Power Tools Battery

HOW TO MAINTAIN AND PROTECT YOUR MOTORCYCLE BATTERY

One of the most overlooked aspects of motorcycles is Power Tools Battery maintenance. For many, there is a time during the year you put your motorcycle away for storage for a few months or let it sit inactive for a longer period of time. This can be a huge problem, as batteries don’t respond well to inactivity.

Motorcycle batteries tend to last between 3 and 5 years before needing to be replaced as long as the batteries are properly maintained. As with any battery that sits for longer periods of time without being used such as sitting through the winter months, the battery naturally loses charge over time & will build up sulphation on the battery plates.

The sulphation will cause your battery’s run-time, performance, and life to noticeably decrease. In the more advanced stages, the battery can be difficult or even impossible to charge or start your motorcycle. Sulphation is the number one reason for premature battery failure.

However, you can prevent this from happening and ensure that your battery holds up after inactivity.

Use an automatic battery charger/maintainer: These units plug into standard 120VAC outlets and provide your battery with a charge current. This will keep the battery fully charged and maintained so that sulphation never builds up. It also helps towards breaking up loose sulphation that already may be present. Automatic chargers like the BatteryMINDer by VDC or Battery Tender by Deltran are perfect for these applications since they can be left connected to your battery all the time. Both of these brands can maintain your batteries in ways that prevent damage by keeping sulfation from building up on the battery plates and by keeping the battery fully charged.

It is always recommended if you’re using a maintainer on any wet battery to make sure you monitor the water level of the battery. It is also advantageous to remove battery cables from the battery as this eliminates any possible draws from the battery while charging.

Keep your motorcycle battery in top shape: There are many types of Power Tools Battery , and the two most common types for motorcycles are conventional (wet) and dry AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries. If you have a conventional wet battery, you’ll need to keep an eye on your fluid levels and add distilled water as needed.

A wet battery’s biggest drawback is the battery acid which can evaporate if it sits for longer periods of time, especially if connected to a battery maintainer for that time. If you have a wet battery where you can check the fluid levels then you should always do so and keep the fluid levels topped off.

The positive and negative connections on any battery (wet or AGM) should always be kept cleaned to ensure maximum transfer of electrical charge. There are special products that are made just for this type of maintenance, although using water and baking soda is effective for most people. You should also clean your terminals with cleaning chemicals and protect them with a corrosion preventative.

Do not let your motorcycle battery freeze: Whenever you decide to store your bike’s battery, be sure it’s in a place that does not consistently fall below freezing. This is an extremely quick way to find yourself with a cracked battery. If you keep a battery maintainer connected to your battery, this also helps work towards keeping the battery from freezing.

By properly maintaining any battery you can greatly enhance battery life which can result in having a working battery for years to come.

HOW TO MAINTAIN AND PROTECT YOUR MOTORCYCLE BATTERY

SHOULD I STORE MY BATTERIES IN THE REFRIGERATOR?

While cold environments help maintain battery life, refrigerators and freezers are not safe to put batteries in. The moist environment will cause condensation on the Power Tools Battery. This in turn will lead to rust or other damage. Avoid putting batteries under extreme temperatures at all times.

We’ve all heard the myth that storing batteries in a refrigerator prolongs their life, but is this really true?

The short answer is that we recommend not doing it.

The best way to store your batteries to get the maximum shelf life is in a clean, dry, room-temperature (68°F to 78°F or 20°C to 25°C) environment. The temperature has an impact on a battery’s shelf life and the hotter it gets, the faster your batteries lose their charge. Storing primary batteries (D, C, AA, AAA, 9 volts) in a cooler environment slows down this rate of discharge that all batteries experience even when not in use, hence a longer shelf life.

However, very cold temperature storage can be harmful to batteries if condensation results in corroded contacts or seal damage due to extreme temperature storage. The condensation and humidity in your fridge can negatively impact or even ruin your batteries so it’s very important that they are stored in a dry place.

When a battery is not being used, the electrons inside can flow out of the battery which will drain their capacity through a process called self-discharge. The higher the temperature, the more the free flow of ions or self-discharge from the battery.

When stored properly, the discharge rate of single-use alkaline & lithium batteries is only about 1%-3% per year. Lithium-ion batteries which are found in cell phones, laptops, and some power tools only have a self-discharge rate of about 5% per month when new.

However, several years ago rechargeable batteries like NiCd (nickel-cadmium) and NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) could lose as much as 20%-30% of their capacity per month. At that time, storing these types of rechargeable Power Tools Battery in the refrigerator seemed like a great idea to slow down this process.

Within the past 10 years, there have been significant improvements in rechargeable batteries and the discharge rate is only about 15% per year now. Instead of storing them in the fridge, it’s recommended to just recharge them.

By storing your batteries in the refrigerator you can potentially ruin your batteries just to squeeze a very small amount of life out of them. Purchase a battery organizer and keep it in a clean, dry, room temperature environment and not in the fridge or freezer.

