4 tips to get the most out of your lithium-ion batteries
Today, lithium-ion batteries are all the rage. They are used by different types of devices, such as electric vehicles, power tools, laptops, and smartphones, just to name a few. Since they are commonly used on mobile devices, people are looking for ways to extend their life. At the University of Michigan, experts studied many user manuals and documents for best practices when it comes to using lithium-ion batteries. Read on to learn more.
1. Do not expose them to extremely low or high temperatures.
Prolonged exposure to high temperatures can cause each battery to degrade much faster. Additionally, they can cause these units to catch fire and explode. If your cell phone or laptop is too hot, make sure it’s not plugged in.
In the case of electric vehicles, all manufacturers suggest that their vehicles should not be exposed to high temperatures. Some of them suggest that EVs should be parked in the shade and should not be plugged in when it’s hot outside.
In cold weather, it is best to plug in the car to allow the battery heater to run on mains power.
2. Avoid too low or too high a load
If you keep the battery extremely low or completely full, you put a lot of pressure on the batteries. Ideally, you may want to store your battery when 80% charge remains. Alternatively, you should disconnect your smartphone the moment it reaches 100%.
Smartphone giants LG and Samsung that your smartphone should be plugged in as soon as the battery charge drops to 20%. Similarly, Sony and Nokia revealed that their phones can be damaged if left charged even after the battery is fully charged.
Similarly, most laptops stop charging when the battery is 100% charged and resume charging once the battery level drops to 95%.
3. Don’t use fast chargers
If you want to reduce the download rate, you can close power-hungry apps, disable location services, and reduce screen brightness. If you have a cordless power tool, do not store it with batteries. Similarly, using fast chargers will significantly reduce battery life.
Also, using these chargers will not make the battery last longer. In fact, if you use normal chargers, your battery will last much longer on a single charge. Therefore, there is no use lugging around fast chargers.
4. Do not store the battery in humid environments.
Generally, battery degradation is of two types: loss of power and loss of capacity. Power Fade refers to a reduction in the power offered by the battery. On the other hand, capacity fading refers to a reduction in the energy that a battery can store.
Simply put, if you want to get the most out of your lithium ion battery pack, we suggest that you follow the 4 tips given in this article. This will help your power plants last much longer. After all, you don’t want to keep buying these units over and over again.