“It will die if you use it often. It will die if you hardly ever use it. It will die if you charge it too much. It will die if you charge it too little”
by Ducky Paredes
In our present world, we use batteries a lot. We have one in the car and in a laptop, cell phones, cameras, watches and so on. It seems almost impossible to do anything without batteries.
Do you know that there is a webpage http://www.batteryuniversity.com that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about batteries?
Here’s something I learned: One day whatever the battery, it will reach a point where it can no longer be charged. It will die if you use it often. It will die if you hardly ever use it. It will die if you charge it too much. It will die if you charge it too little. You can pull the battery out of your camera and come back for it in five years. Of course, your battery will be dead. So. Will it be if you have been using it during those five years.
Now, for particulars: Laptop batteries deteriorate from the heat that your laptop generates. It is best to charge this to between 20 to 80 percent. Don’t overcharge it or let it go down to zero. It is best to charge it when it is turned off. When you are using your laptop plugged in, it is best to take out the battery. Keeping your battery plugged in when fully charged is bad for the battery.
Of course, this does not work on current Apple laptops, which will not work if the batteries are removed.
As for other uses – cameras, cell phones, PDAs – the real battery killer is heat. So, operate them cool and keep batteries away from heat sources. Don’t leave your gadget on a car seat that will heat up from being parked in the sun.
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Here is Battery University’s take on cell Phone batteries:
Early cell phones were powered with nickel-based batteries but most newer phones are now equipped with lithium-ion. This chemistry is lightweight, offers high energy density and lasts long enough to span the typical life of the product. Lithium-ion contains no toxic metals.
To obtain thin geometry, some cell phone manufacturers switched to lithium-ion-polymer.
Lithium-ion is a low maintenance battery. No periodic discharge is needed and charging can be done at random. A random charge means that the battery does not need to be fully depleted before recharge. In fact, it is better to recharge before the battery gets too low. Full discharges put an unnecessary strain on the battery. A recharge on a partially charged battery does not cause memory because there is none.
Charging lithium-ion is simpler and cleaner than nickel-based batteries but the chargers require tighter tolerances. lithium-ion cannot absorb overcharge and no trickle charge is applied on full charge. This allows lithium-ion to be kept in the chargers until used. Some chargers apply a topping charge every week or so to replenish the capacity lost through self-discharge while the battery sits idle in the charger. Repeated insertion into the charger or cradle does not damage the battery though overcharge. If the battery is full, no charge is applied. The battery voltage determines the need to charge.
On the negative side, lithium-ion gradually loses charge acceptance as part of aging, even if not used.
In the search for low-cost battery replacements, consumers may inadvertently purchase clone cell phone batteries that do not include an approved protection circuit.
Lithium-ion packs require a protection circuit to shut off the power source if the charger malfunctions and keep on charging, or if the pack is put under undue stress (electrical short).
Cell phone manufacturers act out of genuine concern for safety rather than using scare tactics to persuade customers to buy their own accessories. They do not object to third party suppliers in offering batteries and chargers as long as the products are well built, safe and functioning. The buyer can often not distinguish between an original and a counterfeit battery because the label may appear bona fide.
(There are photos of cell phones that exploded from counterfeit batteries.)
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Manny Villar on what he will do in his first 100 days (if he is elected President):
“First is to establish that this term will not be a corrupt one, at least, the Office of the President. Then there are a lot of things that can be done in each department.
“That is why it is very important that the next president will be capable of multitasking. You cannot be addressing one issue and say ‘okay, I will address education first, then after that I will address the Mindanao conflict, and then the health problem next.’ You cannot do that.
“You got to address all. In fact, I would want as many projects that can be finished in the first 100 days. It is very important to perform well in the first 100 days in terms of all areas. There must be visible improvements in all areas of government because it is very important to inspire the bureaucracy. Once you fail to inspire the bureaucracy, your term will have failed. Not only the first 100 days.
“The first 100 days is the first milestone, the first year is the second milestone.
“Hopefully you can bid out already some very important projects on television, transparent, to establish the trend. There is so many things that can be done. Competitiveness, for example very quickly, you immediately must create a competitive environment. In all of the heads of departments, you have to tell them that you have to compete. You have to tell college presidents to compete using quantifiable basis.
“For example, you have to tell them you have to be rated according to how your graduates perform in board examinations… You as president must be prepared to be rated, compared with other presidents of the region.
“If I make it as president, I would be willing to be compared with the presidents of other countries. It is important that the president agrees to be rated. There are so many indices abroad, the Human Development Index, Competitive Index, Corruption Index, we must aspire to improve our standing in all of these indices.
“These are the things that foreign investors will look for. If they see dramatic improvements in all of these indices then they can see that the country has suddenly become competitive. 100 days you cannot accomplish all this but you can lay the ground work.” – Manny Villar’s Speech at the Manila Overseas Press Club forum last week.
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hvp 11.02.09
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