Batteries in the fridge?

[bchoiniere]

How should we store spare batteries? I have heard the cold was good for preserving them. Should I cycle through them or only use two at a time?
Anyone know about Li-ion battery health?
thanks.

 

[Stephen G]

I'm really not sure about cold being good.

For example, I know my cell phone battery dies about 2-3x faster when I expose it to cold.

Depends on if you are talking about preserving the unused lifetime of your battery (keep it in cold storage while not in use/charging) or in preserving the charge in the battery.

 

[ncd_photo]

Li-ion batteries don't like to be deep discharged as was usual with the older types of re-chargeables. If you compare them to a spring, they last longer when in the stored energy position i.e. charged regularly.

All re-chargables have a finite number of charge/discharge cycles but this is normally in the several hundreds range.

Cold usually kills off batteries so I wouldn't store them in a fridge!

Just leave them at normal room temp like any other electronic gear and cycle them through.

 

[Jim Watts]

Slightly cool storage with 40% charge is the normal recommendation for Li-Ion batteries.

"Storage in a cool place slows the aging process of lithium-ion (and other chemistries). Manufacturers recommend storage temperatures of 15°C (59°F). In addition, the battery should be partially charged during storage. The manufacturer recommends a 40% charge."

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-5.htm

I personally can't be bothered to do this and if you were to put them in the fridge, which would be at a somewhat lower temperature, I'm sure you need to let them slowly return to room temperature before putting them in the camera to avoid condensation problems.

I have had one 1500mah Epson and one 1200Mah Uniross battery for over two years and give them no special treatment. I estimate that they have both lost about 30% of their capacity in that time.

 

[RichC]

Info summarised in my R-D1 FAQ:

http://www.richcutler.co.uk/r-d1/r-d1_07.htm

 

[Bill58]

Awhile back took all my camera button batteries out of their packages and put into baggies and then into the fridge--the long and short (no pun intended) was I killed them all. Keep all such batteries separated and at ROOM temp.

Dummy