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 a large number of user manuals and documents to learn the best practices when it comes to the use of 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. Also, 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 electric vehicles should be parked in the shade and should not be plugged in when it is 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 charging too low or too high

If you keep the battery extremely low or absolutely full, you put a lot of stress on your batteries. Ideally, you might want to store your battery when it has 80% charge left. Alternatively, you should disconnect your smartphone the moment it reaches 100%.

Smartphone giants LG and Samsung say that your smartphone should be plugged in as soon as the battery charge drops to 20%. Similarly, Sony and Nokia have revealed that their phones can be damaged if left charging 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 the batteries inside. 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 regular chargers, your battery will last much longer on a single charge. So there is no use charging with fast chargers.

4. Do not store the battery in humid environments

Generally, battery degradation is of two types: power fade and capacity fade. Power fade refers to a reduction in power offered by the battery. On the other hand, capacity fade refers to a reduction in the energy that a battery pack can store.

In a nutshell, if you want to get the most out of your lithium ion battery pack, we suggest you follow the 4 tips provided 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.