CELL PHONE BATTERY TIPS: PROLONG THE LIFE OF YOUR CELL PHONE BATTERY

Many people are moving away from their landline phones in favor of cell phones. Even still, the primary benefit is still a cell phone’s portability. To get the most out of your phone, you’ll have to get the most out of your phone’s battery.

When it comes to your battery, there are two things to consider: how to make it last longer between charges and how to prolong the life of the battery.

Increasing Runtime Between Charges

Turn the phone off. It may sound counter-intuitive at first, but this is the simplest and most effective way to conserve battery power. If you’re sleeping or just don’t want to take calls, just turn it off. Do the same if you’re in an area with no reception (like subways or remote areas) or in a roaming area. The phone will continuously search for service and this can drain the battery pretty quickly.
Disable vibrate. The vibrate function uses up significant amounts of battery power. Stick with using the ring tone, but keep the volume as low as possible.
Turn off the phone’s backlight. If you can get by without it, disabling the backlight will keep your phone running longer. For some phones this isn’t an option, though. For these, you can usually set the phone to dim the backlight after a set amount of time. One or two seconds should be sufficient.
Avoid unnecessary features. Features like the camera (especially flash) and Internet connection are good to avoid if it’s going to be a while before you can charge your phone again. The same goes for WIFI, GPS, and infrared.
Turn off Bluetooth. This can drain your battery fast, and having it on can cause problems near virus-infected smartphones.
Keep a spare. Much like we had recommended with laptops, keeping a spare battery to swap in is a great idea for long trips where you won’t have access to a charger. Just remember to keep that spare charge itself before you leave!

Prolong the Life of Your Battery

Initialize a new battery. New Power Tools Battery should be 100% charged before their first use. For Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) and Nickel Cadmium (NiCd), this is about 16 hours initial with two to four full charge/discharge cycles. Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) should be charged for 5 or 6 hours. But do not fully discharge the Li-Ion battery! Make a habit of recharging it when you have one bar left.
Keep the battery cool. The battery will last longest the closer it stays to room temperature. None of us can control the weather, of course, but you can avoid leaving the phone in a hot car or in direct sunlight. Even keeping it in your pocket can raise its temperature, due to body heat. If the battery is excessively hot, your charger may be malfunctioning.
Clean the battery contacts on the battery and on the phone. Over time, the contacts can accumulate dirt. You can clean them with a cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol. If the contacts are two different metals (such as gold and tin), accelerated corrosion may occur. This often requires solvents, such as acetone or nail polish remover. These solvents dissolve plastic, so use a Q-Tip to avoid damaging the phone or battery housing.
You should refrain from charging your phone’s battery through a car’s cigarette outlet on a continuous basis. The charging method does a fast charge and is best for emergency charges only but should never be used to always charge the battery. The best way to charge the battery is by using your AC charger plugged into a wall outlet.

How to Extend Phone Battery Life

Find out what is using your phone’s battery.
Reduce the screen resolution.
Turn on Adaptive Battery.
Stop apps running in the background.
Reduce the Sleep timeout.
Prevent apps from running at startup.
Turn on the Always-on Display.
Reduce the screen brightness and turn off Adaptive Brightness.

CAN I MIX OLD AND NEW BATTERIES?

Short answer: Don’t.

Never use old and new batteries together, as this may cause leakage or worse. This causes that when used together with one or more fresh batteries, this used battery will lose capacity and voltage faster than the new batteries, which could cause eventually an over-discharge and leakage of that battery.

It can be tempting to only swap out only the battery that’s died, but you shouldn’t. It’s like trying to write an essay with your non-dominant hand: You might technically be able to do it, but you’re not going to like the end result.

So, replace all of the batteries at the same time. Using only fresh batteries together will maintain their lifespan and is much safer.

See this remote with two different batteries? Don’t do this!

For example, your TV remote uses two AA batteries and is dying. You only have one fresh battery on hand. If you only replace one of the batteries, the good battery will not last.

The new battery will have to work extra hard to meet the power demands of the remote, which will shorten its lifespan significantly.

Also, is that dead battery still in the remote? It runs the risk of overheating as the fresh battery works. The reason for this is the fresh battery is delivering a large current into a dead battery that has high resistance.

This causes excessive heat to build up explained by Joule’s law, the relationship between electrical power and thermal (heat) energy.

Two fresh batteries avoid this as they increase in resistance together as they deplete, limiting the current the batteries are supplying. batteries are designed to be safe under these conditions.

So, just replace both of them and save yourself some grief!

We recommend using Power Tools Battery from the same brand, too, since there can be small differences in the voltage and capacity of the battery. AA alkaline batteries are rated at 1.5 volts, but this number is an estimate.

Some manufacturers could round up from a number like 14.9 volts, and then another could round down from 15.2 volts. It’s a small difference, but this electrical imbalance could negatively affect performance.

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