Re: NiMH Battery

["Guy Farrell" <gfarrell@oasis.vpia.uconn.edu>]

> Date:          Wed, 10 Jan 1996 10:40:34 -0800
> From:          whittle@usc.edu (Randy Whittle)
> Subject:       Re: NiMH Battery

> At 1:53 PM 1/9/96, Murray W. Goldberg wrote:
> >
> >My question is: My original battery has bit the dust. It won't hold a charge,
> >and I've had to go buy another. I try to be good about letting it run down
> >between charges. I'm pretty disappointed that I only got 8 months out of the
> >battery. What has your experience been?
> 
>         Did you leave it plugged in a lot with the battery in the machine?
> 
>         On my 750C (before I sold it), that did *terrible* things to the
> battery.  It would constantly drain to about 90% and then re-charge to
> 100%.  Lots and lots of mini-cycles like that will simply destroy your
> battery life.  I presume the 360 would do the same, since they are very
> similar machines.

I've used NiMH batteries for years, in RC racing and now laptops.  
That mini charge, as Randy pointed out, definitely _kills_ batteries. 
I believe the term battery "memory" applies to NiMH unlike Lithium 
batteries.  When partially discharging a NiMH battery repeatedly 
to a similar level, i.e. leaving the laptop unplugged overnight or 
every weekend and then recharging it, the battery eventually refuses 
to recharge beyond that point.  (This fact was actually much more 
important racing RC cars than traveling with laptops :-)

Guy W. Farrell                Vox: (860)486-0964 My Desk
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