Tips

New Battery Usage
To insure the highest quality life of your new batteries, run at least two full charge / discharge cycles prior to normal usage. This will cause the battery to obtain "fuller" charges throughout its life.

Battery Storage
Batteries should always be stored in a cool dry place and never be left in direct sunlight, or in temperatures below 30 degrees(F) and above 100 degrees(F). Batteries should be fully charged before storing for an extended period of time.

Trickle Charge
Rechargeable batteries should be trickle charged when ever possible. Trickle charging your battery on a regular (daily) basis provides a much better charge and will lengthen your batteries life.

Battery Drain
Consistently draining your battery is not necessary to improve charge or batteries life; see Exercise Your Battery.

Exercise Your Battery
Exercising rechargeable batteries has proven to be one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve battery life. According to a recent study done by GTE Government Systems in Virginia, USA, exercising Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batteries will improve their life by up to 30 percent. Exercising your battery consist of discharging to ~1 volt per cell, then trickle charge the battery for a full 10 - 14 hours, depending on battery and charger specifications. (see owners manual) If you do not have the proper testing or discharging equipment, simply run the battery until the device will not power on.

Battery Reconditioning
GTE Government Systems study also shows that reconditioning your rechargeable batteries will greatly improve their life. Reconditioning Ni-Cd and Ni-MH can improve there life by up to 40 percent, depending on the reconditioning process. Cell Source recommends that you recondition your rechargeable batteries at least once a year.

Technologies

Nickel Cadium
Nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) rechargeable batteries are strong and reliable battery systems that labor hard posing no problems. Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries prefer fast charging over slow charge, and pulse-charge over DC charge. Ni-Cd battery performance is improved by interspersing discharge pulses between charge pulses. This process is commonly referred to as burp or reverse load charging. The result is a cooler and more effective charge, adding up to 15 percent more battery life than charges with a conventional DC charge.

Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries do not like sitting in chargers for days and being used only occasionally for brief periods. In fact, the Ni-Cd is the only battery system that performs best if periodically fully discharged. All other chemistries prefer shallow discharges. Periodic full-discharge is so important that, if omitted, the Ni-Cd battery system will gradually loses performance due to crystalline formation, also referred to as memory.

Nickel Metal Hydride
Nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries are the most advanced rechargeable battery systems commercially available and offer several advantages over today’s nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) rechargeable batteries, including up to 40 percent longer service life. Ni-MH rechargeable batteries are also an environmentally friendlier alternative to Ni-Cd batteries. High capacity Ni-MH batteries can replace Ni-Cd batteries in many devices because they operate on the same voltage and possess similar power and fast charge capabilities, while offering the advantage of greater energy density. In portable electronic devices such as notebook computers, cellular phones and compact camcorders, Ni-MH batteries optimize equipment performance.

Ni-MH cells contain a high capacity anode made of a hydrogen storage metal alloy, a nickel oxide cathode and an electrolyte of an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution.

Lithium Ion
Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) rechargeable batteries are the most talked-about battery chemistry in research labs today. Li-Ion rechargeable batteries have the highest energy density among commercial batteries; two times that of Ni-Cd systems, and their self-discharge is very low. Unlike other rechargeable batteries Li-Ion’s are stable and safe because no metallic lithium is used.

For safety and longevity, each cell is equipped with a control circuit to limit the voltage peaks during charge and to prevent the voltage from dropping too low on discharge. In addition, the control circuit limits the maximum charge and discharge current.

Li-Ion batteries remain among the most expensive commercial batteries today. Once pricing comes down, this chemistry may become the preferred battery for applications that presently use Ni-Cd.

Disposal of all lithium-based batteries may cause some concern. This concern is not because of their metal content, but because of the danger of explosion if moisture creeps into the cells when they corrode.