Recharging Lithium

Recharging Lithium Resource

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Is it true that discharging fully and recharging a lithium battery makes it last longer? HP (Hewlett-Packard) recommends discharging fully and recharging a lithium battery because it makes it last longer whereas, Dell doesn't recommend it discharging fully and recharging it to increase the life of the lithium battery. Which of these is right apparently?

Mystic replied: "It's not as big of deal with the new lithium ion batteries, but with the old nicad and ni-mh batteries it almost always increased the life span."

Lexie_Lynn (: replied: "Yes its truee"

area51_2k7 replied: "Lithium-Ion Batteries. To condition a lithium-ion battery, fully charge the battery and then use it until it is fully drained before recharging it. Repeat this three times for proper conditioning. This helps the battery meter give accurate readings, ensures you get the maximum battery life out of each charge, and prevents overcharging. However, once the battery is conditioned, you do not need to fully drain it every time before recharging. NiMH Batteries. Condition a NiMH battery the same way as a lithium-ion battery. However, NiMH batteries suffer from the "memory" effect. That is, they lose some of their maximum charge abilities if they're frequently charged when they're not close to being drained. They "forget" that they aren't fully drained and indicate a full charge when there are still cells that are not fully charged. Over time this can decrease charge capacity, leaving the battery able to charge only some of its cells. Charge only when the battery is close to being completely drained so a full charging cycle can take place. Do not disconnect the charger during a charge; charge it overnight to reduce the chance of needing to take the phone somewhere before it's charged. Regularly use the battery. If the battery has been unused for an extended period of time it should be reconditioned as if it were the first time. 5 hours ago - Edit - Delete"

Nimz replied: "Discharging fully and recharging a lithium battery will make the battery meter on your computer remain accurate but it does not affect the overall life of the battery. Lithium Ion battery's have a shelf life of about 3-4 years before they start loosing their charge regardless of use."

rockiee80 replied: "Yes, thats is true.. Your Lithium ion battery has small micro cells which holds the powers. (similar to a bubble pack). These cells can be charged only once and once discharged thats the end of its life. So when a Lithium ion battery is made its made with millions such cell. The life of the battery is equal to the number of cells remaining to keep the charge"

rob replied: "both. a lithium battery becomes unusable if the charge drops too low(point of no return). this could occur if you drained it dead, and then let it sit for months unused. that is why it is important to charge a lithium battery even if the device isn't being used. a lithium battery also has a life based on total number of charges. So the more use you can get out of a battery between charges, the longer it will last. i tend to agree with hp. since most of us use our computers daily, the battery will never have the chance to drain to the point of no return."

Foxy_Stoat_Seeks_Pig replied: "it will not make it last any longer, but it will prevent the 'memory' effect on battery's that prevents them from holding the same full amount of usable charge. if you keep charging the battery whilst it still has power, the crystals that form inside the battery (that shrink/dissolve to discharge the power to be used) become too large to be discharged or used, so take up room in the battery, so lowering the life of it. discharging the battery completely and then charging (should be whilst the laptop is off) should minimise this happening. but they usually die anyway after a year or so."

Gary C replied: "Makers of rechargeable batteries all used to recommend this, but now most of them don't. I never got a coherent explanation of why this would make batteries work better. The best anybody could tell me was, "The battery remembers the charge," which (at least on the face of it) doesn't make much sense. Anyhow, I'm not convinced it makes much difference, either way."

Andy R replied: "This refers to a problem with Ni-Cad batteries known as memory. With a Ni-Cad battery, recharging it when the battery was half discharged would cause the battery to forget about the charge it had before. Discharging and recharging several times was an easy (but time consuming) way of fixing that. Li-Ion batteries are different, and do not suffer from the same problem. However, calibrating the battery with Windows can be very useful for getting realistic timings for battery life. All batteries have a shorter and shorter life the more they are used, so I would avoid discharging and recharging the battery just for the sake of it."

