Unused Batteries

[2000rpm]

I have a couple of Mobius C2 which I converted to capacitor as soon as purchased - the cams were not powered up beforehand and the batteries were never charged.

That raised some interesting questions in my mind:
1. If the batteries haven't been charged, will they have a significantly longer 'shelf life' than one which had been used a few times before being stored?
2. If some still-boxed 'new' cams (or new replacement batteries) sat in the back of someone's stock cupboard for two or three years before being sold, would their batteries degrade significantly?
3. How long is it safe to store new, unused batteries or cams with batteries?

Any thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[jokiin]

they need to be stored partially charged, they won't last in storage

 

[SawMaster]

Lithium batteries are generally shipped with a 40% charge which is ideal for storage. There are analyzing chargers you can get which help you determine the level of charge but that's a little much for the average person. You can approximate this by installing and charging the battery fully, measuring the voltage after letting it sit idle for a half hour, running the device on the battery until it quits, then measuring the voltage again right away. Findcthe middle of those voltages and that's your goal. Now charge the battery again, stopping regularly and disconnecting it to check the voltage. When you see the half-charge voltage you're done. The voltage will drop some after sitting idle (surface charge drop) which will leave you close enough to the ideal 40% storage voltage.

It's really easier to do than explain once you do it a couple times and you don't even need an accurate meter since you're measuring the differential and not a particular voltage. So get a cheap DMM for $5 and go for it. Store the batteries in a col dry place where they can't get wet, physically damaged, or shorted out. Attach a note of what their voltage was after sitting idle for a half hour after the process was complete. Check the stored batteries voltage using that same meter every couple years and repeat the process if there's more than a 15% voltage drop. Handled this way, good Lithium batteries will store for a decade without any appreciable loss of performance. Not all Lithium batteries are good though, so if you discover any whose voltage is more than 50% low during the bi-annual check, you either need to use them now while they sill have some life in them or recycle them properly. Ditto for any batteries that have any visual indications of something having degraded.

Phil

 

[2000rpm]

they need to be stored partially charged, they won't last in storage

Someone else I know had a Mobius from the same batch at the same time which was left as battery.
Although the manual says about 2.5hrs to charge from empty, their battery was charged in about 1.75hrs so it could well be that the batteries have a partial charge as supplied.
0.75hrs less time to charge is 30% less than the 2.5hrs stated so might have shipped with 40% and lost a little in storage/transit.

I bought some rechargeable 'AAA' batteries for our landline phone handsets a while ago and it said on the packet that they didn't need charging before first use. They worked fine straight from the packet but they needed charging sooner that first time than subsequent times, so they may well have been supplied with 40% charge.

 

[Dashmellow]

Someone else I know had a Mobius from the same batch at the same time which was left as battery.
Although the manual says about 2.5hrs to charge from empty, their battery was charged in about 1.75hrs so it could well be that the batteries have a partial charge as supplied.
0.75hrs less time to charge is 30% less than the 2.5hrs stated so might have shipped with 40% and lost a little in storage/transit.

I bought some rechargeable 'AAA' batteries for our landline phone handsets a while ago and it said on the packet that they didn't need charging before first use. They worked fine straight from the packet but they needed charging sooner that first time than subsequent times, so they may well have been supplied with 40% charge.

The caveat about storing batteries in an approximately half charged state applies specifically to lithium-ion (Li-ion) and lithium polymer (Li-Po) batteries. The rechargeable LSD (low self discharge) AAA cells you bought for your headsets are nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) batteries and those are intended to be stored at full charge. The ones you purchased may have been in storage awhile and experienced some of the aforementioned self discharge before you acquired them.

 

[jokiin]

Someone else I know had a Mobius from the same batch at the same time which was left as battery.
Although the manual says about 2.5hrs to charge from empty, their battery was charged in about 1.75hrs so it could well be that the batteries have a partial charge as supplied.
0.75hrs less time to charge is 30% less than the 2.5hrs stated so might have shipped with 40% and lost a little in storage/transit.

I bought some rechargeable 'AAA' batteries for our landline phone handsets a while ago and it said on the packet that they didn't need charging before first use. They worked fine straight from the packet but they needed charging sooner that first time than subsequent times, so they may well have been supplied with 40% charge.

they would have shipped with some charge in them, that's normal

the eneloop type batteries you would have for your phone come charged, different type of battery as dashmellow has correctly pointed out already, not all of those types of batteries come pre charged but the ones that do are generally higher quality as well