1. Since a battery should never be 100% full or 100% empty, you should charge it then discharge it in sequence ideally ranging between 80% to 20%. Start by charging for 12 minutes, then running it down, then charge it for 11 minutes then run it down, and so on. Confused? Just use this handy formula: n!=C(n,k)/r! where n can't equal r, and k never reaches zero. Simple!

2. If you use a phone or laptop without first charging its battery fully, you will die.

3. A lot of battery experts warn of the memory effect, but it's not really an "effect." It's just their way of saying "Remember to charge your batteries!"

4. Batteries run better when cold. The easiest way to do this is to find a refrigerated warehouse or meat locker, befriend the night watchman, and do all your work from there. ($20 bribes usually work.)

5. If your laptop battery gets hot enough to sear tuna, step away. Check your fridge for tuna. If no tuna in fridge, run to the supermarket to buy tuna. Don't worry, as long as you don't unplug your laptop, the battery will stay hot while you are gone.

6. When putting your laptop into storage, take out the battery. Wrap the extracted battery in a well oiled cloth and place it in a clay pot. Bury the pot in a hayfield. Any will do, but it's best if there's a long rock wall with a big oak tree at the north end. The battery should keep fresh for up to six months that way. If you're worried about finding it again, just mark your spot with a rock that has no earthly business in a hayfield. I favor black volcanic glass.

7. If your battery is about to run dry, take it out and blow on it. I have no idea why this works, but it totally does.

8. If your battery does die, you can always make your own: A potato theoretically has enough "potential energy" stored inside to power a laptop for a full hour—the trick is knowing where to stick the wires. Just ask a third grader. One tip: The potato must not be baked.

9. You should never confuse your batteries. Here's an easy way to keep them apart in your head: Lithium Ion batteries explode, Nickel Cadmium destroys the environment, and Lead Acid batteries are more corrosive than the Alien Queen's blood (plus, they contain lead). You can eat Lithium Ferro Phosphate batteries.

10. People may tell you to carry a battery-life extender in your bag, but the secret there is, it's just another battery. What do I recommend? Jumper cables.

Now, the FAA says the airlines need approval from the FAA's hazardous materials division, and has asked them not to store spare lithium ion batteries for the readers on planes. A few airlines went through some special training to get the okay, but at least Delta and JetBlue don't carry spares or charge the readers on board at all.

The current rate for gadgets exploding on planes is about one every four months, says a former NTSB dude. Which isn't so bad, considering there are millions of flights happening in that time period. Still, I have the feeling this xkcd comic is going to stay funny for the reasons it's funny now for like another year, max. [NYT]

http://xkcd.com/651/

On a page dedicated to maximizing your MacBook's battery life and lifespan, Apple says:

Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month. Need a reminder? Add an event to your desktop's iCal.

Apple also says that you should store the battery with a 50 percent charge if you're not going to use your laptop for more than 6 months (otherwise it could fall into a deep discharge state, and not be capable of holding a charge).

Many laptops—PC and Mac—use Lithium-Ion batteries (as apposed to Nickel-metal hydride), so it's a good reminder to make sure you read your freakin' manual. What's been your experience with laptop batteries? [Smarterware]

The battery charges and recharges like normal, but during discharge, atmospheric oxygen penetrates the battery and reacts with internal carbon as a reagent. This reaction creates more energy, and they best part about it is that you didn't need to carry around the extra weight of the oxygen in your backpack. (Of course, sacrificing our air might not be the best way to build a next generation battery.)

Sadly, the technology is still that infamous "five years" away from consumer's hands. [scientificblogging and Telegraph]

Basically, batteries don't perform well in heat, and your pocket, combined with the warmth of your body, make for an ideal place to store a wax-turned-human Indian figurine but a horrible place for lithium ions.