do u need to drain a lithium battery before recharging it? ??? its a lithium ion battery for a nikon d80 to i need to drain it all the way before recharging

fhotoace replied: "No This is the state of the art rechargeable battery. My old D100 has some that have lasted over 5 years and still perform as new. Just charge them the night before you intend to shoot. The only rechargeable batteries that had to be completely drained were the old, old NiCd batteries ... they are not used on Digital cameras"

RJS1121 replied: "Hi Kates. I just found out the answer to that question yesterday by an authorized Nikon repair tech. He was telling me, not only should you NOT allow the battery to completely drain.... you MUST NOT allow it to drain. He told me that was extremely hard on a battery... It sounded funny to me, but I am no repair person... He went on to advise me to top off the battery. After coming home from a shoot.. he said to charge the battery and put it back into the camera or in the bag. He told me to keep them charged at all times. That really doesn't sound right... so I called another Nikon rep and he backed up the first guy. Also they both told me that there was nothing wrong with using after market batteries. Would do no harm to the camera... and I would be interested in the correct answer for that question because I currently have the Nikon D2X. I cannot afford to do something stupid like using non Nikon batteries and burning up my camera!! They said it was fine, only that the aftermarket might not last as long as authentic Nikon batteries. I am glad if I was able to help. Thanks for reading."

Recharging batteries: Is it better to run Lithium batteries all the way down B4 charging, or recharge earlier? What is best for the battery life? I have rechargeable batteries in my shaver, cameras, and golf gps.

efflandt replied: "Ni-cad or Ni-MH are supposed to be run down before charging or they may have a memory that will no longer hold a full charge. Li-ion can be recharged frequently without letting them run down and should not really be run down all the way frequently. However, my laptop and auto gps say to use them on battery occasionally (apparently to keep the battery capacity meter calibrated). I forgot to note if my new shaver said anything specific because I did not realize it had li-ion initially. But it does say you can put it in its cleaner/charger daily (battery lasts for 14 three minute shaves). I have never had any problem with li-ion cell phone batteries wearing out after years, usually charged daily, but occasionally uncharged for days until low battery."

Can I recharge lithium batteries in a nicad recharger"? I have 2 battery chargers....nicad, and one for regular duracell type. I have just bought lithium batteries for my camera. Can they be recharged in either of my chargers or do they need a lithium recharger?

cld replied: "Generally, you need the specific one designed for the specific type of battery, because of the chemical composition differences between nickel cadmium and lithium-ion produces different amounts of current(often measured in milliamps, mA). if you put too much current in a lower-current battery, it'll explode due to the excess heat generated by the high current."

doineedtoknow replied: "Don't even try this! The currents work completely differently and the batteries WILL explode. Buy the type of charger that the battery manufaturer recommends. Lithium batteries are generally not rechargable unless they specifically say they can be. Check on this before you attempt anything!!"

how do you recharge a lithium batttery opperated camera in a foreign country? so i just bought a casio exilim camera a few days ago. its so sweet! ive been using it for so much fun! but it runs on a lithium rechargable battery. what happens if i go to europe for a couple weeks and my battery runs low? as the US and europe hvae different electricity, how will i recharge my camera? can i?

dickn2000a replied: "You need to get the correct voltage converter for the country you intend to visit."

skyblacker replied: "Check the charger that you're currently using for your battery. Is it marked anywhere with "100~240V" or similar? If so, that means it's dual-voltage. You'll still have to buy an adaptor for the charger's plug, but that shouldn't run you more than $5 at RadioShack. Note that within Europe, plugs vary, even if the electricity doesn't. For example, the UK, Italy, and Norway all use different plugs. So if you're going to backpack and end up in a dozen countries, you might want to buy an international adaptor (maybe $30) just to cover any place your battery might run now. Also, get a second battery. Charge it up and carry it in your camera case as a back-up. Because if you're out for a very long time, your first battery might tire before you do. And since your camera was made to be sold internationally, your charger probably is dual-voltage. Can you separate the plug cord from the charger? That's so Casio can make the same charger for everyone, and just add different plugs depending on what country the camera's being shipped to. It's cheaper to do it that way. In the unlikely event that this charger isn't dual-voltage, you'll have to buy a voltage converter and a plug adaptor."

