How To Get The Most Out Of Your Rechargeable Batteries

Few of us put any real thought into the batteries that power our devices; we merely plug in when the juice runs low and repeat the process. However, there are a few things you can do in terms of maximizing the health and potential of your device's battery.

But with a little bit of care, a rechargeable battery can last years. How much of a difference can taking care of the battery actually make? In my experience, the answer is "a lot."

Some people think that they can dodge this charge and discharge by topping up their battery regularly so the battery doesn't get fully discharged.

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I guess they are taking the charge cycle verbiage literally. If you never fully recharge the battery will last forever! They are smart to avoid the built-in obsolescence!

I have some NiMH AA 1.2V batteries for an older camera still running great after 15 years!
Namely Hahnel 1600mAh.
A good quality charger probably helps
Other than that I only charge them when they wont power the camera any more.

Sometimes they are left charged on a shelf and by the time I use them they are flat (many months later).
But they still charge up fine and last a long time when out in the field.

My Surface Pro is still getting full battery life. I make sure I discharge it once a month otherwise I leave it plugged in most of the time...once the battery is charged the charger stops feeding it power if it's off. This is good since it is very hard to replace this batter, ifixit shows the steps and there are seals and things that have to be replaced. Don't know if the SP2 or 3 were improved. I won't buy another tablet that doesn't have an easily replaceable battery though just because I've been lucky...yet if the battery lasts another year or two it will probably be time to replace the whole tablet anyway.

The wimpy batteries in my cheap dumb phone are a different story, interestingly the last set of replacement batteries seemed bad. wouldn't hold much of charge (too cheap to return), but after about 60 recharge cycles they are suddenly holding a full charge.

Really dislike laptops without easily replaceable batteries.

Had a 2 year old Dell XPS laptop at the office, with a dying internal battery.

Tried to order the replacement from Dell, and they would only sell it to me if I also paid them to install it.

I said no thanks, and instead bought a new Dell battery off Amazon for less money, and installed it myself. Install only required a screw driver and took around 10 minutes.

I charge my lipos as lilos (4.1V instead of 4.2V).

Main things that kill practically any battery is over discharge or over current. With modern electronics you shouldn't have to worry about either.

Also lead acid gets permanently damaged if left under 40% charge which is why a lot of ride on kid vehicles batteries turn into bricks.

Dayaks said:

Main things that kill practically any battery is over discharge or over current. With modern electronics you shouldn't have to worry about either.

Also lead acid gets permanently damaged if left under 40% charge which is why a lot of ride on kid vehicles batteries turn into bricks.

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This is why you should usually make sure the batteries are mostly charged after using something.
1. If you need to use it that batteries are already charged
2. Some batteries will quickly fail if left uncharged.

That article is a bunch of bull.
Numero uno to 'get the most out': luck.
I am sure laptop manufacturers source their batteries from all kinds of places, and if they "make" them themselves, the probably source the cells from all kind of places, and if not the cell manufacturer probably manufactures them in all kinds of places with parts from all kinds of place ect ect.
Under and over voltage or 'amp' is bullshit too, with proper circuits it should not be an issue for modern devices, either its can work or it cant, plus the Amps its irrelevant, it might affect the charger more than the battery if anything, if the charger is smaller.
I mean other than a charger so cheap it becomes AC current or something like that, I can't see much of an issue.
I have never super drained anything, or over heat nothing, and its all been luck, plain and simple... tons of shitty batteries, I mean tons, on laptops, Motorola/nokia cellphones, power tools, small TVs, yet my chinese cheap shit huawei cell phone is going great.