{"id":380749,"date":"2010-03-02T15:39:24","date_gmt":"2010-03-02T20:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/blog\/the_conscious_consumer\/126\/how-to-make-your-electronics-batteries-last-longer.html"},"modified":"2010-03-02T15:39:24","modified_gmt":"2010-03-02T20:39:24","slug":"how-to-make-your-electronics-batteries-last-longer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/380749","title":{"rendered":"How to make your electronics batteries last longer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"image\" style=\"float:right;padding-left:8px;\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image name\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/a323.yahoofs.com\/ymg\/the_conscious_consumer\/the_conscious_consumer-197819166-1267550712.jpg?ym43twCD0_2T75f5\" width=\"230\"\/><br \/>\n<br \/><em>(Photo: Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Taking good care of your electronics batteries can pay off. The<br \/>\nfinancial rewards of longer lasting batteries are obvious: You won&#8217;t be forced<br \/>\nto render a perfectly good gadget obsolete before its time or have to shell out<br \/>\nmoney for a replacement battery. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also better for the planet since <a href=\"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/living-green\/recycling-electronics.html\">disposing of electronic<br \/>\nwaste<\/a> is a growing problem. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Experts say there are plenty of easy things you can do to<br \/>\nprolong the life of electronics batteries. They also dispel some common myths.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Here is general advice from Dell,<br \/>\nNokia, and Apple that can be applied to other brands: <\/p>\n<ul class=\"unIndentedList\">\n<li>\n<strong>Avoid<br \/>\nextreme heat.<\/strong> It&#8217;s the single-most important thing you can do to protect<br \/>\nyour battery. For example, don&#8217;t leave your laptop in the car on a really hot day, says a<br \/>\nDell spokesperson. If you must leave electronics in the car, then don&#8217;t leave them on the<br \/>\ndashboard. Also don&#8217;t close them up in the trunk or glove compartment &#8212; the coolest place is probably under a seat. Apple recommends that you remove your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/batteries\/ipods.html\">iPod<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/batteries\/iphone.html\">iPhone<\/a> from any extra case if<br \/>\nit gets hot while you charge it. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"unIndentedList\">\n<li>\n<strong>Take<br \/>\nprecautions in cold weather.<\/strong> Bring your battery up to room temperature<br \/>\nbefore turning it on if it&#8217;s been exposed to very cold temperatures,<br \/>\nrecommends a Dell spokesperson. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"unIndentedList\">\n<li>\n<strong>You don&#8217;t<br \/>\nneed to totally discharge your battery periodically to make it last longer. <\/strong>That<br \/>\nwas true of older batteries, but not for today&#8217;s lithium-based models. In some<br \/>\nsystems, it does help with how accurately the battery reports how much energy it<br \/>\nhas left, says a Dell spokesperson. Apple suggests that you go through at least<br \/>\none charge cycle per month for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/batteries\/notebooks.html\">laptops<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/batteries\/iphone.html\">iPhones<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/batteries\/ipods.html\">iPods<\/a>. (It&#8217;s also no<br \/>\nlonger necessary to charge your battery for an extra long time for the first<br \/>\ncharge, says Petri Vouri of Nokia.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"unIndentedList\">\n<li>\n<strong>Unplug<br \/>\nyour cell phone from the charger when the battery is fully charged.<\/strong> This<br \/>\nsaves energy and protects the battery, according to Vouri. Don&#8217;t forget to unplug<br \/>\nthe charger from the wall. There&#8217;s absolutely no difference between car and<br \/>\nwall chargers, according to Vouri. The only potential problem with car charging<br \/>\nis if you leave your cell phone in the car on a hot day (as noted above). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"unIndentedList\">\n<li>\n<strong>Leave<br \/>\nyour battery in your laptop.<\/strong> Some websites recommend taking your battery<br \/>\nout of your laptop when you&#8217;re using it as a desktop computer so that your battery<br \/>\ndoesn&#8217;t get worn out. That&#8217;s not such a good idea, according to a Dell<br \/>\nspokesperson, because your battery is more likely to be damaged if you take it<br \/>\nout. Besides, he says, it&#8217;s not necessary since the microprocessor inside the<br \/>\nbattery stops it from charging when it&#8217;s fully charged. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Looking for ways to extend the life of your battery between<br \/>\ncharges? Change your settings, turn off anything you don&#8217;t use, switch your<br \/>\ncell phone off when you&#8217;re in low coverage areas, update your software, and<br \/>\nfollow the specific tips from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dell.com\/content\/topics\/global.aspx\/batteries_sitelet\/en\/batteries_faq?c=us&#038;cs=04&#038;l=en&#038;s=bsd\">Dell<\/a>,<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nokia.com\/environment\/we-energise\/how-you-can-save-energy\">Nokia<\/a>,<br \/>\nand <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/batteries\/notebooks.html\">Apple<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips<br \/>\nand product reviews with Yahoo! Green&#8217;s users. Send Lori a <a href=\"http:\/\/help.yahoo.com\/l\/us\/yahoo\/green\/forms\/consciousconsumerblog.html\">question<\/p>\n<p> or suggestion<\/a> for potential use in a future column. Her book,<\/em><br \/>\nGreen Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a<br \/>\nPart of Your Life <em>is available on <a href=\"http:\/\/shopping.yahoo.com\/p:Green%2C%20Greener%2C%20Greenest%3A%20A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Making%20Eco-Smart%20Choices%20a%20Part%20of%20Your%20Life:3005209514?clink=dmps\/lori_bongiorno\/ctx=mid:1,pid:3005209514,pdid:1,pos:1,spc:14489115,date:20081009,srch:kw,x:\">Yahoo!<\/p>\n<p> Shopping<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Green-Greener-Greenest-Practical-Eco-Smart\/dp\/0399534032\/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&#038;s=books&#038;qid=1228865081&#038;sr=8-1\">Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Check out Yahoo! Green on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/YahooGreen\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yahoogreen\"> Facebook<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Photo: Getty Images) Taking good care of your electronics batteries can pay off. The financial rewards of longer lasting batteries are obvious: You won&#8217;t be forced to render a perfectly good gadget obsolete before its time or have to shell out money for a replacement battery. It&#8217;s also better for the planet since disposing of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3953,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-380749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3953"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}