Taking great care of your battery will extend its lifespan, while ensuring it performs optimally all through. You want to observe the recommended care and maintenance practices, whether it’s your smartphone battery or the power backup system.
A few simple practices might save you the need to buy a new battery sooner. From cleaning your battery terminals to topping up the electrolyte to prevent sulfation, we’ll explore some of the practices you need to make your battery perform incredibly.
You’ll also learn that each battery technology comes with its own care and maintenance practice. Read on for more information on what to do and what not to do for your battery.
Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) Batteries
Lithium-ion is the most common battery technology in consumer electronic devices like smartphones, laptops, and power tools. What's more, electric vehicles and e-bikes use energy from this type of battery. These devices and machines benefit from the high energy density and lightweight design of Li-ion batteries.
How to Care for Li-ion Batteries
Charge your battery partially: Always ensure your battery charge percentage ranges from 20 to 80% for longevity. Charging it beyond 80% leads to high voltage stress. Similarly, discharging it below 20% causes voltage instability.
Use the recommended charger: The right charger maintains battery health for optimal performance. But most importantly, it's safer to use. Since Li-ion batteries are sensitive to overcharging, the recommended charger delivers the right amount of voltage and current without overcharging.
Unplug the charger if the battery is fully charged: Overcharging your Li-ion battery leads to high-voltage stress, which strains the battery and reduces its lifespan. Therefore, you want to unplug your smartphone charger if its battery is fully charged.
Store in a cool and dry place: Extreme heat and cold can degrade Li-ion batteries. That's why you want to store your battery in a cool and dry place. Also, ensure your battery is 50% charged for long-term storage.
Li-ion Batteries Don'ts
Avoid draining the battery completely: If you drain the charge below the minimum safe voltage level, you'll cause irreversible chemical damage to your Li-ion battery.
Avoid third-party chargers: Use a manufacturer's charger since third-party chargers might not deliver the proper voltage and current. The manufacturer's charger has the necessary overheating and overcharging protection.
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO₄)
You'll find this battery technology used in electric vehicles and many portable power stations. This battery boasts an excellent safety rating and a long life cycle. However, you'll care for it to maintain its excellent safety, performance, and impressive lifespan.
The Do’s
Monitor cell voltages: Use a battery management system (BMS) to check if an individual cell in a multi-cell pack has the same voltage capacity. Cell balancing is essential for optimal performance and excellent lifespan.
Use appropriate wiring connectors: At the same time, you should use the recommended wires and connectors to power devices with this battery technology. These batteries can discharge high currents, requiring thick wires. Anything less can cause overheating and melt the wire insulation.
Clean your battery terminals: Clean battery terminals provide optimal power. Dirt or corrosion can cause voltage drops since they cause electrical resistance. You can mix a tablespoon of baking soda with a cup of warm water and use a toothbrush dipped in the mixture to clean your battery terminals.
The Don'ts
Don't ignore BMS warnings: Your battery management system could indicate that your battery has low voltage or is overheating. Whatever the warning sign is, don't ignore it.
Don't disassemble the battery pack: You risk causing fire or explosion if you disassemble this LiFePO4 battery if you're an untrained professional. You also risk electrocution from the high voltage and current discharge.
Lithium-Polymer (Li-Po) Batteries
You'll find these batteries in drones and RC vehicles. Also, you can find them in wearables and some smartphones. Their lightweight design and slim form allow them to fit in compact consumer electronics.
These batteries are a variant of the Li-ion technology, but with a pouch-style form. You can also expect to follow the same care and maintenance tips as Li-ion batteries. Additionally, you'll follow a few care and maintenance tips specific to Li-Po batteries.
Avoid damaging the pouch: Li-Po batteries use a soft pouch casing, susceptible to physical damage like puncture and crushing. Protect your Li-Po battery from such damage, which can compromise performance and safety.
Avoid overcharging: Lithium-based batteries experience high voltage stress if overcharged. However, Li-Po batteries are particularly prone to damage due to overcharging, as they can overheat and swell. Using a Li-Po charger with an accurate voltage cut-off is recommended.
Use balanced charging: This charging method is specific to Lithium-polymer batteries, ensuring each cell in a battery pack has the same voltage level. Li-Po charger has a port specifically for balance charging, raising individual cell voltage to 4.2V.
Store under nominal voltage: Li-Po batteries also require storage with some charge to prevent capacity loss and voltage instability. You want to store your Li-Po battery at a 40-60% charge, ensuring the individual cell has 3.7- 3.8V.
Use a fire-safe Li-Po bag: Rapid charging is one of the causes of thermal runaways. You should keep your Li-Po battery in a fireproof bag for safety against potential explosion caused by thermal runaway.
Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) Batteries
These batteries are rechargeable and used to power portable electronics like digital cameras, handheld gaming consoles, and camcorders. You'll also find them in cordless drills, saws, and other power tools. This makes them an essential component that must be cared for and maintained for excellent performance.
The Do’s
Charge fully before the first use: If you've bought a device powered by an NiMH battery, you want to charge it to 100% capacity before using it. You can find that the battery is partially charged, maybe 60%. Even so, you want to charge it to 100% before using the device.
Discharge the battery sometimes: Also, you want to discharge your NiMH battery to 20-30% once in a few months. However, this is only done with frequently used batteries. For a battery you don't use as often, you'll discharge it less often. This is a maintenance practice that prevents voltage depression. Avoid discharging to 0%.
Use an NiMH-specific charger: You will also want to use the manufacturer's charger to boost your NiMH battery capacity. This battery technology uses charging characteristics that are different from those of lithium-based and NiCd batteries.
Any other charger may cause undercharging or overcharging. What's more, the wrong charger could result in overheating, which will reduce your battery's lifespan and, quite frankly, its performance.
Store a partially charged battery: If you intend to store your NiMH battery for a few months, charge it to 40-50%. Also, ensure you store it in a cool and dry place. This practice protects your battery from self-discharge behavior, which often takes 15-30% of charge per month.
Use battery regularly: Using your NiMH battery can keep its internal chemistry active for optimal performance. A rarely used NiMH battery develops internal resistance, which affects its charge capacity and performance.
The Don'ts
Don't short-circuit your battery: Don't allow your battery's positive and negative terminals to come into direct contact via a conductive material since this causes a short circuit. Short-circuiting can cause rapid discharge, releasing heat that risks your battery exploding.
Don't put the battery on wet surfaces: Never immerse your battery in liquids since immersion can cause short-circuiting. Also, avoid placing the battery on a wet surface to avoid corrosion. Ensure you store the battery in a cool and dry place.
Lead-Acid Batteries (Sealed & Gel variants)
You won't find these batteries in small electronics since they're heavy. Nonetheless, they're still used in backup power systems. Many cars also use this battery type for ignition and lighting. This makes it necessary to care for your lead-acid battery.
The Dos
Provide proper ventilation for charging: Charging your flooded lead-acid battery releases the flammable hydrogen gas. The charging process electrolyzes water, producing hydrogen and oxygen gases. A poorly ventilated room doesn't allow the potentially explosive hydrogen gas to escape, putting your battery and you at risk.
Constantly check the electrolyte level: A lead-acid battery contains a mix of sulphuric acid and water as the electrolyte. The water component evaporates during charging. This can leave you with a low level of electrolytes, causing sulfation and irreversible charge capacity loss. Therefore, you'll add distilled water to replace evaporated water.
Do equalization charging: Charging a multi-cell lead-acid battery requires charge equalization to ensure the individual cells attain the same voltage level. Your lead-acid battery pack may have unevenly charged cells over time. This charging mixes water and sulfuric acid for the best conductivity and optimal performance. Also, it restores the full charge capacity of individual cells.
Handle your battery very carefully: Lead-acid batteries contain sulfuric acid as part of the electrolyte mix. This part of the electrolyte is corrosive, and spillage can potentially cause injuries. You can wear protective gear, which includes gloves and eye protection, when handling your lead-acid battery.
The Don'ts
Don't fill up electrolytes with tap water: You must not use tap water to fill up a low-level lead-acid electrolyte. Instead, you'll use distilled water. That's because tap water includes calcium, magnesium, and iron, which are harmful to the electrochemical reaction in your battery.
Don't connect it with other battery types: Don't connect a lead-acid battery either in parallel or series arrangements with Li-ion, Li-Po, or NiMH batteries. This battery technology has a chemistry and voltage behavior incompatible with other battery types.
Don't tip your battery over: Many lead-acid batteries contain an electrolyte that can spill if you tip them over. However, you can find some sealed GEL batteries that don't spill any chemicals if inverted or tipped over. Unless explicitly stated, don't tip this battery over.
Don’t overlook warning signs: Check for critical warning signs like swelling, leaking, and overheating. Anything that seems out of the ordinary during charging must not be ignored.
Conclusion
Taking good care of the battery makes it perform optimally and extends its life cycle. However, each battery technology has its dos and don'ts. You'll not use the same care practices on a lead-acid and Lithium-based battery.
Regardless of the technology, you must handle the battery with great care since it poses a serious risk. You'll get more electrical power for an extended period from a well-cared-for battery.
