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Posts: 5,028 | Thanked: 8,613 times | Joined on Mar 2011
#1572
Originally Posted by eccerr0r View Post
Has anyone measured how much a cell degrades over time, even if they're not being used? There are some studies on batteryuniversity / cadex about this but I wonder if anyone has done so on their n900's -- is it worth stockpiling batteries despite them being perishable?

The cell I'm currently using (an authentic Nokia BL-5J) has LMD of 1029mAh (bq27200.sh) or 1080mAh (bnf), it's got about 2.5 years of use on it as it's been used in my Nokia 5230 before I stared using it in my N900. I think I may need to get a new one sometime - but I wonder if the cells on the market have not been made for years, they must be NOS and likely we're buying these now?
I tested it in practice with ~1500 mAh scuds (bluedream and yellow ones, doesn't matter, as they're same cells, anyway) - after 1,5 years of *proper* storage, capacity loss was negligible. Seriously. Made dual-cell from one such pair, and it gave me ~3400 mAh relative capacity (about 3000 mAh Q10 capacity).

My storage method is to charge them to max, then ASAP discharge to 3.8V (stop discharging when it "touches" 3.8V at Q10 discharge current [Q10 = current equal to 1/10 battery capacity/h), which means it have ~80% capacity. I leave it in this state in room temperature, repeating operation every half year or so.
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I know that theory seems to suggest otherwise, but my practical experiences seems to prove otherwise, so I'm sticking with it.

Also, there are other practical examples of this "tactic" working great for prolonging Li-Ion's life - even during usage. AFAIK, Li-Ions used in hi-tech trains are never charged above 80% capacity, and never discharged below 20%. This gives them extraordinary service life, around 5x longer than for batteries charged to full (i.e. they tend to lose max capacity and increase internal resistance ~5 times slower, than if you "abuse" them to full, 4.2V charging).

/Estel
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Last edited by Estel; 2013-07-27 at 00:40.
 

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