 |
What is the difference between the different battery types?
Not all batteries are built with the same materials.
What are Lithium, Lithium-ion, and Lithium-polymer batteries?
Lithium batteries use lithium in its pure chemical form. Lithium-ion batteries use more stable lithium based, liquid compounds. The difference between lithium and lithium-ion batteries is that lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable while lithium batteries are not rechargeable. Lithium-polymer batteries use a polymer gel rather a liquid form.
What are NiCd and NiMH batteries?
NiCad (nickel cadmium) batteries must be completely discharged before recharging. If you recharge these batteries while there is still power stored in the cells, your battery will reset itself to the amount of power stored from the last recharge. This is known as the “memory effect.” NiCad batteries are the least expensive to produce. As better technology has emerged NiCad batteries are becoming less popular in portable consumer electronics.
NiMH batteries are less prone to develop the “memory effect” and thus require less maintenance and conditioning than NiCad batteries. NiMH batteries also store more energy than NiCad batteries without adding additional weight. NiMH batteries do not contain any heavy metals.
Note: Not all devices can accept both NiCad and NiMH batteries.
What is the difference between Lithium-Ion batteries and NiCad or NiMH batteries?
Lithium-ion (Li-Ion) is the new standard for portable power in consumer devices. Li-Ion batteries produce the same (or more) energy than NiCad and NiMH batteries and are substantially lighter weight. Also, Li-Ion batteries use superior technology allowing for multiple (shallow) recharges. NiCad and NiMH batteries need to be run until dead and then recharged all the way back up. Lastly, Li-Ion batteries are more environmentally friendly than NiCad or NiMH as they contain less toxic materials.
|
|
|
