Li-Ion About Battery Memory!

[SiempreTuna]

Latest research apparently shows that Li-Ion batteries do suffer from battery memory after all.

Apparently the advice is to manage the battery better by occasionally allowing it to 'idle'. Not entirely sure what that means - sometimes discharging it entirely or turning the phone off overnight?

 

[XplosiV]

So, be weary of partial charges in general, and try to fully discharge after a partial charge, then full charge? I'm guessing.

 

[EarlyMon]

Fully discharging tends to cause heat, that in turn can cause the metal to deform and that shortens battery life. Ok for sometimes but nothing to make a habit of.

Interesting article. Early findings. May suffer from memory, may not be irreversible.

 

[Speed Daemon]

Not surprising, really. There are all sorts of Lithium battery chemistry these days. No guarantee that every one will have the same traits. Is it any surprise that the cheapest of the cathode materials performs the worst? "You get what you pay for."

A battery charging system that misreports the state of charge...well that's downright ordinary!

Early, you want to see deformed batteries? Come over to my place when it's time to change the batteries on my UPS collection. My old gel-cell batteries get mighty bumpy after two years of float-charging. :laugh:

 

[Speed Daemon]

So, be weary of partial charges in general, and try to fully discharge after a partial charge, then full charge? I'm guessing.

More like getting completely new systems in this case.

They're all microprocessor controlled, with strictly defined cycles pre-programmed. I use individual lithium cells in my flashlights, and each cell has built-in electronics! AFAIK none of them can be re-programmed though. If you have a phone that suffers from this problem, it's probably cheaper to live with it, and hope that your next phone has better charge-discharge algorithms.

This may explain why my older and costlier lithium battery packs are lasting forever compared to the ones for my newest devices. :idea:

 

[nickdalzell]

What is being called a 'memory' is actually the calibration of the battery meter on your device, be it an Android, iPhone, tablet, netbook or laptop. If you keep it charged all the time the battery meter becomes less and less accurate and a full discharge and recharge cycle recalibrates it. The battery is ok but the battery meter is reporting incorrect stats. Like when it dies even if it appears you have 45% remaining, this is a sign of that.

Awhile back I had an iPhone 3GS that did this automatic battery discharge that was meant to 'reset' the battery meter, and I think this was iPhone OS 3 or 4. Either way it happened each month the day that coincided with activation, say if it was activated June 3, it would do this on July 3, Aug 3, and so on. Problem was I never knew it was going on as I'd pull it off charge first thing in the morning, then one hour later attempt to make a call then see the red battery and the plug symbol, and it was red hot. Every other day it was fine. Asked about it in an Apple forum and got the reason, auto calibrate or something.