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Is it better to let lithium batteries stay plugged in or constant 80/20 cycle (self.asklemmy)

submitted 1 year ago by Smokeydope to c/[email protected]

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I am doing research on best practices for my lithium batteries and lifepo4 powerstation. There's some conflicting opinions and variation for cycle numbers.

Will leaving my things plugged in at 100% hurt it more than constantly unplugging at 80% and replugging at 20%?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

bout 10 years ago, the norm was to, from time to time, drain lithium batteries to minimum and so do a full cycle, this is something my father told me but I actually don’t know the reasoning.

Early rechargeable batteries such as nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal-hydride would develop "memory". For example if you made a habit of always recharging the batteries once they hit 50%, the battery would think "I guess they don't need the rest of the capacity, I'll throw it in the trash" and you ended up with a battery with half it's original capacity. So it became good practice to occasionally discharge them completely before recharging. Sort of a 'use it or lose it' scenario. Now lithium batteries do not have this issue but it took people a long time to break the habit.