I posted this in a thread but thought some others might get some good info that would relate to some of the products we use commuting.

My background is I am a certified bench tech for cell phones. Over the 25 years I have been in this business I have accumulated enough repair certification from Nokia, Motorola, Mitsubishi, Audivox, HP, Wavetek and a few others to wallpaper about 10ft of wall. I also hold a FCC GROL. I currently handle network repair and return for large wireless telecom.

When I ran a consumer repair facility one of the biggest complaints had to do with batteries. Every training course I took for every product covered battery complaints. Here is some info that relates to the lighting we are using.

Here is a little info that hopefully wil help you get the most out of your rechargeable lights.

Battery 101

I have a bunch of cordless Makita Drills from my days as a Cell phone installer/repair dating back to the late 80's that still work.
Rechargeable (not lead acid) Batteries are best rated in charge cycles. Every time you charge a battery you use up a charge cycle. The best way to maximize the life of a battery is to run it fully dead before charging.

Ni Cads actually have one of the best charge cycle ratings of any modern rechargable battery. Thats what the 20 year old Mikita batteries are I still use regularly.

NiMh came about as a battery less susceptible to what is often referred to as "Memory".

Memory is a result of repetitive charging practices. The worst of these practices is putting a battery on charge every day when you get home from work regardless if it needs it. You will train that battery to need a charge every 24 hours.

Edit: let me clear up what I mean by "train" as somebody is picking hairs in the thread I originally posted this in. Repetitive Short charging like I described will cause the battery to develop a voltage drop that in a smart device like a cellphone and some higher end lighting will cause it to trip low battery. Most people call this "Memory". A good bit of it is the battery and the device it is used in loosing sync. Some batteries have a chip in them that retain its charge state. More complete discharges between charges is what is going to be the best at preventing this from happening and getting the best longevity out of the product.


The MiMh was a lot better then the NiCad at resisting "memory" but it is still possible have have what most people call memory happen. To get that better resistance came at a overall loss of charge cycles over a NiCad. A Nicad may have a rating of 1200 charge cycles where a NiMh might have a 800. The difference was perception. On Cellphones where I learned this people are very bad about being worried they will not have enough battery to make the day so they would charge nightly or even worse in the car every time they get in. The perception of the NiMh was better because it resisted having a "memory" much better so as a result even though it had less over all charge cycles available they would feel it was a better battery because it resisted their bad practices better.

Memory can be reversed in a NiCad. They actually sell fancy chargers that "Condition" a battery. it does this by running the battery through a few deep charge and full discharge cycles to get the chemicals in the battery warmed up. The point the average person was thinking their NiCad was bad they were tossing them 95% of the time that battery could be recovered. The NiMh on the other hand the recovery rate was more like 65%. Most of this because they used up the majority of the charge cycles the battery had in it. The perception being that NiMh was better but the reality was a properly treated NiCad actually has a longer lifespan.

Most rechargeable devices are now favoring LiIon for weight savings. LiIon does not have a memory BUT it has far less charge cycles then a NiCad.

Best way to treat any common rechargeable (except lead acid) is a full discharge before recharging.

The first few charges on any of the above batteries is the most important. You want to give it a good full charge and a full discharge to optimize the battery.

Resist short charging batteries if you can. My last cell phone was 7 years old and on its second battery. That second battery would still go 3-4 days where new it would go 7. This iPhone I just got pisses me off with only going 2 days if I limit the data use. It promotes bad charge practices and if you search iphone complaints battery issues is right up at the top of the complaint list and now you know why.

Lead Acid (what cars have for starting batteries) are best kept charged. Topping them off daily is actually good as long as you don't bake them out. Charge them use them regularly and recharge them as soon as you can. Leaving a lead acid discharged will sulfate the plates and they will stop holding a charge.