March 3rd 2009

Keep Your Gadgets Going For Longer, A Proven Four-Step Plan To Extend Battery Life

Gadget Magazine

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New cell phones, portable media players and DV cameras can sure make life fun and interesting. They offer us lots of functions, make our lives richer and easier in a number of ways…. that is if they would just stay charged. It seems like the only thing we can complain about with these days is the battery life of our new toys. The first question you often end up asking after pulling the gadget out of the packet is…

“Where does that manufacturer get off saying my battery can last up to 3 hours!?!?!”

If you are lucky it seems more like three minutes and if you’re unlucky three minutes would be a wonderful eternity. Thankfully there are four proven steps to lift your battery’s performance.

Four Steps To Longer Battery Life
  • 1) Don’t assume the battery is fully charged when you get it
  • 2) Run the battery completely down and recharge it to the top three times
  • 3) Keep it away from extreme temperatures
  • 4) Keep using it regularly

1) Don’t assume the battery on an item will be fully charged.

While it is possible that your new unlocked phone may have been shipped to you immediately after it came off the production line, it is more likely that it has been sitting in storage for a few months before landing in your hands. So when you first get your product the battery is not at 100% capacity, it is actually at a number much lower.

2) Go through three full discharge and charging cycles when you first get your product.

This is possibly the biggest thing you can do to improve battery life, even if the importance of going through the cycles is less than before.
watch phone
Completely running down the battery of this watch phone and fully recharging it three times can extend the life of the battery on this gadget.
It used to be that batteries had a “memory” and would get used to being at a certain capacity and act as if that was the maximum. While that in itself is no longer true, Li-ion batteries do have circuits that help to do internal calibration, so by doing a few full discharge-recharge cycles you allow the internal calibration to be most accurate. This way your battery will always reports its true state of capacity to your electronics product.
battery lifespan, with and without cycles
Doing three full recharge cycles when first taking ownership of your new gadget will add 20% more life to the gadget’s battery

3) Avoid extreme heat or cold.

Temperature extremes can greatly affect the long term viability of your battery and makes it harder for your product to function properly.

Put the battery from your watch phone too long in the heat it’ll cook but too long in the cold makes it freeze. Your battery is just like you it enjoys a warm day and a cool summer breeze. (pictures supplied by Morguefile)

4) Use your electronic device at least once a month.

If you let it sit in a drawer too long without using it, you will affect the battery and hurt its ability to hold a charge.

So next time you get your new gadget in the mail follow these four simple tips and you and your gadget will have a full and happy life together, without illness or premature decharging.

15 comments...What do you think?

  1. Posted by How To Us A Robot Lawn Mower, The Quick And Easy Way To Set Up Your Lawn 20th March, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    [...] This product is a true lawn cutting mower and like any type of mower, care should be used during its operation. It should only be operated by an adult. This electric mower uses a rechargeable battery. It may take 3-4 usage cycles before you can properly determine the battery life between charges. If you want additional information regarding battery life Check out this blog on how to extend battery life. [...]

  2. Posted by Don’t Lose Work Hours, Four Ridiculously Easy Ways To Instantly Boost Laptop Battery Life 13th April, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    [...] we have already talked about ways to extend battery life for Ni-Cad batteries it bares repeating for laptops for which battery life plays such a big [...]

  3. Posted by Filipa Duarte 15th August, 2009 at 12:43 am

    Gostaria de saber quais as baterias que são compatíveis com o modelo Elegance Dual Sim Quadband Cell Phone W/3 Inch Touchscreen.
    Agradeço a atenção

    filipa duarte

  4. Posted by rafael navarrete 2nd November, 2009 at 9:12 pm

    cuanto tiempo se debe cargar la bateria del movil cuando recien llega el producto ?

  5. Posted by Gareth 3rd November, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    Hi Rafael,

    With any gadget that runs a Ni-Cad battery it is usually best to uncharge and recharge it fully three times.

    Turning off the Wifi and Bluetooth applications will also help extend the battery life on phones.

  6. Posted by Tewila 13th January, 2010 at 11:14 am

    What should I do if my Mp4/5 want take charge?

  7. Posted by Gareth 13th January, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    Hi Tewila,

    Could I check that your MP4/MP5 player isn’t charging?

    If this is indeed the case you can send us an email to support@chinavasion.com and we will help you out there.

  8. Posted by titi 14th May, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    This electric mower uses a rechargeable battery.

  9. Posted by Hans 24th May, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    Hi, as a Drop shipper I also recommend to my customers how to chareg and discharge the batteries for the first 3 times and I hope they follow the guide lines.

    But there is still a secrect which is not yet discoverd.

    Home comes, that the battery of the Thunder Wifi phone, which has a capacity of 2800mAh, is used up quickly even if there is nothing especially running?

    In my opinion there must be a bug in the firmware or somewhere else. I believe there is something running in the background which nobody can recognize.

    Anothe stupid thing with this phone as well as with the cloud 9, which I personally use, is that if the phone is set to the german Language, the most of the Menu Icons are texte in french!! I really would like to solve this problem!

    regards

    Hans

  10. Posted by nestor f arbelaez 6th June, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    my phone not turn on voyager cvdq-m50

  11. Posted by Adrian 4th August, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    Hi Nestor,

    I’m sorry about this issue, please tell support@chinavasion.com as soon as possible if you haven’t already and they will help you.

  12. Posted by Chinavasion Update, China Wholesale | Chinavasion | China Gadgets Blog 19th August, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    [...] of guides and resources: A review of five of the best free media players on the internet and A proven four-step plan to extend battery life. Speaking of scouring the Chinese landscape you may just be getting ready to attend this [...]

  13. Posted by cleber carneiro 14th October, 2010 at 2:57 am

    Good Afternoon, I know I buy a cell phone information Charming – China Mobile Mini (Dual SIM, touchscreen), when it comes to Brazil, a city fortress.

    More information an application with this phone supports (. JAR) and how to install

    Thanks, I expect a return soon

  14. Posted by Adrian 18th October, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    Hi Cleber,
    Did you buy this from Chinavasion?
    Thanks.

  15. Posted by battery 10th April, 2011 at 2:27 am

    I was reading some of your posts on this site and I believe this site is rattling instructive! Keep posting .

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