My NiCd bit and battery is about 8 years old, so the battery won\'t last long.
I don\'t use it very often, so I have to charge the battery before using it.
I removed both batteries several times (see picture)
By winding some housing lines around the switch and letting it discharge.
I charge the batteries after they cool down.
They seem to run a little better and are not so self-released.
I also tried to drill the Skil of my cousins (see picture)
Several times, there have been great improvements in running time.
Freezing: I also stuck one of my pieces in the fridge.
Freezing NiCds is controversial.
Several websites, including some manufacturers, say you shouldn\'t do that.
Some websites suggest this to solve the memory problem.
I tried it but did not see any improvement.
Now, most websites that recommend freezing say that you should put them in plastic bags so they don\'t absorb moisture. I agree.
Now many websites say that freezing will greatly reduce the problem of self-discharge.
This is the main reason why I try this.
Problem: most websites suggest you take the battery out of the fridge and get it back to room temperature.
Now, for me, this is against the purpose that I just want to use my walkthrough immediately.
If I have to wait a few hours, I might as well put the charger in instead of freezing it.
Solution: Well, I decided to try it out directly from the fridge.
It seems to work very well.
I haven\'t tried this yet and can\'t recommend it.
But you take the risk yourself and you may try to freeze your battery for immediate use.
Make sure the battery is dry.
Battery replacement for Power Tools: many stores and websites sell power tools to replace batteries.
Some places like Batteries Plus will actually replace the Batteries in the battery pack for power tools.
Most of these battery packs have multiple batteries.
Remember, the standard for NiCd batteries is 1.
Therefore, there may be 10 batteries to obtain a 12 volt battery pack.
Now I have a Hitachi cordless drill with two battery packs.
They won\'t charge, so I opened them (see picture).
Some cells seem to have died.
I decided to take some of the batteries out of one battery pack and put them in another, trying to make a good battery pack.
Failure: The first problem is that the battery is connected to a metal strip mechanically connected to the battery.
Well, I can weld them.
But the biggest problem is that replacing a few \"bad\" cells only causes some other cells to fail.
After doing some research on the battery pack, this is understandable.
Suggestion: If you want to replace the battery in the battery pack, replace all batteries with a new battery with the same capacity and close to the original battery capacity.
You may think that a battery with a larger capacity will last longer, but it depends on whether the battery charger can fully charge.
Please recycle all old batteries.
My local Home Depot, Ace Hardware and battery Plus will recycle the battery.
My suggestion NiCd power tools: discharge all the way around once a month, charge.
Do not leave the charger after charging.
If not used for the time being, remove from the tool (
I don\'t know if this really helps and I don\'t do it either).
Now, if you don\'t use the power tool very often, you may have to charge it before you use it.
You can try the freezing method;
See the warning above, or put them in the bag and in the fridge.
So about a year ago, I bought a bolangolab dynamic electric toothbrush instead of my old Sonicare, which is no longer charging.
There\'s a NiCd battery inside.
Well, I seem to have lost the instructions but I remember it saying you can put it on the charger every time you use it but you should keep running and I think once a month
This is in line with my suggestion for NiCd battery products.
Well, I was lucky that I won a painting from my dentist.
Now, the documentation doesn\'t state which type of rechargeable battery this uses, I can\'t find it on their website, and I haven\'t received a response from an email.
But I did find a website that says there are Li-
There\'s an ion battery inside.
The instructions say that you can always put it on the charger, which is consistent with my advice on Li-Ion batteries.
My Motorola phone has Li-
There\'s an ion battery inside.
I keep my phone on.
I usually charge the battery indicator when it drops a notch.
There is not much to say in the manual.
If you have Li on your phone-
I think I would also suggest using the ion battery in it: charge it a lot.
Don\'t let if it\'s completely discharged.
Away from the hot environment, for exampleg.
Don\'t put it in a hot car.
It is expected that the battery can be used for up to three years or so, but do not buy spare batteries when needed
The ion battery loses power over time.
I think most phones use Li-
But some old ones use NiMH.
In addition to leaving it once a month, the same recommendation applies.
My Vtech cordless phone has NiMH battery.
The manual does not explain much about charging.
In general what I do is charge the phone and put it down from the charger until it drops a few gaps and then sticks it to the charger.
Most cordless phones seem to use NiMH batteries.
My advice: once a month, completely discharged from the hospital.
Try to avoid the hot environment.
