Quote:
Originally Posted by johncal
Running a Lithium Ion battery down hurts it plain and simple. They do NOT have memory issues and should be kept as fully charged as possible. I keep mine as fully charged as I can, I have extremely good life from mine and my batteries last a very long time.
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Think I'll jump in on this one. I've done a little research online (as many of you have) and found three items that keep popping up consistently (These three were copy/pasted from a site):
1. Lithium ion chemistry prefers partial discharge to deep discharge, so it's best to avoid taking the battery all the way down to zero. Since lithium-ion chemistry does not have a "memory", you do not harm the battery pack with a partial discharge. If the voltage of a lithium-ion cell drops below a certain level, it's ruined.
2. Lithium-ion batteries age. They only last two to three years, even if they are sitting on a shelf unused. So do not "avoid using" the battery with the thought that the battery pack will last five years. It won't. Also, if you are buying a new battery pack, you want to make sure it really is new. If it has been sitting on a shelf in the store for a year, it won't last very long. Manufacturing dates are important.
(This is one I didn't realize. It makes shopping for a new battery tricky!)
3. Avoid heat, which degrades the batteries.
I treat my battery as Joncal suggests.