Tips to increase life of a mobile Li-ion battery

Introduction

Laymen explanation

As I had, you might be worried about life of your mobile battery. Every time, you want to recharge your battery, you must be thinking if it is right time. You might have heard that battery life is measured in number of rechage cycles. If so, will recharging battery only if battery is drained makes sense? This article tries to help in this area.

Technical explanation

By comparison, lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable batteries in which lithium ions move between the anode and the cathode.

So what causes Li-ion to age and what the battery user can do to prolong its life?

The lithium-ion battery works on ion movement between the positive and negative electrodes. In theory such a mechanism should work forever, but cycling, elevated temperature and aging decrease the performance over time. Manufacturers take a conservative approach and specify the life of Li-ion in most consumer products between 300 and 500 discharge/charge cycles.

Tips to prolong life

• • Use only required voltage for charging battery. Don't be tempted to use high voltage charger for fast charging.

  • Avoid overheating of battery

  • A device should be turned off while charging. This allows the battery to reach the threshold voltage unhindered and reach a low saturation current when full.

  • A “smart” battery should be self-calibrating, but in real life a battery does not always get a full discharge at a steady current followed by a full charge.To correct the tracking error that occurs, a “smart battery” in use should be calibrated once every three months or after 40 partial discharge cycles. This can be done by a deliberate discharge of the equipment or externally with a battery analyzer. A full discharge sets the discharge flag and the subsequent recharge establishes the charge flag.

Reference

https://www.quora.com/Does-it-damage-my-battery-if-I-use-my-iPhone-6-while-charging

http://helpadude.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-lithium-batteries-expand-their-life/