Battery - How To Charge A Battery - Battery Life Prolonging Tips

Extending battery life - charging tips

When a new battery is purchased, it is usually not charged to its full capacity. Therefore, a prolonged initial charge of about twelve hours is highly advisable. You can find specific instructions regarding this aspect in the user manual.


Since recently purchased batteries have not reached full capacity, it may seem initially difficult to charge them, never having them used before. Therefore, several minor problems may arise like finding the charger has stopped charging the new battery. If this problem occurs, a simple removal and then reinsertion of the battery would solve the problem. During the first change, frequent stopping of the charge process are casual, considering the fact that the new battery is yet to be formed.

In the case of rechargeable ones, batteries must pass through a complete charge/discharge cycle for several times, between two and four times, for them to have attained full operational capacity. As an observation, batteries are expected to generate a small amount of heat when charged or discharged.

Maximization of Battery Performance

The following are a few tips on how to get the maximum out of your battery.

Use of new batteries and break in technique

Since new batteries do not work at full capacity, a complete charge is required. The battery should be charged and then discharged two times or even up to four times for it to work properly. This is known as the break in technique.

Lifespan and memory efficacy

Make sure the battery is charged or discharged 100% before attempting to use the device charger. This rule doesn't apply to a Li-Ion battery, however.

Cleansing Batteries

Use a cotton cloth dipped in a small amount of alcohol to clean the contacts linking the battery to the charger and thus ensure thorough connectivity between the two.

Battery inactivity

Ensure batteries are utilized at least once in 14 or 21 days. If left unused for long periods, then you should treat it as a new one and charge or recharge it accordingly. Break in technique is thus required.

Storage of batteries

Depending on the battery type, you should store batteries in an environment free of impurity, humidity and heat if you don't intend to use a battery for a while. Since NiCad, NiMH or Li-Ion batteries discharge if left unused, (dis)charge them in steps. A Sealed Lead Acid battery
requires permanent full charge, so make sure a trickle charger is at hand. If not, then a SLA battery should not be kept more than 90 days.

Notebook Batteries

Before you use such a battery , manually choose optimization settings for the battery. The power management option represents a double edged-sword: decreased battery use in exchange for notebook performance. To conserve power, the electronic system configures a slower working processor, a faintly outlined image and eventually goes on 'sleep mode' by reducing the speed of hard drive spins, if the notebook is left inactive. These management tips are outlined in the notebook guides offered to individual users.