Increase Rechargeable Battery Life

DoopHQ

I'm not sure if this is a myth or not, but when you buy a new electronic gadget with a Lithium Ion or any rechargeable battery are you supposed to completely drain the battery initially then fully recharge it? If this is true, how often do you have to do this? I want to maximize battery life for my iPod, laptop, whatever as much as possible. I tried googling this question but I can't seem to find a reliable source.

Also are there anymore tips I should know to increase battery life? I usually turn down the brightness on my laptop and iBook and that usually works. Overall I just want to find a great source for battery care.

Fantasma

Hi,

There is a physical law (also applied in Accounting) that says that the useful life of material object is decreased by:

1. Use

2. Not use

3. Abuse

Balancing the use seems the best to way to achieve your goal, beyond that, I don't know of any magical formula to extend the life of a battery.

P.S.
Sorry for the unuseful advice.

stigweard

You will find more useful information here than anywhere else. Everything (and more) that you ever wanted to know about batteries.

evilmrhenry

I'm also going to toss the Dan's Data guide out here; bit shorter than the battery university site.
http://www.dansdata.com/gz011.htm

CailYoung

DoopHQ wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is a myth or not, but when you buy a new electronic gadget with a Lithium Ion or any rechargeable battery are you supposed to completely drain the battery initially then fully recharge it? If this is true, how often do you have to do this?

This has to do more with the device than the battery - LiIon-based power systems ship uncalibrated - they don't know the limits of the battery, so you need to run it up and down to calibrate the charging circuit.