Make Your Old Rechargeable Batteries Last Longer
There are few that that are more irritating than when your rechargeable batteries just go dead right before you finish a job. It might be your drill...
There are few that that are more irritating than when your rechargeable batteries just go dead right before you finish a job. It might be your drill, your cell phone, or even your digital camera. Over time batteries just simply begin to lose their ability to hold a charge, even worse they could stop holding a charge all together.
I once discovered a awesome trick that can make your batteries begin to take a long deep charge like they did when you first got them. I have even been able to cause batteries that no longer hold a charge to work perfectly again.
Certain types of rechargeable batteries carry a accumulated memory that builds up if you don’t fully discharge your rechargeable batteries before you recharge them again. This is caused by internal heat buildup which can, over time, cause the battery to stop taking a charge at all. You can almost always force your batteries to take a deeper charge just by leaving them in the freezer over night.
Batteries also have a tendency to lose their charge after you haven’t used them for a long period of time. This happens to me mostly with my digital camera and cordless drill, which can go months without use. Before using them again it is a good idea to freeze the batteries before topping them off to prevent more heat build up.
You could also consider leaving your batteries in the freezer for extended periods of time. I discovered this by accident when a project got put off and I forgot about some batteries. To my surprise they still worked just fine after being in the freezer for months. I’m not entirely sure, but these completely healthy batteries may have worked better than they did when I got them afterwards.
Sometimes a fully frozen battery will even take a deeper charge that an unfrozen battery. Don’t be alarmed when trying this if it takes much longer to actually charge the battery. For example if your camera batteries usually charge in an hour, they may take another fifteen minutes if they are frozen completely.
If one of the batteries to one of your electronic devices ceases to hold a charge all together you might be able to make the battery work again just by using this trick. It usually takes a long time for batteries to get to this point, but it can happen pretty fast with some electronics that we use often.
It will also not cause any damage to batteries in my experience. I was worried for a while that they might meltdown or even catch fire but this has never happened-these are heat related problems and by freezing the batteries you are preventing them.
John Dallinger has been working in the electronic industry for years and commonly writes useful articles online. To see more of his recent work please see as well as


