How To Prolong Battery Life
Last Updated: 3-Dec-2025
Batteries In A Portable World
The material on Battery University is based on the indispensable new 4th edition of "Batteries in a Portable World - A Handbook on Rechargeable Batteries for Non-Engineers" which is available for order through Amazon.com.
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
- BU-001: Sharing Battery Knowledge
- BU-002: Introduction
- BU-003: Dedication
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Crash Course on Batteries
- BU-101: When Was the Battery Invented?
- BU-102: Early Innovators
- BU-103: Global Battery Markets
- BU-103a: Battery Breakthroughs: Myth or Fact?
- BU-104: Getting to Know the Battery
- BU-104a: Comparing the Battery with Other Power Sources
- BU-104b: Battery Building Blocks
- BU-104c: The Octagon Battery – What makes a Battery a Battery
- BU-105: Battery Definitions and what they mean
- BU-106: Advantages of Primary Batteries
- BU-106a: Choices of Primary Batteries
- BU-107: Comparison Table of Secondary Batteries
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Battery Types
- BU-201: How does the Lead Acid Battery Work?
- BU-201a: Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM)
- BU-201b: Gel Lead Acid Battery
- BU-202: New Lead Acid Systems
- BU-203: Nickel-based Batteries
- BU-204: How do Lithium Batteries Work?
- BU-205: Types of Lithium-ion
- BU-206: Lithium-polymer: Substance or Hype?
- BU-208: Cycling Performance
- BU-209: How does a Supercapacitor Work?
- BU-210: How does the Fuel Cell Work?
- BU-210a: Why does Sodium-sulfur need to be heated
- BU-210b: How does the Flow Battery Work?
- BU-211: Alternate Battery Systems
- BU-212: Future Batteries
- BU-214: Summary Table of Lead-based Batteries
- BU-215: Summary Table of Nickel-based Batteries
- BU-216: Summary Table of Lithium-based Batteries
- BU-217: Summary Table of Alternate Batteries
- BU-218: Summary Table of Future Batteries
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Packaging and Safety
- BU-301: A look at Old and New Battery Packaging
- BU-301a: Types of Battery Cells
- BU-302: Series and Parallel Battery Configurations
- BU-303: Confusion with Voltages
- BU-304: Why are Protection Circuits Needed?
- BU-304a: Safety Concerns with Li-ion
- BU-304b: Making Lithium-ion Safe
- BU-304c: Battery Safety in Public
- BU-305: Building a Lithium-ion Pack
- BU-306: What is the Function of the Separator?
- BU-307: How does Electrolyte Work?
- BU-308: Availability of Lithium
- BU-309: How does Graphite Work in Li-ion?
- BU-310: How does Cobalt Work in Li-ion?
- BU-311: Battery Raw Materials
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Charge Methods
- BU-401: How do Battery Chargers Work?
- BU-401a: Fast and Ultra-fast Chargers
- BU-402: What Is C-rate?
- BU-403: Charging Lead Acid
- BU-404: What is Equalizing Charge?
- BU-405: Charging with a Power Supply
- BU-406: Battery as a Buffer
- BU-407: Charging Nickel-cadmium
- BU-408: Charging Nickel-metal-hydride
- BU-409: Charging Lithium-ion
- BU-409a: Why do Old Li-ion Batteries Take Long to Charge?
- BU-409b: Charging Lithium Iron Phosphate
- BU-410: Charging at High and Low Temperatures
- BU-411: Charging from a USB Port
- BU-412: Charging without Wires
- BU-413: Charging with Solar, Turbine
- BU-413a: How to Store Renewable Energy in a Battery
- BU-414: How do Charger Chips Work?
- BU-415: How to Charge and When to Charge?
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Discharge Methods
- BU-501: Basics about Discharging
- BU-501a: Discharge Characteristics of Li-ion
- BU-502: Discharging at High and Low Temperatures
- BU-503: Determining Power Deliver by the Ragone Plot
- BU-504: How to Verify Sufficient Battery Capacity
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"Smart" Battery
- BU-601: How does a Smart Battery Work?
- BU-602: How does a Battery Fuel Gauge Work?
- BU-603: How to Calibrate a “Smart” Battery
- BU-603a: Calibrating SMBus Batteries with Impedance Tracking
- BU-604: How to Process Data from a “Smart” Battery
- Testing and Calibrating Smart Batteries
-
From Birth to Retirement
- BU-701: How to Prime Batteries
- BU-702: How to Store Batteries
- BU-703: Health Concerns with Batteries
- BU-704: How to Transport Batteries
- BU-704a: Shipping Lithium-based Batteries by Air
- BU-704b: CAUTION & Overpack Labels
- BU-704c: Class 9 Label
- BU-704d: NFPA 704 Rating
- BU-704e: Battery for Personal and Fleet Use
- BU-705: How to Recycle Batteries
- BU-705a: Battery Recycling as a Business
- BU-706: Summary of Do's and Don'ts
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How To Prolong Battery Life
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General
- BU-801: Setting Battery Performance Standards
- BU-801a: How to Rate Battery Runtime
- BU-801b: How to Define Battery Life
- BU-802: What Causes Capacity Loss?
- BU-802a: How does Rising Internal Resistance affect Performance?
- BU-802b: What does Elevated Self-discharge Do?
- BU-802c: How Low can a Battery be Discharged?
- BU-803: Can Batteries Be Restored?
- BU-803a: Cell Matching and Balancing
- BU-803b: What causes Cells to Short?