It doesn\'t matter if you buy spare batteries early, but it would be better if you put them in the bag and put them in the fridge.
I have Li in my lenovo notebook-
Most new laptops, I believe, use ion batteries.
Most people agree with the following suggestions: 1.
Heat is the biggest problem with capacity loss.
This could be a good endorsement for the laptop cooler. (I don\'t need it. )
Convection cooling is available on my laptop stand (hot air rises). 2.
The battery cannot be fully discharged.
Partial discharges are good because they don\'t have a \"memory\" problem. 3.
The battery is expected to last for about three years, but do not buy spare batteries when needed
Ion batteries will lose capacity over time.
Theory: when a laptop is connected to an AC power supply for a long time, the battery may be fully charged but will still be charged trickle.
In addition, when the laptop is in use, the temperature of the battery will rise again, thus reducing the life span. 4.
If you plug the battery into AC power for a long time, most people recommend removing the battery.
This makes things complicated.
The most recommended Li-
The ion battery should be discharged to 40% before storage.
It is recommended to put them in a bag in the refrigerator.
Another problem is that they cannot be stored for too long.
If the battery is self-discharged too much, it can no longer be charged, so if you store the battery, you need to take it out every month or so to warm it to room temperature and charge it.
Then discharge it to 40% before storing it again.
It\'s too complicated for a lazy old geek, so I don\'t do that.
Others believe that it is OK to keep the battery all the time.
I don\'t think most laptop manufacturers will overcharge after the battery is fully charged.
I don\'t use my laptop for heavy-duty applications like games either, so it\'s not that hot.
My Lenovo notebook has dual-core CPU.
Most multi-core CPUs run at lower clock speeds compared to single-core CPUs.
This usually means they run colder.
In fact, I just wanted to justify not removing the battery because I was lazy.
There is also a slightly controversial laptop issue here: most laptops have a small app that tracks the remaining battery power.
Now, it\'s hard to track the battery charge and that\'s just a guess at best.
However, it is generally believed that since most laptops are plugged into AC power and are not fully discharged, the accuracy of this application will become worse.
This is true in my experience.
So most web experts suggest that you should do a full uninstall every few months so the app can be restartedcalibrated.
I guess my suggestion is that if the accuracy of this app is important to you, then always discharge your battery anyway.
Another controversial laptop issue: freezing the battery.
Some say they restored some capacity by freezing the battery.
I haven\'t tried it, only if your battery is already having problems while keeping it charged, I would suggest it.
In other words, as a last resort.
Freezing tips: charge the battery if possible.
Let it cool to room temperature.
Put it in the bag to keep the condensation to a minimum.
Freeze for a day or two.
Remove and lift to room temperature.
Make sure it\'s dry.
Stick it to your laptop, connect the charger, but don\'t power it on your laptop.
Allow charging 12-16 hours. Try it out.
Some people are lucky. some people are unlucky.
It is said that their luck will be better if repeated several times.
One \"rumor\" is that a frozen NiCd battery will reduce self-discharge.
Well, I tried it with my pastoral NiCd battery pack.
It does seem to help.
Please see the previous step of the cordless electric drill.
I don\'t know about this, but there is a lot of controversy on the Internet saying that a frozen rechargeable battery will be charged back.
I doubt it.
Most reports are written by individuals.
My method: charge the battery first if possible. Measure voltage.
Stick in the bag in case of condensation.
Freeze for a few days.
Take out the refrigerator. Take it out of the bag
Hope there are no condensate or wrap them in paper towels.
Room temperature. Try to charge.
For the benefit of lazy old geek science, I charge with my \"smart (see picture).
I think I charged them on my other charger.
They all measured 1.
2 V but not working in my Canon camera.
I put them in a freezer bag.
Keep moisture)
In our fridge.
I did not see any improvement.
They still don\'t work in my charger or camera.
I just noticed another \"hint \".
Freeze the NiCd batteries for an hour, then hit them with the plastic of the screwdriver to \"break the Crystal\" loss.
I haven\'t tried this.
There are thousands of NiMH/NiCd battery chargers.
Question: What is the best?
A: I don\'t know.
One of the problems is that most people don\'t have much information about how they work, and there are no criteria for how they describe features.
Further, there is usually no agreement on what method is best.
It is generally believed that the temperature rise is not good.
It is not good to charge too much.
So I can tell you something that needs attention.
