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Li-Ion vs. NiCad
p3skyking
Member Posts: 23,916 ✭✭✭
I learned to let NiCad batteries fully discharge and then some before you put them back on the charger. My cordless phones in the house can go four or five years before I need to replace their batteries by following this simple rule.
All my cameras have Li-Ion batteries and they just don't seem to last very long before they won't take a charge anymore. Is there a secret to long life for them or are they just crappy batteries?
All my cameras have Li-Ion batteries and they just don't seem to last very long before they won't take a charge anymore. Is there a secret to long life for them or are they just crappy batteries?
Comments
My Panasonic camera is 6 years old, & I just switch between 2 batteries as needed.
My Samsung S5 Active Galaxy phone is 3 years old, & no problem; I run the battery partially down during the day, & charge it every night. I just bought an OEM replacement battery ($12), so I can swap it out when the original one goes bad.
Neal
Phones, cars, and other battery-powered things use Li-Ion precisely for the reason that they only get partially discharged.
Li-Ion batteries have a very high power to weight ratio and lose very little power in storage. But the quality of the battery has a lot to do with how long they last. They also require a different kind of charger made specifically for Li-Ion batteries. The charge rates and cutoffs are different.
Margaret Thatcher
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Mark Twain
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LiIon batteries don't have this memory effect, instead they have half-lives related to the number of times it has been charged. For example, the capacity of a LiIon battery will be half a new one after 300 FULL charge cycles. So if you use a third of the battery and then charge it, after 3 times that counts as one charge cycle.
Obviously there are more nuances, but these are the main ones.
NiCad batteries have memory problems. This means that if you don't let them drain completely before charging, they will not get fully charged next time. This effect is cumulative, so over many times of not draining completely before charging, the maximum capacity of the battery can drop considerably resulting in a battery that runs out very quickly.
LiIon batteries don't have this memory effect, instead they have half-lives related to the number of times it has been charged. For example, the capacity of a LiIon battery will be half a new one after 300 FULL charge cycles. So if you use a third of the battery and then charge it, after 3 times that counts as one charge cycle.
Obviously there are more nuances, but these are the main ones.
^^^this^^^
I'm pretty sure you should NOT let a Li-Ion battery completely discharge. That may be what's killing yours.
Li-Ion batteries work that way. They will put out a consistent voltage/amps until they dump (run out of juice) and then completely stop working.
NiCad = Memory. Drain completely and let cool before charging. When I messed with RC Models a lot I had a light bar set up that the batteries plugged into for completely draining them before charging.
You can reset the memory in NiCad batteries by spiking them with 3x the volts of the bad battery (6 = 18, 18 = 54 etc) by using three good batteries wired in series. You can find how to do it on the web and You tube.
Ni MH = No Memory. Can charge at anytime as long as the battery is cool.
Li-Ion = No Memory. Charge anytime. But best to wait until the charge is used up and the battery dumps.
Li-Ion batteries do not develop a "memory" like NiCad. In almost every respect they are are superior.
Except for that pesky thermal runaway that happens from time to time.
Li-Ion batteries are ticking time bombs.