Increase Battery Life for Electronics

Intro: Increase Battery Life for Electronics

Ever wanted to keep the same batteries in for a long period of time.

STEP 1: Materials

There are only 3 materials:

A battery
A Refridgerator
1 Pair of hands

STEP 2: Freeze Please

The only thing that you have to do is put batteries in the fridge if you do this you can freeze energy.'''''''''''''''''''''''''

Comments

[gimmelotsarobots]

Uuhh... Refridgerating batteries makes them lose charge, not gain.

[tstartrekdude]

this is mostly for nickel-metal hydride battery's. they have a hi self discharge rate, and lowering the temp lowers the self discharge rate. From wiki "Self-discharge NiMH historically had a somewhat higher self-discharge rate (equivalent to internal leakage) than NiCd in the past. However, this is no longer the case. The self-discharge is 5-10% on the first day, and stabilizes around 0.5-1% per day at room temperature.[4][5][6][7][8] This is not a problem in the short term, but makes them unsuitable for many light-duty uses, such as clocks, remote controls or safety devices, where the battery would normally be expected to last many months or years. The rate is strongly affected by the temperature at which the batteries are stored with cooler storage temperatures leading to slower discharge rate and longer battery life. The highest capacity cells on the market (> 2700mAh) are reported to have the highest self-discharge rates."

[killerjackalope]

I had 2800mah cells from jessops, NiMH and the discharge issues aren't much of a problem, I would maybe have not used my camera in weeks and it would go fine, they will, if left alone be useless after a month or two but charge up very well afterwards... Something I noticed about them, especially in comparison to a half charge to recharge....

[Plasmana]

What! You freeze the batteries! Well, I am not going to do that to my freezer, because the liquid (acid) in the batteries will expand when freezes, and may explode its acid everywhere...

[jonathan95123]

isnt it awkward that liquids expand when frozen but air condenses....

[frollard]

I had a chem professor back ...a decade ago who kept his stash in the freezer because it prevented the electro-chemical degradation resulting from the batteries sitting on the shelf. I think the effect is very small compared to the short time they will sit on the shelf anyway. As for this instructable - it needs work. perhaps a spelling grammar check.

[dsman195276]

that does not work. batteries are not made for extreme heat or COLD. you shorten the life by doing this.

[trebuchet03]

Yikes... I normally don't do this, but I think it'd be better for you to stay in school rather than teach people how to avoid doing so.

Things like "freeze energy" etc - not very accurate :/

Considering your first picture, that isn't your own, appears to be a bunch of primary alkaline cells - the best way to increase battery life is to attempt to keep as low of a load on them as possible. That chemistry of battery has a capacity dependent on load - the higher the load, the higher the internal resistance and thus more energy is converted into heat rather than useful work.

Keeping batteries cool while in storage can be beneficial to lower internal resistance/self discharge rates - but this is a problem with batteries of yore more so than modern primary cells.

[kricketone]

This doesnt work, batteries wont last long in very cold conditions..

[bumpus]

To make this instructable better, try adding more detail to your instruction, perhaps how it would make the batteries last longer on a chemical scale..

[=SMART=]

I dont think that works.....