How to increase the life of your lithium-ion battery by charging it properly
25. Februar 2021
Charging lithium-ion battery correctly
Whether in smartphones or electric cars, lithium-ion batteries have become an indispensable part of everyday life. The power cells owe their triumphant success to their large capacity and low price. As with all batteries, the service life of a lithium-ion battery is limited, so users should take care to treat their batteries gently. Because its lifespan can be increased considerably if you charge it correctly.
Ideally, lithium-ion batteries should not be exposed to extreme charging conditions. This means that they should not be completely drained if possible, but also not completely charged. Users should therefore ideally recharge the battery at a charge level of 30 percent and stop charging at 80 percent of capacity, because the range between 30 and 80 percent is the most tolerable for this form of battery. If it is not possible to charge the lithium-ion battery in time in everyday use, it should be avoided in any case that the battery is completely drained, because it is extremely stressed by this and only therefore shows higher signs of wear.
Since the battery is least stressed when extreme conditions are avoided, it is also not advisable to charge your cell phone overnight at the wall socket, for example. Although all modern end devices have an automatic switch-off for charging, which is why the battery cannot be overcharged, the battery is always kept in an extremely charged state when charging overnight. The automatic switch-off in the cell phone recognizes when the charge voltage of the lithium-ion battery has dropped again and then charges it completely again. Therefore, it is better to charge your phone in the evening and disconnect it from the power outlet before going to bed.
A lithium-ion battery has a typical service life of up to approx. 1,200 charging cycles. One charging cycle corresponds to a complete charge of the battery. So if you charge your cell phone from 30 percent to 80 percent, you only use half a charge cycle. If the battery is always kept in a medium state of charge, the number of available charging cycles can therefore increase considerably. Therefore, charging the battery carefully and correctly means effectively extending its usability.
Correct charging can influence how long the battery can be used, but the actual performance is hardly influenced. Whereas older batteries had the problem of the so-called "memory effect", where the charging capacity decreased in the long term if the battery was charged before it was completely empty, this danger no longer exists with a modern lithium-ion battery. Complete charging to the capacity limit before commissioning is also not necessary with these modern batteries, which is why technical devices can nowadays be used without restrictions right from the start.
