Shop Talk
Conditioning Lithium Ion batteries??!? Rich...?
Okay, I've noticed that instruction manuals with new cell phones still say that batteries should be fully discharged the first time before charging, and sales reps at retail locations are telling people that also. The problem is that all wireless phones use lithium ion batteries now, and one of the advantages of them is supposed to be that there IS no memory effect requiring this. I also sell digital cameras, many of which use similar lithium ion batteries, and you will never see a word about discharging them fully the first time. What is the truth here? Why are people still saying that these batteries must be conditioned the first time? Is this just because it has been the mindset for so long? I'm dying to understand this.
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I tell customers to run it down but not 100%, just wait til it gets to 1 bar for awhile. Hasn't seemed to have any ill effect.
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Lithion Ion batteries have a life span based on charge cycles. A charge cycle is used up when you charge the battery, so whether you've charged it all the way up, or just halfway up, you've used one cycle. If a battery has an expected life of 500 cycles and you always charge it when it's half empty then you've used it up twice as fast as you would if you waited till it was fully discharged before charging it again.
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Okay, now that's a sensible answer. But that's totally different than battery memory, so fully discharging it the first couple of times has no positive effect whatsoever on overall capacity, as I said before. Most lithium batteries have a lifespan of at least 500 cycles, which means that if I charged it every night, whether it needed it or not, it would still last me almost a year and a half.
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Li Ion batteries are pretty much maintenance free ones unlike niMH and NiCd batteries that need to be conditioned often.
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A question I'm sure people here at Phone Scoop have wondered but were too afraid to ask.
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I know - i wanted to ask but i was just way way to afraid 👀 It keeps me awake at night just thinking about it. So happy this has been answered, i can live my life now.
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goto http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.h tm for really good info on lithium based battery cells and quick tips on how to prolong their life span
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