Until new nano lithium technology comes in later in 2009, mobile phone batteries are still notoriously flaky. Just when you need to make an important call the battery indicator tells you the charge is all but extinct. You may have conditioned your battery in line with all of the advice and old wives tales floating around but still have to re-charge yours every day. Short of buying a spare and keeping that charged what can you do?
If you have your PC case off you will see something on the motherboard that looks like a small thick silver coin. That is the battery. There are other types of battery used on newer machines (Ni-Cad, NVRAM) but these much less frequently found and so I won't discuss them further.
There are two things that kill a notebook battery; heat and operating outside its voltage specifications, overcharge or undercharge in plain English. They are easy to avoid if you can identify the sources. Heat has two big group of players internal sources such as the processor graphics card hard disk drive and the internal lithium mines ontario resistance of the battery itself.
2) Battery freshness: often overlooked. Always make sure you have the freshest battery possible. A battery can lose it's ability to hold a charge as time goes on. You want batteries that move off of shelves quickly to be sure they aren't old.
Avoid buying spares: Unlike wine and cheese, Li batteries do not improve with age. Avoid the temptation to buy spares, unless you use them frequently. Check the manufacture date, and never buy an old Lithium battery stocks, even if on sale.
What are your driving habits? What are the longest distances you will be traveling? When driving a pure electric vehicle; if the battery runs out completely with no charging stations available you will be stranded. With the long charge times, it will take some time to make the vehicle usable again. This is where the extended range Lithium mines Ontario Volt becomes more practical. Filling up the gas tank is faster than waiting for the battery to charge.
Battery memory affect is the length of time a battery will work before it needs recharged. The battery 'learns' such period of time through how you use it. If you repeatedly use your laptop for one hour and then charge it, its battery will learn to stay strong for only one hour. Using a Lithium battery and using it until it is almost dead and then recharging it will greatly increase the period of time that the battery will stay strong. Please make sure to read the manufacturer owners manual to also find out more about the battery life.
And that's about it; not so hard, right? So, although lithium ion batteries might keep us on our toes, utilizing these few simple practices will help you keep your batteries performing at their peak for a whole lot longer. Respect your stuff and in return you'll enjoy really great results.