Lithium batteries are an increasingly widely used energy storage and conversion device, because of their excellent electrochemical performance to achieve such a small – medium – large market application scenario with the times, when we talk about the correct use of lithium batteries, usually refers to Small applications, i.e. consumer electronics, such as smartphones and laptops. Because medium and large applications are based on small application technology, so small applications have common characteristics, while medium and large applications are much more complex, usually, medium applications are in new energy vehicles, generally we call them power batteries; large applications are usually in base stations, generally we call them energy storage batteries. So when we talk about the “lithium battery use”, the lithium battery is limited to small applications in line with people’s customary understanding.
Lithium batteries work on the principle of charging to store energy and discharging to convert it into other energy and release it. When neither charged nor discharged, they are in an idle state. Therefore, the correct use of lithium batteries has three main aspects: correct charging, correct discharge and correct maintenance.
The correct way to charge lithium battery
Grasp the time to prevent overcharging. The right time to do the right thing, although, the lithium battery itself has excellent electrochemical properties, however, anything that deviates from the equilibrium state will be a safety hazard. To elaborate.
1. Charge when you charge. In the early days of smartphones, every mobile phone manufacturer tended to emphasise the use of original chargers (including charging cables) to charge power-using devices out of the initial desire to protect their interests, with some manufacturers designing special data cables and not supporting other chargers (including charging cables). Later, as smartphones and laptops became more and more widely used, it became clear that this was a cocoon, so now everyone has basically unified the standard, and one charger/cord is able to charge different brands and nature of electrical appliances. With the convenience of charging, one of the things that users need to be aware of is to try to keep the battery with as much power as possible for normal use at all times. Under normal circumstances, when the power is too little, mobile phones and laptops will have a reminder, then you need to make up the power in time, although the power is too low will not lead to direct safety accidents, but overuse, over time will cause damage to the battery structure.
2, full can be. Li-ion battery cells are also made up of many components inside, new batteries are fine, if they are used for a longer period of time, it is possible that the function of which components will decline, and therefore the risk of overcharging safety will occur. Samsung and Apple have been exposed to typical accidents, a few of which are due to the owner of the appliance sleeping with the phone on the bedside charging, which eventually led to combustion and explosion.
3. Do not use two things at once. I have experienced, while charging while using the phone, especially when playing games is very easy to feel the phone heat, the reason is also very simple, the phone is equal to playing two jobs at the same time, which makes it have to pay more than times the labor, the body will naturally heat up.
The correct way to discharge lithium batteries
Charge in time to prevent over-discharge. The average mobile phone user is not aware of the dangers of over-discharging, as there are usually no reports of safety incidents. Moreover, some people even believe that regular deep discharge is good for maintaining the performance of the battery. This is not the case, as the memory effect of Li-ion batteries is negligible and there is no such thing as deep discharge to eliminate the memory effect. Theoretically, the total cycle life of a Li-ion battery is greater with deep discharge, but the risk is that over-discharging the battery will cause the battery voltage to be too low to charge properly, and sometimes it will take a long time to boot up, or even fail to boot up. The lesser of two evils, a shorter life is better than no use, so we advise users of mobile phones and laptops not to use them often enough to black out.
Proper maintenance of lithium batteries
The temperature is appropriate to prevent hot and cold. The aim of daily maintenance is to keep the lithium battery in a suitable environment so as to delay the ageing of the battery. In fact, one of the parameters of the lithium battery is the appropriate temperature design, relatively speaking, the temperature is not a big problem, but if placed in a higher temperature, as the saying goes, the opposite is true, it will also produce safety problems. If you put the lithium battery in water or near an ignition source, it is already out of the topic of “maintenance”, so what should be done in a normal environment? In terms of water to prevent moisture and heat to prevent exposure to the sun. Therefore, the appropriate environment for the daily maintenance of lithium batteries should be four words: ventilation and shade. These four words should be followed regardless of whether the lithium battery is left idle on its own or in an appliance with electricity to be used.
In the correct use of lithium batteries, lithium battery charging method is the most important, because the incorrect charging method will lead to safety problems, while the discharge and daily maintenance affects only the service life of lithium batteries, lithium batteries themselves are also a kind of consumables, no matter what approach we take can not avoid its eventual loss, but we use the correct method to slow down its aging.