Charger with fixed Charging time: not recommended.
Other 1Hr, 2Hr, 5Hr chargers that are not much said.
Now, these chargers may be perfectly acceptable under ideal conditionsprobably)
Fully discharged battery and specific battery capacity.
The question is how often do you only charge the fully discharged battery once.
Most people charge their batteries after they run out of batteries or start a new day.
In addition, the capacity of the battery may be different from the design capacity of the charger.
This can lead to insufficient charging or excessive charging.
Over time, the charged battery also loses its charge.
So if you charge some batteries and then want to use them in a few days, you might want to charge them.
This type of charger will still charge them all day, which will result in overcharging and possibly overheating.
Features to look for: smart charger: It\'s a bit of an exaggeration, it may mean something, but it may be better than nothing.
Microprocessor: This is similar to \"smart\" but may mean more complex circuits.
Temperature sensor or monitoring: this is a very good function because it can prevent overheating.
Pulse and/or negative pulse charging: While it is not necessary, most \"experts\" think this is a good approach.
Negative incremental V: this is a very technical concept, but it is a good thing for terminating the charge.
Timer protection: this is a good thing if other termination methods fail.
Single led or monitor: Most aa aaa chargers can charge up to four batteries at a time.
Some stations have led at each station, which is a good thing because it means that each station is independent of the other stations.
In other words, a good battery and a fair battery will be charged at different times.
Now, this does not necessarily mean that the charger with a single LED will not charge each station separately.
If the charger charges only two or four batteries at a time without charging one, then that means they may charge two or four batteries in series.
If one battery is in a different state from the other, they will not charge evenly.
Some features that may be required: discharge/charge: While it is not recommended to use each charging cycle, the occasional discharge/charge cycle will help reduce the \"memory\" problem.
Refurbished/RefreshRejuventate: this is the normal battery that cannot be charged or discharged.
It is said that this will restore the old battery to a new state.
None of my accusations have these features and can\'t say how well they work.
I currently have four separate battery chargers.
Panasonic 5 hours: not recommended.
This is one of the timer chargers I just complained about. Panasonic BQ-
390A: manual (Found online)
There is no information about the charging method.
But a website says it has smart technology and temperature sensors.
It only has one LED, but will charge 1, 2, 3, 4 batteries, so charge them separately.
It\'s hard to find, but it\'s a pretty good charger.
Super fast charger: I have very little information about this.
There is an LED in front of each station.
It is obviously the model ult31792.
One customer commented that it had a temperature and used a negative ΔV.
It won\'t charge the battery it considers unacceptable.
In fact, I do like this. it has always been my main force. Rosewill RGD-
CT505: I just bought this battery charger as it is available in Newegg. com.
It has separate charging circuits and LEDs and is based on a microprocessor.
It has a safety timer, temperature monitoring and \"falling off\", which I guess means a negative ΔV.
It should also charge and discharge the battery.
Like Ultra, it has a feature that doesn\'t try to charge it if it doesn\'t like the state of the battery and doesn\'t let you know.
It should also charge the alkaline battery, but I doubt if I will use it for this purpose.
I don\'t have enough time to ask for advice.
Renovations are trying to recycle NiCd/NiMH batteries that will not be charged as before.
Step 1: try to fully discharge the battery and charge it multiple times as mentioned earlier.
Technically, this means emissions a 1.
The 2 v community dropped to 1. 0V.
Actually, this means running the device, the drill bit, the phone, the toothbrush until it is no longer running.
Step 2: re-charge or restore the rechargeable battery if you have a charger. Try it out.
I don\'t and don\'t want to buy one for $40.
Possible steps: Some claim that the battery can be restored as long as it is frozen.
I have no luck with this method (see picture).
Another: Freeze The NiCd batteries for an hour, then tap them with the plastic handle of the screwdriver to \"break the Crystal\" loose.
I haven\'t tried this.
Another possibility: The following repair methods are recommended by Battery University.
Discharge the battery to 1 v at 1C rate (about an hour).
Then discharge the battery at 0. 4C rate to 0. 4V (
About two hours. .
Recharge several times.
This is a very tricky process.
This may be used by their Cadex qualifications.
But I can\'t afford $1000.
One of them is 3000.
Anyway, I\'m trying some of them and if I make it, it will be detailed in another note.
Conclusion: Well, this is longer than I expected.
I hope some information is useful.
Please feel free to send comments.