NiMH and Li-ion life

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:06 pm

i think my good battery (4200mah 8.4v) is dieng because after i play for about an hour the voltage drops to around 5v and everything gets all distorted. how long is the life span of NiMH batteries? i just happen to have a spare 7.2v 3300 mah Li-ion battery that came with the N64 lot Tappan sold me so i'm trying to get that out of it's casing but havn't been able to test it yet. how long do those usually last? i've never used a Li-ion battery before, are there any significant voltage drop problems i should know about?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:48 pm

you mean the lifespan of the cell?

lithium cells are rated for like 300-500 cycles, depending on how deep you discharge them (the deeper they go, the faster they die)

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 4:10 pm

ok thanks. i need to charge it to make sure it's still good and it has a protection circuit but would it blow up if it already used up all of it's charging cycles? do protection circuits protect against that?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:38 pm

all it means is that it reaches 80% of its rated capacity. it still works fine, but it just dosent seem to hold the charge it used to (because it just dosent). This capacity loss is gradual over its life, and continues afterwards. it dosent cause explosions or anything.

if it had a protection circuit on it it should be fine.