- BU-803c: Loss of Electrolyte
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Lead Acid
- BU-804: How to Prolong Lead-acid Batteries
- BU-804a: Corrosion, Shedding and Internal Short
- BU-804b: Sulfation and How to Prevent it
- BU-804c: Acid Stratification and Surface Charge
- BU-805: Additives to Boost Flooded Lead Acid
- BU-806: Tracking Battery Capacity and Resistance as part of Aging
- BU-806a: How Heat and Loading affect Battery Life
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Nickel-based
- BU-807: How to Restore Nickel-based Batteries
- BU-807a: Effect of Zapping
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Lithium-ion
- BU-808: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries
- BU-808a: How to Awaken a Sleeping Li-ion
- BU-808b: What Causes Li-ion to Die?
- BU-808c: Coulombic and Energy Efficiency with the Battery
- BU-809: How to Maximize Runtime
- BU-810: What Everyone Should Know About Aftermarket Batteries
- BU-811: Assuring Minimum Operational Reserve Energy (MORE)
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Battery Testing and Monitoring
- BU-901: Fundamentals in Battery Testing
- BU-901b: How to Measure the Remaining Useful Life of a Battery
- BU-902: How to Measure Internal Resistance
- BU-902a: How to Measure CCA
- BU-903: How to Measure State-of-charge
- BU-904: How to Measure Capacity
- BU-905: Testing Lead Acid Batteries
- BU-905a: Testing Starter Batteries in Vehicles
- BU-905b: Knowing when to Replace a Starter Battery
- BU-906: Testing Nickel-based Batteries
- BU-907: Testing Lithium-based Batteries
- BU-907a: Battery Rapid-test Methods
- BU-907b: Advancements in Battery Testing
- BU-907c: Cloud Analytics in Batteries
- BU-908: Battery Management System (BMS)
- BU-909: Battery Test Equipment
- BU-910: How to Repair a Battery Pack
- BU-911: How to Repair a Laptop Battery
- BU-915: Testing Battery with EIS
- BU-916: Deep Battery Diagnostics
- BU-917: In Search for Performance Transparency with Batteries
- BU-918: Battery Endurance Plan
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Amazing Value of a Battery
- BU-1001: Batteries in Industries
- BU-1002: Electric Powertrain, then and now
- BU-1002a: Hybrid Electric Vehicles and the Battery
- BU-1002b: Environmental Benefit of the Electric Powertrain
- BU-1003: Electric Vehicle (EV)
- BU-1003a: Battery Aging in an Electric Vehicle (EV)
- BU-1004: Charging an Electric Vehicle
- BU-1005: Does the Fuel Cell-powered Vehicle have a Future?
- BU-1006: Cost of Mobile and Renewable Power
- BU-1007: Net Calorific Value
- BU-1008: Working towards Sustainability
- BU-1009: Battery Paradox - Afterword
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Information
- BU-1101: Glossary
- BU-1102: Abbreviations
- BU-1103: Bibliography
- BU-1104: About the Author
- BU-1105: About Cadex (Sponsor)
- BU-1106: Author's Creed
- BU-1107: Disclaimer
- BU-1108: Copyright
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Learning Tools
- BU-1501 Battery History
- BU-1502 Basics about Batteries
- BU-1503 How to Maintain Batteries
- BU-1504 Battery Test & Analyzing Devices
- BU-1505 Short History of Cadex
-
Battery Articles
- Perception of a Battery Tester
- Green Deal
- Risk Management in Batteries
- Predictive Test Methods for Starter Batteries
- Why Mobile Phone Batteries do not last as long as an EV Battery
- Battery Rapid-test Methods
- How to Charge Li-ion with a Parasitic Load
- Ultra-fast Charging
- Assuring Safety of Lithium-ion in the Workforce
- Diagnostic Battery Management
- Tweaking the Mobile Phone Battery
- Battery Test Methods
- Battery Testing and Safety
- How to Make Battery Performance Transparent
- Battery Diagnostics On-the-fly
- Making Battery State-of-health Transparent
- Batteries will eventually die, but when and how?
- Why does Pokémon Go rob so much Battery Power?
- How to Care for the Battery
- Tesla’s iPhone Moment — How the Powerwall will Change Global Energy Use
- Painting the Battery Green by giving it a Second Life
- Charging without Wires — A Solution or Laziness
- What everyone should know about Battery Chargers
- A Look at Cell Formats and how to Build a good Battery
- Battery Breakthroughs — Myth or Fact?
- Rapid-test Methods that No Longer Work
- Shipping Lithium-based Batteries by Air
- How to make Batteries more Reliable and Longer Lasting
- What causes Lithium-ion to die?
- Safety of Lithium-ion Batteries
- Recognizing Battery Capacity as the Missing Link
- Managing Batteries for Warehouse Logistics
- Caring for your Starter Battery
- Giving Batteries a Second Life
- How to Make Batteries in Medical Devices More Reliable
- Possible Solutions for the Battery Problem on the Boeing 787
- Impedance Spectroscopy Checks Battery Capacity in 15 Seconds
- How to Improve the Battery Fuel Gauge
- Examining Loading Characteristics on Primary and Secondary Batteries
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Language Pool
- BU-001: Compartir conocimiento sobre baterías
- BU-002: Introducción
- BU-003: Dedicatoria
- BU-104: Conociendo la Batería
- BU-302: Configuraciones de Baterías en Serie y Paralelo
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Batteries in a Portable World book
- Change-log of “Batteries in a Portable World,” 4th edition: Chapters 1 - 3
- Change-log of “Batteries in a Portable World,” 4th edition: Chapters 4 - 10