Bronwen replied: "All you need is the correct converter to plug your recharger into. Europe runs on 220, but the plugs vary from place to place, so you need to know which plug configuration is used in the places you intend to visit. You can actually buy a converter which has all the plug configurations with it--you just select the one that fits the outlet, and that plugs on to your converter, and you're good to go. It's really not a big deal. A converter with one plug configuration will run you about $30, and if you buy a kit with all the plug configurations so you are prepared for everywhere, the cost shouldn't exceed $50, and should actually be more in the $40 range."

anthony h replied: "1) first check your charger and see if it is marked "110-240 VAC". That means it will accept electricity inputs from 110 volts (U.S is 110/120 volts) to 240 volts (Europe is 220 volts). 2) If it is marked that way, then all you need is a cheap plug adapter, usually available in a drug store or Radio Shack. 3) If it's marked for USA voltage only (something like "110-120 VAC"), then you'll need a "voltage converter" which is a little more expensive. 4) You can get a voltage converter at a good electronics store like Best Buy or Radio Shack or Fry's Electronics. Some drug stores or department stores may have them too. 5) A spare battery is always a good idea. Charge it before you leave the U.S. and you'll have it handy, in case something happens (like the time I fried my charger overseas by accident by using the wrong adapter)."

How do you recharge a lithium battery? How can I recharge a lithium battery in a camera. I have an Olympus camera and it has one of those re-chargeable batteries and I really need to charge it because it won't let my load my pictures on the computer until the camera can turn on, because it's completely dead. So if anyone has any clue on how to do this it would be greatly appreciated!!

TV guy replied: "Did your camera come with a power adaptor? Usually, you plug the power adaptor and it charges the battery. If not, or if you lost it, you need to buy one."

Can you recharge a lithium ion battery with a nickel-metal hydride one? My dad says he might give me his 30GB Zune, so I thought I might get an external battery for it. Is it possible to recharge a lithium ion battery with a nickel-metal hydride one without damage? Thanks for your help! (The Zune has a lithium ion battery just to let you know)

blllla2 replied: "Yes it is. Though you have a 50/50 chance of the lithium ion battery getting damaged and not working again."

What are the optimimum recharge cycles for lithium ion type batteries? I've read that lithium ion batteries should not be fully discharged between recharge cycles. So what is the best recharge cycle to get the most life from lithium ion batteries? Should they be recharged as often as possible, or should they be drained considerably before being recharged? This includes all sorts of lithium ion batteries in today's consumer electronics: laptops, cell phones, mp3 players etc. Note: this discussion has nothing to do with memory effects.

Crazy Heart replied: "Whenever they get so low that they are ineffective you should charge them. If you run them down to the point of completely draining them you will kill them, so don't try to push them too far."

Is there anyway to recharge a energizer ulltimate lithium battery? I heard there were ways to recharge alkaline batteries and i want to know if there are ways to recharge a lithium one ps could i get instructions to recharge alkaline ones too :)

Stephen M replied: "I suppose you know their data sheet says they are not designed to be recharged. "

Do I have to buy a new Charger for Lithium batteries? I have a charger that works well with Ni-mh batteries, but I heard that if I wanted to recharge lithium batteries I needed to get a charger specifically for that type of battery.

Ryanne replied: "What you do need is a charger that is adaptable to a new set of battery requirements. It is safe if you have those required charger for specific batteries to avoid damaging the batteries as well as to avoid injuries."

gkk_72 replied: "Yes you would need a new charger for rechargeable lithium batteries. Rechargeable lithium batteries have a voltage of approximately 3.6 volts per cell. Since rechargeable NimH are only 1.5 volts per cell you can't just drop them into a charger not made for them. Also, rechargeable lithium batteries do not do well if they are overcharged so the charger must be intelligent and shut off before that happens. I hope you aren't considering charging up non-rechargeable lithium batteries. I wouldn't want to be any where near if you try that. ( think explosion)"

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