| By :
Ben Mester
Battery health is a term I had never heard of before. Maybe that's why I always seem kill batteries faster than anyone I know. My laptops and cell phones always find ways to kick the bucket after only a year of life or so, while my friend's batteries are still holding at least half their charge for similar models. Then I heard about this thing called battery health, which at first made me chuckle. I thought it was a joke, batteries being likened to humans, whose habits are often the determining factor in how healthy they are. How can a battery be unhealthy, I thought? Before I heard of battery health, I had thought I just kept getting lemons... Sickly, infectious batteries that don't know how to keep their charge. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The problem I've found, lies with me :( Apparently there are certain practices a person must employ in order to keep their battery healthy. Go figure. They're listed below... six easy to follow steps that when you employ, will greatly increase the life of your battery, and give your battery the health it deserves!! Tips on keeping your battery healthy: Laptop batteries and any kind of lithium ion batteries are EXPENSIVE, and probably not going to drop in cost anytime soon. Here are a few tips on how to maximize the health of your battery so you won't, like I did, end up having to constantly drop a cool $100 for new lithium ion batteries. Tip 1) You actually have to use your battery. Sounds simple and stupid, I know. But when I first started using laptops, I just left it plugged in all the time. A battery, in many respects, is just like the human body. It needs to be exercised every now and again, and you can't just let it sit there stagnating and wasting away. Tip 2) Fully drain and fully charge the battery every two to three weeks. This shouldn't be that difficult to do. For some reason that I haven't figured out, batteries like to occasionally be taken to the edge. Tip 3) Fully charge a new battery before using it. This one is a tip that most of us know already. New batteries need to be broken in, just like a car engine, before using normally. Tip 4) If you're ever not going to use your battery for a long period of time (let's say 3 weeks), take it out of the laptop and store it somewhere cold. This way, it won't be in danger of wasting away inside of your laptop. This is a tip that I should have done a long time ago instead of just leaving it in the computer while running the cord from the wall. Tip 5) Get your battery away from extreme temperatures. This isn't just for the health of your battery. This is for the health of your whole laptop. Don't leave laptops in cars or other potentially dangerous places. Just don't Tip 6) There are some pretty good computer programs out there that maximize and monitor the health of your battery, letting you know exactly how healthy it is and when it's expected to decline. They're easy to find if you look for them.
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