Choosing the Right Batteries
The advent of modern technology has been amazing to help people
getting things done in twice the time, and getting things
delivered twice as fast. But what do we do when our technology
fails us? What happens when our techny clip-board dies? Sure you
can smack it a couple of times but honestly this solution will
be short term and may end up only damaging your equipment. The
best insurance that a battery will last you
a long time is using quality components and following all the
instructions.
Battery life time varies greatly depending on a number of
factors. Two important factors are the number of applications
and types of applications on the small appliance being used. If
you want your battery to last a long time, try not to run down
the battery life by overusing the appliance. If it is necessary
to run multiple applications for an extended period of time, you
may want to consider purchasing a larger capacity battery (if
available), or purchasing an extra battery so you will always
have a charged battery when you need it.
The "memory effect" is another factor you may have heard about
that affects battery life. The memory effect is a pattern seen
in certain batteries that causes then to hold less charge. It
occurs when a battery is only partially used and then recharged
to full charge. It is similar to voltage depression, a condition
in which the battery's voltage level drops faster even though
total charge power of the battery remains the same. These
effects are caused by repeated over charging of that batteries
that leave electrolyte build up on the battery. People have come
up with several theories to overcome the memory effect, thought
most are just that, theories, and are difficult to duplicate in
the real world.
Battery manufacturers have worked to develop more powerful and
effective batteries. The newest and most popular advent in
battery technology is the Lithium Ion battery and it surpasses
traditional batteries in many ways. Li-Ion batteries charge
faster and weigh much less. They are also more environmentally
sound because they do not contain toxic materials such as
mercury. And most importantly, Li-Ion batteries do not suffer
from memory effect. The technology for Li-Ion batteries is
increasing every day.
So an everlasting battery may not yet exist, but we can be
assured that engineers are working every day to make the
batteries that help us in our daily lives, faster, safer, and
more powerful.