You could, of course, use a belt clip. But we'd sooner talk on our phone for just 5 minutes between recharges than do that. Just set it on a nearby table when you're sitting...which is probably a majority of your day anyway. More tips: [Lifehacker]

Scientists at MIT claim to have discovered a new technique for manufacturing the lithium-ion batteries, using a unique mix of lithium iron phosphate instead of the traditional lithium cobalt found in most of your gadgets' batteries. Sparing you the gory details, these experiments resulted in a small test battery that could charge in in about 20 seconds (down from six), didn't overheat and displays no signs of reduced capacity after repeated use, all in trade for a "slight" decrease in capacity.

Despite looking like another one of those vaguely vaporous half-discoveries, its creators are really trying to assure us otherwise. Professor Gerbrand Ceder even goes so far as to say that due to the tech's similarity to existing l-i batteries, current factories could be easily converted for manufacture with the next two or three years. With MIT, publication in a reputable journal, and most importantly, a plausible explanation behind this thing, maybe, just maybe these batteries won't leave us hanging, disenchanted and juiceless once again. [BBC]

The cellphone of this victim—a man in a Lenovo shop in Guangzhou, China—exploded without warning in his shirt pocket, slicing an artery in his neck, causing him bleed to death. The battery was recently recharged and, according to a fellow employee, it was completely new. The origin of the battery is still unknown.

Just in case, I'm not putting my iPhone in my jacket's inner chest pocket ever again. Or in my pants, for that matter. [Tech Ticker]

This bump is attributed to their new lithium ion battery, which can store more power than the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries found in traditional Prius models. The testing is ongoing, and there is no word on when we might actually be able to purchase the plug-in, but this is definitely encouraging news for anyone sick of lining the pockets of big oil companies. [Automotive News-subscription]

The gloves themselves—the $300 Mountain Hardwear Red Savina and the $260 Outdoor Research PrimoVolta—get charged by being plugged into the wall, and are activated by pressing large obvious buttons on the exterior near the wrist.

Inside, the fabric itself is a layering of power, comfort and thermostatic-control panels:

One layer reads the temperature of every part of your hand like a tightly knit grid, and allocates heat where it's coldest. When the finger gets warm, the heater eases off.

Aevex says it'll have the jacket dilemma solved by 2009, and ditto for boots (or at least socks of some kind. Now, if we can all just try and forget about that whole "exploding lithium-ion battery" thing, I think we've got something. [Aevex via CNet]

First and foremost, silver-zinc can offer up to 40 percent more battery life than traditional lithium-ion batteries and 200 + cycles at 100% discharge. ZPower claims that their product contains no toxic chemicals and is up to 95% recyclable—which I would assume means that they have addressed the problem of mercury leakage that plagues silver-zinc batteries at the end of their life-cycle. They also noted that the batteries feature a water-based chemistry that is completely non-flammable (unlike lithium-ion that has a reputation for the occasional explosion). The one major drawback of silver-zinc is the cost of the silver itself, but word is that ZPower is planning on a trade-in recycle policy that will help to offset costs. Sounds good, but we will have to wait and see if the notebook coming out next year will be important enough and affordable enough to drive sales.

Dr. Ross Dueber to Discuss First Silver-Zinc Battery
for Mobile Consumer Devices at Batteries 2008 in Nice

CAMARILLO, October 7, 2008 – Dr. Ross E. Dueber, president and CEO of ZPower, Inc., will discuss the industry’s first silver-zinc battery technology for consumer electronics at the Batteries 2008 conference in Nice, France, starting October 8th. His presentation will address the performance, environmental, and safety advantages inherent within ZPowerTM silver-zinc batteries, scheduled to launch in a major notebook computer in 2009. The annual event will be held at the Acropolis Convention Centre on October 8, 9, and 10. Batteries 2008 is a worldwide exhibition focused on power supply, with more than 400 attendees.
Dr. Dueber will discuss the next replacement for lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and what power source can take mobility into the future. “At the heart of the $55 billion global battery market is the chemical conundrum of power supply,” said Dueber. “Today’s consumer has the ability to watch an entire movie on a palm-sized device—but portable power technology has not kept up. Engineers admit that they are hitting the wall on lithium polymer and lithium-ion performance. Unstable lithium-ion batteries have resulted in a high number of product recalls by manufacturers of notebook computers. These market trends are creating a pressing need for a better battery.”

