How to prolong lithium based batteries

#1

Post by VHRanger » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 4:55 PM UTC

How to prolong lithium based batteries
batteryuniversity.com

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#2

Post by girishso » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:37 PM UTC

1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery

2. Keep temperature as low as possible, maintain airflow

3. Avoid fast chargers

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#3

Post by ianschmitz » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

girishso wrote: post #2

1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery 2. Keep temperature as low as possible, maintain airflow 3. Avoid fast chargers

I wish more devices offered a way to enable a “slow charge” mode.

When I’m plugging my laptop into my dock to work for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging.

When I’m plugging my phone in before bed to charge for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging.

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#4

Post by zuppy » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:45 PM UTC

ianschmitz wrote: post #3

girishso wrote: post #2

1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery 2. Keep temperature as low as possible, maintain airflow 3. Avoid fast chargers

I wish more devices offered a way to enable a “slow charge” mode. When I’m plugging my laptop into my dock to work for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging. When I’m plugging my phone in before bed to charge for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging.

i have 2 chargers near my bed, one has 3 amps, the other one has 1. i use one on another depending on how fast i need it charged. not the best solution, but it works.

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#5

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:46 PM UTC

ianschmitz wrote: post #3

girishso wrote: post #2

1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery 2. Keep temperature as low as possible, maintain airflow 3. Avoid fast chargers

I wish more devices offered a way to enable a “slow charge” mode. When I’m plugging my laptop into my dock to work for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging. When I’m plugging my phone in before bed to charge for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging.

At least on Android it's possible to disable fast charging. It's in the battery settings on my phone.

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#6

Post by zimpenfish » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:49 PM UTC

ianschmitz wrote: post #3

girishso wrote: post #2

1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery 2. Keep temperature as low as possible, maintain airflow 3. Avoid fast chargers

I wish more devices offered a way to enable a “slow charge” mode. When I’m plugging my laptop into my dock to work for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging. When I’m plugging my phone in before bed to charge for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging.

> When I’m plugging my phone in before bed to charge for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging.

iPhones do this with "Optimised Battery Charging" turned on (which I believe is the default setting) - "allow iPhone to wait to finish charging past 80% until the time you need to use it" (which it learns over time.)

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#7

Post by Filligree » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:49 PM UTC

I wish I could find this information for LFP batteries. There’s a lot out there, but it’s all mixed with advice for LiPo; I can’t find anything I trust to tell me the optimal voltages for maximum lifetime.

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#8

Post by speedgoose » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:50 PM UTC

I’m not a battery expert but some coworkers from the battery lab at work are, and they say that charging more often is better than doing big cycles. On most chemistries.

In more concrete terms, it’s better to keep the state of charge between for example 60 to 30% compared to for example 80% to 15%. Big cycles like 100% to 5% are the most damaging over time.

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#9

Post by dsp_person » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:55 PM UTC

ianschmitz wrote: post #3

girishso wrote: post #2

1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery 2. Keep temperature as low as possible, maintain airflow 3. Avoid fast chargers

I wish more devices offered a way to enable a “slow charge” mode. When I’m plugging my laptop into my dock to work for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging. When I’m plugging my phone in before bed to charge for the next 8 hours it doesn’t need fast charging.

On my laptop I have a script to set

    /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold

I could imagine automating this to set the threshold to the current battery level, and incrementing the threshold by 1% every N minutes to control charge speed.

Right now I try to keep it at 50% max charge like this while plugged in at home.

Re: How to prolong lithium based batteries

#10

Post by gruez » Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 5:55 PM UTC

girishso wrote: post #2

1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery 2. Keep temperature as low as possible, maintain airflow 3. Avoid fast chargers

>1. It’s ok to keep laptop plugged in, even at 100% battery

It might be "ok" to keep it plugged in at 100%, but if your laptop has a "battery conservation" mode that limits the charge to 80% (or similar), that's even better.