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Battery Maintenance
Batteries are perishable products and they deteriorate over time due to chemical and mechanical reasons. This natural process is often aggravated by the lack of maintenance and proper handling practices. This makes battery maintenance an integral part of battery usage. Proper battery maintenance can go a long way in making batteries more reliable and efficient.
As batteries deteriorate, they gradually lose their charge carrying capacity. A fast and early fall in capacity can frustrate and annoy a battery user. For an individual user, and sometimes even for a company, it is usually easier to replace the underperforming batteries or battery packs rather than delve into the cause of underperformance. What happens next is that the individual or the company ends up spending hundreds of dollars in buying new batteries.
So, what causes a battery to prematurely start underperforming? Rechargeable batteries develop “memory” or “memory effect” when charged without first being completely discharged, or when continuously charged even after the batteries have been fully charged. The cell appears to “remember” the level from where it was “topped up” and stops to charge to its full capacity. Such batteries discharge much more quickly than they should as they start to recognize a shortened battery cycle.
The charge carrying capacity of batteries with memory can be restored by periodically maintaining them. Lithium-based batteries and alkaline batteries are maintenance free as they have no or minimal memory. However, nickel cadmium (NiCd) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries are afflicted with this battery condition, and needs to be periodically exercised and reconditioned to perform optimally.
Memory effect is more pronounced in NiCd batteries as compared to NiMH batteries. NiCd batteries need to be exercised once very month to keep them from developing a memory. Exercise is the periodic discharge of a battery to 1V/cell. This prevents the buildup of crystalline formation on the battery cell plates, which actually causes the memory effect. If no exercise is applied to a NiCd battery for three months or more, the crystals ingrain themselves, making it necessary to recondition the battery.
Reconditioning is the slow, deep discharge of a battery to a voltage threshold below 1V/cell, which removes the remaining energy from the battery. It can reverse the memory effect in NiCd batteries by putting them through several complete discharge and charge cycles, breaking the crystalline formation.
Periodic exercise and reconditioning can most effectively restore a battery only if applied while the battery is still in reasonably good condition. The restoration becomes difficult, even with recondition, if the crystalline formation advances beyond a certain stage. Other factors that influence the success of the restoration effort are the battery chemistry, cycle count, maintenance practice and age of the battery.
The reliability of a wireless device almost entirely depends on the performance of its battery. It is only a properly maintained battery that can provide the specified runtime on a wireless device. Periodic battery maintenance can not only improve battery performance but also enhance the reliability of the portable device and cut battery replacement costs.
An individual battery user can easily monitor the runtime of a battery, and accordingly exercise and recondition it. However, fleet users have to share the batteries from a pool and have no way of knowing the behavior or condition of a battery when they pick one from the pool. In such cases it makes sense to have a periodic battery maintenance program in place.
Battery maintenance tips:
As batteries deteriorate, they gradually lose their charge carrying capacity. A fast and early fall in capacity can frustrate and annoy a battery user. For an individual user, and sometimes even for a company, it is usually easier to replace the underperforming batteries or battery packs rather than delve into the cause of underperformance. What happens next is that the individual or the company ends up spending hundreds of dollars in buying new batteries.
So, what causes a battery to prematurely start underperforming? Rechargeable batteries develop “memory” or “memory effect” when charged without first being completely discharged, or when continuously charged even after the batteries have been fully charged. The cell appears to “remember” the level from where it was “topped up” and stops to charge to its full capacity. Such batteries discharge much more quickly than they should as they start to recognize a shortened battery cycle.
The charge carrying capacity of batteries with memory can be restored by periodically maintaining them. Lithium-based batteries and alkaline batteries are maintenance free as they have no or minimal memory. However, nickel cadmium (NiCd) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries are afflicted with this battery condition, and needs to be periodically exercised and reconditioned to perform optimally.
Memory effect is more pronounced in NiCd batteries as compared to NiMH batteries. NiCd batteries need to be exercised once very month to keep them from developing a memory. Exercise is the periodic discharge of a battery to 1V/cell. This prevents the buildup of crystalline formation on the battery cell plates, which actually causes the memory effect. If no exercise is applied to a NiCd battery for three months or more, the crystals ingrain themselves, making it necessary to recondition the battery.
Reconditioning is the slow, deep discharge of a battery to a voltage threshold below 1V/cell, which removes the remaining energy from the battery. It can reverse the memory effect in NiCd batteries by putting them through several complete discharge and charge cycles, breaking the crystalline formation.
Periodic exercise and reconditioning can most effectively restore a battery only if applied while the battery is still in reasonably good condition. The restoration becomes difficult, even with recondition, if the crystalline formation advances beyond a certain stage. Other factors that influence the success of the restoration effort are the battery chemistry, cycle count, maintenance practice and age of the battery.
The reliability of a wireless device almost entirely depends on the performance of its battery. It is only a properly maintained battery that can provide the specified runtime on a wireless device. Periodic battery maintenance can not only improve battery performance but also enhance the reliability of the portable device and cut battery replacement costs.
An individual battery user can easily monitor the runtime of a battery, and accordingly exercise and recondition it. However, fleet users have to share the batteries from a pool and have no way of knowing the behavior or condition of a battery when they pick one from the pool. In such cases it makes sense to have a periodic battery maintenance program in place.
Battery maintenance tips:
- Never leave a Ni-based battery in the charger for more than 48 hours.
- Use high quality battery chargers.
- Slow trickle charge a new battery in its first charge.
- Charge in room temperatures between 120°F and 40°F.
- Do not recharge if not fully discharged.
- Never leave the battery in the charger after being fully charged.
- Store in cool and dry locations.
- Discharge to about 50% of their capacity before storage.
- Apply a full discharge cycle once every month. More frequent full discharge would put undue stress on the battery.
- Periodically analyze and recondition the batteries.
