How should I take care of my battery? - In Layman's terms, please. - clixhere!

mostroboi · #1 (**permalink**) 11-17-2007, 01:17 PM

Can someone put what argyledk posted about taking caring of the clix2 battery:

Quote:

Worry that charging the battery for a few minutes here and there will shorten the battery life?

I dig a little deeper into the myths of lithium-ion batteries, and this is what I found:

'It is a common myth (and one that I believed until recently) that a battery will live longest if you try and empty the charge completely from it when storing it or before charging it. In fact lithium-ion batteries last longest if they are about 40 per cent full. If you keep two identical batteries for a year at 40 degrees Celsius, one at 40 per cent charge and the other at 100 per cent charge, the first battery will last 20 per cent longer than the second.' (The Test Bed: Prolonging laptop and mobile phone batteries - computer product reviews and news)

'Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory.' (How to prolong lithium-based batteries)

• 'Unlike Ni-Cd batteries, lithium-ion batteries should be charged early and often. However, if they are not used for a long time, they should be brought to a charge level of around 40% - 60%. Lithium-ion batteries should never be "deep-cycled" like Ni-Cd batteries.
• Lithium-ion batteries should never be depleted to below their minimum voltage, 2.4v to 3.0v.
• Li-ion batteries should be kept cool. Ideally they are stored in a refrigerator. Aging will take its toll much faster at high temperatures. The high temperatures found in cars cause lithium-ion batteries to degrade rapidly.' (Lithium-ion battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

in Layman's term i.e. simply how to maximise battery life in the long-term?

gr@h@m · #2 (**permalink**) 11-17-2007, 01:51 PM

Keep it around 40% charged at all times (don't worry too much about accuracy!)

mostroboi · #3 (**permalink**) 11-17-2007, 02:16 PM

but at 40% charge i won't be getting the full usage of a 100% charge....

I also have an iriver h140 which ive had for around 4 years and am noticing a significant fall in the usage time of one full charge before it dies i.e. when it was new, a full charge = around 12-14 hours, but now only 6-7 hours How long will the clix2's battery maintain its supposed 24 hours usage time before it starts getting worse, or more importantly, how many years before the battery life dies out completely?

**Mattman** · #4 (**permalink**) 11-18-2007, 12:25 AM

If you want to prolong battery life without being anal about it:
1. Don't let it overheat/stay out in the sun.
2. Let it fully discharge once a month or so to keep it active
3. Try not to charge it after you use it for 3minutes everytime.
and Finally charge it when it gets down to around 40% capacity.

Atleast that's what I've gathered.

digitalq · #5 (**permalink**) 11-18-2007, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mostroboi

but at 40% charge i won't be getting the full usage of a 100% charge....

I also have an iriver h140 which ive had for around 4 years and am noticing a significant fall in the usage time of one full charge before it dies i.e. when it was new, a full charge = around 12-14 hours, but now only 6-7 hours How long will the clix2's battery maintain its supposed 24 hours usage time before it starts getting worse, or more importantly, how many years before the battery life dies out completely?

What you have experienced with the h140 is about right. After 4 years you have half capacity, this is pretty good for LiIon/LiPoly batteries. And the h100 series batteries are very easy to replace. I've seen kits where they send the required Torx driver and full instructions. Most people don't experience the battery dying out completely, they just get to the point where the life of each charge is no longer acceptable. If you drain it to 20 or 10 or even 0 percent once in a while, it's no big deal, you have probably not shortened the life by any amount you would even notice.

Worry about it 3 or 4 years from now and you might find that there is a good and inexpensive service or DIY kit for replacing the batteries. Or the coolest most full featured player in the world comes out and you can get the 200 Gig model for $20. In other words you don't know if you will be using or even own the player 3 or 4 years from now, right?

If we get too caught up in this minutia of operating and caring for the player, we might just forget to enjoy it.