Almost every modern digital device relies on a lithium battery to power it up. Smartphones, MP3 players, or even the highest-end digital audio players depend on a fully charged battery to work properly and provide you with the best quality possible. Improving its performance and life is vital if you want to listen to music or talk and text without being forced to hook your device to a charger every 2 hours. The better you take care of your power source, the more you will be able to optimize its life and keep it to peak performance at any time.
Let’s have a look at 4 easy tips to always keep your Lithium Ion Battery at peak performance and use your devices without worrying for it so much.
- The basics: knowing how a lithium-ion battery works
These small things are truly a marvel of modern engineering: all the electricity you need to power up your devices in a handy, portable form. However, the tinier they are, the quicker they run out of power – which is an issue since most digital devices are, by definition, as smaller as possible. Each battery is composed of several units (cells) that produce power. Each cell produces 3-4 volts, so for a 16 volt battery you need at least four cells.
Every battery produces a stream of positively charged ions that push electrons in the opposite direction, providing energy to your device. When the chemical reaction that produces these ions is ended, the battery is spent, and needs to be charged again. Home electricity is used to let this reaction go in the opposite direction and recharge it. When no more ions are available, the reaction stops, and that’s why it’s useless to keep charging a battery for more time than it is needed.
- Use a powerful charger to fully recharge your battery
The higher is the power output of your charger, the quicker your battery will recharge. Also, with a less powerful charger, there’s a chance than the reaction won’t happen fully, so your charge won’t be complete. The optimal charger should have an output which is at least 2.4Amps or 5 Volts.
Many audio devices and smartphones limit the charging current to 1A, making for a power input of 5 watts. So even if you use a more powerful device, there’s no risk of damaging your equipment by overcharging or overheating it. On the other hand, if you use a slightly more powerful charger, it will not get as hot and will last longer because it will always work at half capacity thanks to the device’s limiter.
- Always let your battery discharge fully and then recharge it to 100%
To optimize your battery life and improve its long-term performance, you should always let it run down until it’s completely empty. There are many devices that can be bought for no more than a few dollars that will let you completely discharge the last few ions before you start charging your lithium battery. They truly make the difference, and will let you save a lot of money, because your battery will probably outlast the portable device itself!
At the same time, do not pull the plug off when the battery isn’t fully recharged yet. Always wait until it’s 100% ready – a short “few mins” recharge is one of the worst things that you can do to damage or, at least, shorten your battery’s life.
- Find out who is draining your battery life.
Many apps and processes that run in the background can quickly drain all your phone’s or portable audio device energy without your knowledge. Go into your device’s setting tab and select the battery menu. It won’t uncover the culprit immediately, but it can give you a general idea of where the biggest use of the battery occurred.
Also, some bugs and errors may be fully responsible for eating all your power out. For example, a broken song that never gets downloaded completely may force the system to try unpacking it over and over again, slowly eating your battery in the background. Erasing this song, or even the whole app, can help you save a lot of energy. Even simple stuff like screen brightness, key tones or touch sounds can shoulder at least a portion of the blame.
Knowing these simple, handy tricks will help you conserve your battery life as long as possible, and save you from a lot of frustration when your favorite tune stops playing abruptly.
