Getting More Life Out of Your Laptop and Phone Batteries

A common battery in cordless phones and computers is nickel-cadmium. Ever wonder why your nickel-cadmium (NiCad's) don't last as long as they should? You may be overcharging them. Most people's tendancy is to put the phone back on the charger between uses, or to use their laptop plugged-in instead of running down the battery, never letting the battery run down too far. Overtime this will reduce the amount of charge your battery can hold.

To help condition your batteries, let your phone or computer batteries run down once a month to the point that the battery is nearly out of life. Then charge it fully. This will prolong the life of the battery and maintain the length of charge you expect for longer.