- My new battery isn’t charging. Is it defective?
Batteries need to be discharged and recharged at least two to four times prior to achieving its full capacity because a lot of the new batteries are not fully charged. You can charge your battery for a full 12 hours before the first use. There may be times when you charge the battery for the first time and it says fully charged just after ten to fifteen minutes. This is a normal occurrence especially with rechargeable batteries. This means that these batteries have not been broken in. There are also times when the charger will stop prior to reaching a fully charged status. When this happens, take out the batter from the device and then put it back. You can then restart the charge cycle as you would normally do.
- What is the memory effect?
There are times when a partially discharged battery does not fully discharge prior to recharging. There are moments when the battery forgets to do this and this is referred to as the memory effect. For example, you fully charge the battery and just use 50% then you recharge it. Sometimes, the battery just runs on the remaining 50% capacity because it has forgotten that you recharged it. The device and the battery will still remain functional but you need to make sure that the next time around, you discharge the battery fully then recharge it fully. This will keep your battery healthy and last longer.
- What are volts and milliamp hours or mAH?
These are the ratings on every batter. Milliamp hours or m-AH is one thousandth of an amp-hour. You should always make sure that the voltage of the new battery is the same as the voltage of your original battery. If the batteries have varying chemistries then they might be of different voltages even if they are for the same device.
- How long do batteries last?
In general, batteries last for about a year and a half to three years, or from 500 to 800 charge-discharge cycles. Over time there will be a decline in the overall performance of the battery and its run time. When the run time is at 50% then it is time for you to get a new one, or you could simply just sell your phone if you wish.
- Can I recycle my old batteries?
NiCad, Li-Ion and NiMH are the ones that you should recycle. Always make sure that you recycle these so that you do not put them to waste at any point in time. Be conscious of the environment and do not throw the batteries in the trash. You can also recycle mobile phones for cash as well as the battery, so you can do your bit for the environment as well as making money for getting rid of your old batteries and phones.
- How long will my new battery run?
The run time of batteries is pretty difficult to identify because each one varies from the other a lot. The actual run time of each battery will depend on the actual use of the device. The use of the different features of the device, in this case a mobile phone’s screen light, call and text features, email and internet capabilities, among others, will determine the run time of the battery. The overall design of the mobile phone will also determine the actual run time of the battery.
