Protecting Battery Life

[psydan]

Hi, I've seen in a few random threads some small mention of discharging rechargeable batteries to keep them in top shape before you charge them up again.

Since I dont have a charger that automatically discharges before it re-charges, does anyone know of a good way to discharge them manually?

Any extra techy knowledge would be great,
Cheers,
Dan.

 

[Hanz™]

Hi, I've seen in a few random threads some small mention of discharging rechargeable batteries to keep them in top shape before you charge them up again.

Since I dont have a charger that automatically discharges before it re-charges, does anyone know of a good way to discharge them manually?

Any extra techy knowledge would be great,
Cheers,
Dan.

​

Leave them in the GP2X?! with it switched on, or in a flashlight?

 

[Mr Doctor]

Its not a real problem with LIon batteries so if thats what youre using just do what youve been doing.

 

[psydan]

I'll try, a bulb in a torch might not take much power and it'll take a day to discharge or something knowing my luck

And it'll propably keep the power LED on for ages too

 

[psydan]

LIon...I'm guessing thats the Lithium ones?
Mine are Ni-MH whatever that is, 2500mAh UNiROSS

 

[Mr Doctor]

I meant NiMh... my heads a gonner tonight

 

[Aimless_E]

I meant NiMh... my heads a gonner tonight

​

NiMh batteries have no "memory" so you should be able to charge them up with no power loss. Even if they haven't been completely drained or discharged.

 

[BradN]

Be careful if you don't discharge them one at a time. The batteries with more capacity will cause the others to reverse charge, and that's bad for them. Also, in the case of NiMH or li-ion, you're probably causing more stress to the batteries by discharging them for the sake of discharging them rather than just using them normally. One full discharge in a month is fine for NiMH, and it's generally not helpful at all for li-ion.

If you just run the GP2X until the unit cuts out, you won't be over-discharging the weaker cell, and the other one should be pretty close to discharged, so I don't think you have to worry much.

Also, NiMH can have a bit of a memory effect, but it's not as severe as with some types of NiCd - if you suspect it's happening with NiMH, a full discharge and recharge should fix it, if not, the batteries are probably just getting old.

The only other real tip I can think of is apparently it's best to store batteries at about 40% charge if they're to be stored for a long time, and lower temperatures are better for storage.

 

[psydan]

I generally just change them when the screen fades and it wont boot again, so since there's no "memory" in the batteries I'll carry on as I am then

I've got 4x2500s and 4x2100s which I've marked in pairs so they're all charged in a regular cycle with no mixing of different capacities just in case

Cheers for info B)

 

[donny662]

Connect a wire from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.





I am not responsible for any burns, fire, explosion, maming, death, etc. that would occur as a result of this highly efficient discharge method.

 

[psydan]

Those 9volt rectangular batteries work well for burning yourself if you touch them on some wire wool

 

[thelamer]

Discharging your batteries all the way is not better for them . It is just one of those old myths .

 

[Vimacs]

its better for batterys with memory effect, like nicd, nimh dosnt have a memory effect so it dosnt make a difference. however, repeated chargeing/dischargeing also helps nimh.

 

[thelamer]

EDIT

 

[moz]

you get a 1000 charges, if you charge them every day thats at least 3 years usage out of a pair of batteries.

batteries are cheap.

if you want to faff about discharing them good luck to you, id rather spend the time doing some thing else

 

[noreason]

When i charged my batteries in my charger, after about 2 hours the light was from red (charging) to green (draining stuff)... okey but i a put out a batterie and re-enter it, it charges again for an our :huh: why?

 

[mrsnature]

i think my battery charger just chargers for a certain time, so since they came with some 1400mah or something I put my 2500mah on charge twice and it still charges them...

i think some chargers are based on a drop of voltage that occurs when you start to overcharge.

anyway, i guess whatever triggers the charger to stop isn't detected again until they've been charging for another hour...

 

[psydan]

you get a 1000 charges, if you charge them every day thats at least 3 years usage out of a pair of batteries.

batteries are cheap.

if you want to faff about discharing them good luck to you, id rather spend the time doing some thing else

​

So you'd rather spend your valuable time writing pointless comments about topics that you neither care about or can contribute to in a decent manner?

Sounds like you're just 1 big waste of time to me

I wouldnt bother replying to this if I were you, far too trivial for a superior intellectual mind like yours.

 

[moz]

you get a 1000 charges, if you charge them every day thats at least 3 years usage out of a pair of batteries.

batteries are cheap.

if you want to faff about discharing them good luck to you, id rather spend the time doing some thing else

​

So you'd rather spend your valuable time writing pointless comments about topics that you neither care about or can contribute to in a decent manner?

Sounds like you're just 1 big waste of time to me

I wouldnt bother replying to this if I were you, far too trivial for a superior intellectual mind like yours.

​

i will ignore the abusive comments you have just written about my post and myself.

i apologize if that you are offended by my post- what is it that you found offensive?


you obviously dont want to see the logic in that a pair of batteries will last 3 years.

you dont want to see that in my opinion discharging batteries is a waste of your time time.

you dont want to read that in the grand scale of things a pair of batteries are cheap and that youd be best doing something else rather than worry about discharging them every time your gp2x has discharged them.

i will accept an apology if offered.