“The more you discharge a lithium battery, the greater the battery loss,” said Tom Hartley, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Akron who helps NASA study extending battery life. “The more you charge a battery, the greater the battery loss. Lithium batteries are best kept in an intermediate state of charge, so that the battery life is long.”
First, too high or too low a charge state has an adverse effect on the life of a lithium battery, and the number of charge and discharge cycles is secondary. In fact, the number of rechargeable times marked on most electrical appliances or batteries sold is based on a test with 80 percent discharge. Experiments show that for some laptop lithium batteries, if the battery voltage is often allowed to exceed the standard voltage by 0.1 volt, that is, from 4.1 volts to 4.2 volts, the battery life will be halved, and if it is increased by another 0.1 volt, the life will be reduced to one-third of the original; long-term low or no power state will make the resistance to the movement of electrons inside the battery greater and greater, thus causing the battery capacity to decrease. NASA sets the battery consumption of its Hubble Space Telescope at 10% of the total capacity to ensure that the battery can be repeatedly charged and discharged 100,000 times without having to be replaced.
Secondly, temperature also has a great impact on the life of lithium batteries (this point can be ignored for mobile phones and other small electronic devices). An environment below freezing may cause lithium batteries to burn out the moment the electronic product is turned on, while an overheated environment will reduce the battery capacity. Therefore, if the laptop is used with an external power supply for a long time without removing the battery, the battery will be in the high heat discharged by the laptop for a long time. More importantly, the battery will soon be scrapped if it is in a 100% power state for a long time.
From the above, we can summarize the following points to ensure the capacity and life of lithium batteries:
Currently, most electronic products use lithium batteries. Since the advent of lithium-ion batteries in 1990, they have developed rapidly due to their excellent performance and have been widely used in society. Lithium battery manufacturers have also developed on a large scale. There is no need to charge lithium batteries to 100%, let alone use up all the power. If possible, try to keep the battery charge at about half full, and the smaller the charge and discharge range, the better;
The factory design of the General Motors Chevy Volt electric car is to force the battery charge to be maintained at 20% to 80%, and the built-in battery of Apple laptops may also use this method (including some other laptops and electronic products) to increase the number of battery charge and discharge cycles.
Don’t use lithium batteries (especially laptop lithium batteries) for a long time when the device is using an external power supply. Even if your laptop has good heat dissipation, a long-term 100% charge is equivalent to killing the lithium battery.
1. If you use an external power supply to power your laptop for a long time, or the battery power has exceeded 80%, remove the battery of your laptop immediately. You don’t need to fully charge the battery at ordinary times, just charge it to about 80%; adjust the power options of the operating system, adjust the power alarm to more than 20%, and the battery power should not be lower than 20% at ordinary times. Charge it before it drops to 20%;
2. For small electronic devices such as mobile phones, the power cord should be disconnected immediately after charging (including the USB port for charging function). Keeping it connected will damage the battery; charge it frequently, charge it when you remember, but you don’t have to fully charge the battery;
3. Whether it is a laptop or a mobile phone, you must not let the battery run out;
4. If you are going to travel, charge the battery fully, but please remember to charge the electrical appliances at any time if conditions permit. For the battery life, you must not wait until the battery is exhausted.