Silver-zinc battery chemistry is currently poised to move into the commercial marketplace for use in consumer electronics. This new silver-zinc battery chemistry uses the latest in advanced polymers, nano-technology, power electronics and processing methods to create a battery that surpasses other rechargeable batteries for notebook computers, mobile phone and consumer electronics applications.

The advantages of silver-zinc batteries can be summed up as follows:

High Performance – Up to 40% more run time than traditional lithium-ion batteries. And with recent improvements in battery cycle life, silver-zinc batteries achieve 200 + cycles at 100% discharge and thousands of cycles at intermediate discharge.

Clean Technology – Over 95% of key battery elements can be recycled and reused. The raw materials recovered in the recycling process of silver-zinc batteries are the same quality as those that went into the creation of the battery. Environmental impact is lessened since the need to mine for new materials is minimized.

Safe – Silver-zinc batteries contain no lithium and are inherently safe. They are not subject to the recent FAA air travel restrictions now placed on lithium-ion batteries. Silver-zinc batteries feature a water-based chemistry that is not flammable. The battery is therefore free from the problems of thermal runaway and fire.

[ZPower]

Pretty much all batteries basically work the same way: Chemicals packed inside get freaky and produce electrons, which pool up on the negative end of the battery, essentially turning chemical energy into electrical energy—when you connect a battery to a gadget, the electrons run through the gadget and back to the positive end of the battery, completing the circuit and causing the chemical mojo that produces energy, making your toy robots go go go. The differences between various kinds of batteries come from the different chemical cocktails inside, which they're all named for—like your favorite actual cocktails, each one has its properties, making it good for some stuff and not others.

Alkaline are the classics—they powered your Game Boy for 20 solid minutes of fun (or 2 1/2 on a Sega Nomad)—they are cheap and disposable. Energy density, the amount of power packed in the space, isn't bad, but with a demanding, high powered gadget like an MP3 player or digital camera, they die quicker than morbidly obese Mississippians parked in front of an all-you-can-eat biscuits and gravy trough. With lower power gear, they're decent enough, as years of use and abuse have probably told you. Biggest suckpoint, as you Wii owners know, is that they're not rechargeable.

Silver oxide or silver-zinc batteries pack a good bit of power inside and last a loooong time, so they're the most common battery in watches and small toys—not to mention torpedoes and submarines, or other applications where performance matters more than cost. The downside is that the silver makes them expensive if they're bigger than the button size for gadgets. Oh, and the mercury leakage issue at the end of their life is kinda uncool.

Lead-acid batteries have two major types: a starting battery, like the one in your (gas-guzzling) car, which is designed for short power jolts, and a deep-cycle battery, which delivers a lower, more steady power level, so it's used on boats, campers, golf carts and backup power in various gadgets.

Rechargeable Alkaline: Surprisingly similar to regular 'ol alkies, they're slightly tweaked to take recharges—which means giving it some juice pumps electrons back into the battery. They don't self-discharge like the more popular nickel metal hydride batteries, but their capacity falls off with every recharge and doesn't quite match regular alkies. You don't really see these at Wal-Mart, if that tells you anything.

Nickel Cadmium, aka NiCads, some of the first decent rechargeable batteries, and still among the cheapest, so they were popular in toys and other gadgets. They recharge fairly quickly and will take a beating, but the memory effect (a recurring issue with rechargeables) is nasty with these—if you try to recharge it without using all the energy, large crystals build up that limit how much power it'll pump out next time to however much was used before you recharged it (like it "remembers"). Also, they'll leak out all their power after about 90 days, so you don't wanna leave them on your shelf or in a charger for a long time.

Nickel metal hydride, aka NiMH, replaces the cadmium in NiCads with an alloy that makes it hold more 40 percent energy in the same space than NiCads. Memory effect issues aren't as severe, but NiMH are kinda finicky about recharging/discharging. Still, do they well with the systems in hybrid cars, so giant packs of them are what's in current hybrids. They're not bad substitutes for alkalines either in terms power/space/price and hold up well to high drain from gadgets, so they're the most common kind of rechargeable you'd buy at Wal-Mart for your Walkman or something.

