My immediate observation is that "indefinite" means "unknown", not "unlimited". I'm not sure this is the word they wanted to use, but it may be a more accurate description.
MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
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Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, in my case, I was using a second hand Nexus One for years (almost 3 years if I remember it right) without problems with the battery. I think that if you respect the charging cycles, you make it last longer (I usually wait until 10% of battery left to charge it)
FYI, waiting until a Li-ion battery is nearly fully discharged before recharging will actually shorten its life by 3-4x compared to recharging when it hits 50%. See: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_li...
Really? I've heard that by doing that what you are doing is reducing the time the battery will be charged (it's like instead of using 100% of your battery, it set its limit at 50%). I don't have the source where I saw this, sorry.
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's been so stuck in a rut, relative to the demands of what we use it for, that it'd seem utterly magical for it to improve dramatically. Imagine being able to use a laptop, or a phone, for days without plugging in. Seems completely impossible now, and my mental model of power usage vs battery drain is so set at this point that I think I'd have a really hard time trusting a vastly better battery to really work, even…
Imagine being able to use a laptop, or a phone, for days without plugging in. Can't do it with my laptop but my phone stays on for 1-2 weeks. That's the reason I have a very basic phone, and it does everything I want my phone to do. I would welcome a smartphone if it could do the same 1-2 weeks between charging. I could easily live with a "dumb phone" mode, that would just basically sleep while keeping 2G on for phon…
I'm surprised there are not phones with two batteries that do this (one for 2g calls etc. about 2 weeks and one for 4g/Apps/Etc.). I guess the battery costs of the screen are too high to bother, leading to a modest 2 day calls only, 1 day full phone situation... it's still not a bad idea in some ways, but might mean that you could never say you have run out of battery...
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#44As I understand it, this does not mean you can power your laptop forever with a single charge, only that it can be recharged an indefinite number of times.
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#45Wake me up when they have an actual reasonably priced working product in the market. This is getting tiresome as "breakthrough" news piled up but we are still using almost 10 year old technology.
Well, you will probably have an eternal sleep given that battery lifes are mainly used for Planned obsolescence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence) and these technologies will probably never get into the market.
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
His complain is not that he is not going to have it immediately, but that he is never going to have it. And I agree with him. We keep hearing of breakthroughs and the truth is that 99% of the time they vaporize. That said, I'm happy to hear the amount of research put into finding better batteries.
It's always a possibility that we may never see this technology in use commercially, that does not mean that it is insignificant and cannot lead to an improved product later on. The work done here is still important regardless of whether or not we'll have it in our hands within the next five years.
I agree that every bit of contribution is important. In fact, behind every big discovery there are tens of hundreds of smaller discoveries, and hearing news like this is fantastic.
The thing though is that by defining every discovery as breakthrough, you end up confusing the readers and, more importantly, devaluing the discoveries that are really going to have a big impact.
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#47I have "battery breakthrough fatigue" so announcing a lab result isn't really going to get me excited. A licensing deal and a factory being built, much more exciting.
Interesting challenge of the terms indefinite and infinite. I read it as batteries that may die may not after every action (which would actually be indeterminate batteries :-)) rather than an infinite number of cycles.
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's always a possibility that we may never see this technology in use commercially, that does not mean that it is insignificant and cannot lead to an improved product later on. The work done here is still important regardless of whether or not we'll have it in our hands within the next five years.
I agree that every bit of contribution is important. In fact, behind every big discovery there are tens of hundreds of smaller discoveries, and hearing news like this is fantastic. The thing though is that by defining every discovery as breakthrough, you end up confusing the readers and, more importantly, devaluing the discoveries that are really going to have a big impact.
But "Scientists make incremental contribution to the state of human knowledge" doesn't have that nice click-generating ring to it :-)
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
His complain is not that he is not going to have it immediately, but that he is never going to have it. And I agree with him. We keep hearing of breakthroughs and the truth is that 99% of the time they vaporize. That said, I'm happy to hear the amount of research put into finding better batteries.
It's always a possibility that we may never see this technology in use commercially, that does not mean that it is insignificant and cannot lead to an improved product later on. The work done here is still important regardless of whether or not we'll have it in our hands within the next five years.
us civilians (from R&D point of view) don't care much about this. we're just fed up with devices losing power in few hours after normal usage, and tired of hearing about all-solving batteries that are nowhere in sight. so don't be surprised by negative emotions
Re: MIT discovers batteries with indefinite lifetimes using solid-state-electrolytes
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know much about battery tech but I get the feeling that "rut" is actually just their business model. Hard to sell a lot of batteries/phones/etc. that work forever.
I was just chatting to someone about this today. I feel like my "honeymoon" period with my new iphone 6 is coming to an end. 6 months in and I'm starting to have to think about when I charge it. Definitely it's not in Apple's interest to solve this particular problem, especially when (I think) they've deliberately made the battery non-replaceable.
I'm using an iPhone 5S bought almost two years ago, with no battery issues whatsoever (plug in overnight, use all day, don't worry about battery unless an app goes haywire and the phone is running hot for a few hours). My wife is still using her 4S - she also has no issues with the battery. #counter-anecdotes