Mmm.. should you drain the battery completely? Ryobi.

[flyingsparks]

Should you drain Ryobi one+ batteries completely down to nothing before re-charging them, or should you charge as soon as you notice a lack of power.. I know different battery types like different things.. Please help!!

Thanks.

 

[gcol]

Ni-cads should be fully flattened before recharging.

 

[Deluks]

Ni-cads should be fully flattened before recharging.

That goes against everything I've every read about battery maintenance.

I always remove them from the tool once the power drops off significantly.

 

[big-all]

Ni-cads should be fully flattened before recharging.

That goes against everything I've every read about battery maintenance.

I always remove them from the tool once the power drops off significantly.

yep totaly agree
things like reverse polarity on individual cells can happen if you flatten completly

and yes there are two chains of thought on this one

 

[flyingsparks]

Mmm... interesting! OK, thanks.

 

[2scoops0406]

But then they may be NiMh batteries, which do not require a full discharge.

 

[Deluks]

But then they may be NiMh batteries, which do not require a full discharge.

Not as fussy as nicads but you should still avoid charging a half full battery if poss. Li-Ion are the only batteries you don't have to worry about. (apart from them blowing up)

Ryobi don't do nimh AFAIK

 

[Hooo]

I've done some reading up on battery technologies in the past, and the general opinion seems to be -

LiOn and Li-polymer - charge whenever you want, long term battery life is improved if you don't run it down fully before each charge.

NiMh - charge whenever you want. Running it down to when you lose power shouldn't make any difference.

NiCd - You can pretty much charge whenever you want. Every 10 or 20 cycles it might be worth doing a full discharge - a torch is good for this, but don't let it get completely dead so that there's no power left at all. This can cause a cell to invert, and your battery is then dead.
The charge memory effect with NiCds is nowhere near as important as people say. If you never do a full discharge it will probably not make any noticeable difference.

 

[bengasman]

I've done some reading up on battery technologies in the past, and the general opinion seems to be -

LiOn and Li-polymer - charge whenever you want, long term battery life is improved if you don't run it down fully before each charge.

do NOT run a lithium polymer flat, they die on the spot. they are very different from lithium ion. extreme size to performance ratio. extreme price and not forgiving when you mistreat them. bit like a ferrari if you want.