Does waiting to recharge a battery (cell-phone, laptop, etc...)untill it's charge is fully depleted, or almost fully depleted have any affect, beneficial or detrimental, on the battery's length of overall life or it's ability to hold a charge? Compared to recharging whenever convenient, such as overnight even if not necessary.
2007-01-03 18:16:53 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Depends on the type of battery. Nickel Cadmium has a "memory" effect, which reduces the overall capacity of the battery if it's not fully depleted before charging. Most other systems Li-ion does not have this problem, but NiMH supposedly does as well, but to the degree that NiCd does:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_metal_hydride_battery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicd
2007-01-03 18:22:04 · answer #1 · answered by arbiter007 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
According to Battery University.com, battery life and the effect of completely discharging the battery before a recharge vs. charging the battery at random depends upon the type of battery in the cell phone or laptop:
"Early cell phones were powered with nickel-based batteries but most newer phones are now equipped with lithium-ion.
Lithium-ion is a low maintenance battery. No periodic discharge is needed and charging can be done at random. A random charge means that the battery does not need to be fully depleted before recharge. In fact, it is better to recharge before the battery gets too low. Full discharges put an unnecessary strain on the battery. A recharge on a partially charged battery does not cause memory because there is none."
2007-01-04 02:47:58 · answer #2 · answered by ... 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Modern batteries don't have as much of a memory problem as in the past. But, I have all kinds of rechargeable and manufactures recommend a full charge for 24 hrs when new. That is to prevent a short term memory from building up, go figure.
2007-01-04 02:28:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
What you are talkng about is called memory effect which concerns only nickel-based batteries. They should be discharged fully before charging for longer life. Li-ion batteries don't have it and it is consederred even better for them to avoid frequent battery discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one.
Still, although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges.
2007-01-04 02:32:51 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, repeatedly charging of a battery that has not been fully discharged will cause the battery to form a memory and only charge a small amount each time.
2007-01-04 02:21:50 · answer #5 · answered by elmohillarious 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
my chemistry teacher in high school told us this was true. i can't remember his reasoning behind it, but he was a pretty smart guy and i don't think he was BSing us.
of course, that was almost 10 years ago, and battery technology has certainly gotten better since then, so maybe it's not true anymore.
2007-01-04 02:21:00 · answer #6 · answered by Critical Mass 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
hmmm things that make u go hmmm!
2007-01-04 02:24:20 · answer #7 · answered by colodge_25 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