How to Maintain Your Cellular Phone Battery

Cellular phones have become a part and parcel of everyday life. No one can be without one. It has become an integral part of communicating with everyone at any time and at any place. Therefore, it is essential that the battery on which it runs is maintained in the right manner, so that we get an extended lifetime on it. The cellular phone batteries have a storage or capacity that is said to be in terms of the talk time and standby time of the phone. This is measured in milli - amph hours (mAh). The life of a cell phone depends on the manner in which we maintain the battery. There are many types of batteries. At first we had the Nickel cadmium (NaCl) batteries. These were easily affordable. The only disadvantage with this battery was that every time it had to be charged, the battery would have to be discharged and charged again. There was also the 'memory effect'. Then came the Nickel Hydride (NiMH) batteries. These were less affected by the 'memory effect' and these were also not very costly. The batteries had to be charged after every twentieth cycle. Now there are the Lithium Ion batteries (Li-ion). Although they are expensive, they have a lot of advantages. These are not plagued by the 'memory effect'. They do not have to be completely discharged and then charged while recharging the batteries. The latest are the lithium polymer batteries. It is best to know which type of battery is suited for the cellular phone used by you. This makes the recharging of the batteries easy and helps us in maintaining the cellular phone battery. There are many do's and don'ts in handling the cellular phones. This will extend the lifetime of the batteries. The cell phone batteries should be charged for only three or four hours. Over charging will damage it. Most of the time, the cellular phone should be kept in the ringing mode. If it is kept in the vibration mode for a long time, the battery will drain faster. There is a light which comes on when we turn on the cell phone. It should be kept at the minimum. So that it does not take up too much of the battery. While traveling it is necessary to take care of your cell phone. The digital phone has a hundred to two hundred hours stand by time in the digital mode, while in the analog mode it is only thirty to fifty hours. It is best to switch off the phone in the analog area. This will be the best for the batteries. The phone should be switched off when changing the battery. It is necessary to keep the metal contacts for the batteries, clean. If the cell phone is subjected to extreme heat or cold temperatures, it will affect the batteries. So, they should be kept in a dry place with normal temperatures. It is necessary to use the original chargers for charging the cell phones. If original ones are not used, the batteries will be affected. When a cell phone is not being used, it is best to take out the batteries and keep them uncharged, in a cool dry and dark place. It is necessary to know that the lifetime of batteries is calculated in terms of 'charge cycles'. Generally the batteries have a minimum lifetime of three hundred cycles. This might happen in a year or two. After this the efficiency of the cellular phone batteries will decrease. Then it has to be replaced. Care should be taken that the cell phones are not kept with metal objects such as keys or coins, for this will short circuit the battery poles. They should also not be dropped as this will also affect the batteries. If we know the type of battery used and maintain the cell phone with care, then the batteries will last a longer period of time.