Lithium ion aka Li-ion set the gold standard in a gadget battery and are a major bump in energy efficiency and density from nickel-based batteries while not suffering from by the dreaded memory effect. On the other hand but they're not as thrashable and have that whole infamous propensity for explosion (really, it's only a few per million). Another major issue with them is that if they're spent too hard and drop below a certain voltage, its energy capacity can be permanently lowered, so they're designed to shut off whatever they're plugged into after a certain point. Little advances allow researchers and scientists to wring modestly more power out of it ever year. Basically, if you've got a gadget with a rechargeable, it's probably one of these, or, increasingly, a li-poly battery (see below).

Lithium ion poly or lithium poly or li-poly, sprung out of lithium ion (obvs), but uses a gel polymer-based electroltye—hence the name. They're more durable (less explode-y) than standard Li-ion, plus they're lighter and can be molded into whatever shape you want, so it's not surprising you're seeing them replace lithium ions in laptops and other gadgets, like the the iPod. One issue is that they do wear a bit more quickly than regular Li-ion, but that's getting better.

Lithium iron phosphate is another spin on lithium ion that replaces the cobalt oxide mix in li-ion. Advantages are that it's less likely to go boom and it can discharge and recharge incredibly quickly. But until now, they've been expensive and kinda complicated to make. Mostly famously, it's in the OLPC XO Laptop, but is on its way to a hybrid car near you.

And that just about covers where we are now with portable gadget power. Feel free to wax philosophically on other battery banter in the comments, but we'll be covering what's around the corner in a future Giz Explains installment.

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about touching, feeling or screening to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

The pack then notifies you when it's time to recharge, when it needs repairs or even when it's time for a replacement. Information is stored on the battery itself, so that even if you change your phone, you can still view your pack's previously recorded data.

NTT DoCoMo says that keeping close track of deterioration in the battery pack is a great way to prevent the Li-ions from catching fire or exploding—a problem that has only increased as the need for more portable power continues to swell. The new brand of intelligent batteries will be found on phone models coming out next year. [Techon]

One, it'll be like 3-5 years before you can curl up next to your notebook in bed and pass out without worrying it'll take your gnads off with an exciting display of shrapnel and fire in the middle of the night. (That's not what keeps me up at night, I swear.) The other is that it looks like they don't pack in quite as much juice as the combustible kind (hence the 3-5 year development time). I don't know, I think almost rather risk silicon and limb to get a 30 hour charge for my notebook. [Fraunhofer Institute via Gadget Lab]

Current hybrid vehicles use nickel-metal hydride batteries, but the lithium-ion alternatives are known to offer greater efficiency, as well as a better overall weight-to-power ratio. The problem with integrating the Li-ion technology was in securing their stability—they became far too hot to be a viable option in a hybrid vehicle. Fortunately, Mercedes-Benz has 25 patents it is confident solves the dilemma of battery overheating, whether they stay on target for 2009 is another matter, but we certainly wouldn't doubt them. (N.B. The model pictured is the standard petrol engine S400. Images of the BlueHybrid have not been released as yet.)[CNET]

I'm torn. While I love the concept and even like the design, I shuddered when the word "chopper" was used to describe a virtually silent motorcycle. Let's get this baby up to 88 miles per hour—the Gizmodo techmobile standard—and then we'll talk. – Mark Wilson

Video: Stealth Motorcycle [mobilemag]

So, not only will this improve battery life in your laptops, it'll bulk up a bunch of consumer electronics and hybrid vehicles as well. Score one for scientists. And score another for that horrible Photoshop. – Jason Chen

Scientists double the capacity of rechargeable lithium batteries [TGDaily via Slashgear]

Assuming one could dissipate the heat, nearly 100% of unused case space in any electronic could become battery. And in a world of ever-shrinking processors, design could focus on form and aesthetics with almost no limitations.

Of course, there is still that issue of heat. – Mark Wilson

Self-Assembling Batteries [via therawfeed]

Boston Power [Boston Power]