WEBVTT - How Rechargeable Batteries Work

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey there, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at how stuff works dot com and

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<v Speaker 1>with me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>and today we're going to talk about that pesky source

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<v Speaker 1>of electricity in your mobile phone, portable camera, portable computer

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<v Speaker 1>three player. That's the rechargeable battery. Yes, the the the

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<v Speaker 1>device to which we are all slaves. How many times, Chris,

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<v Speaker 1>have you been out and about and you were about

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<v Speaker 1>to rely upon your favorite mobile gadget only to discover

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<v Speaker 1>your battery had completely drained away and you couldn't get

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<v Speaker 1>it to work no matter what. That's thousands of times, Jonathan.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a real source of frustration. Yeah, it is for

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<v Speaker 1>me to um. And so we wanted to talk about

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<v Speaker 1>kind of what you need to do in order to

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<v Speaker 1>keep your battery in the best possible working order. There's

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of conflicting information out there, as it turns out,

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<v Speaker 1>in fact, there was there was one thing that both

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<v Speaker 1>Chris and I believed was you know, that was the

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<v Speaker 1>right thing to do all the time. That turned out

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<v Speaker 1>to not necessarily be true. Right, Yeah, that's true. And

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<v Speaker 1>just as a little bit of background, the thing that

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<v Speaker 1>prompted me to suggest this topic for a podcast is

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<v Speaker 1>I get complaints all the time about people who say

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<v Speaker 1>their cell phonwner MP three player dies and I asked them,

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<v Speaker 1>have you ever conditioned your battery or or calibrated your battery?

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<v Speaker 1>And they go, what? And the thing is that I

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<v Speaker 1>don't think a lot of people know, and I don't

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<v Speaker 1>think a lot of manufacturers include information that says, hey, look,

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<v Speaker 1>every once in a while, your machine is not going

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<v Speaker 1>to understand how much juice is left on that battery

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<v Speaker 1>because they decompose over time. And Jonathan and I both

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<v Speaker 1>knew of a way to do it, but it turns

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<v Speaker 1>out it's not exactly right. No. It for one thing,

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<v Speaker 1>it might actually harm your battery or at least decrease

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<v Speaker 1>it's useful lifespan. And we're talking lifespan. We're not necessarily

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<v Speaker 1>talking how long it will hold a charge. We're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about how many times you can recharge it before that

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<v Speaker 1>battery is just a big lump of you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>just a paper weight and you you need to get

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<v Speaker 1>a new battery. That's what we're really talking about when

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<v Speaker 1>we're talking about lifespan here. Now. The the the tactic

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<v Speaker 1>that we thought originally was the best to use was

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<v Speaker 1>that you use your mobile devices until the battery essentially

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<v Speaker 1>drains down to zero before you connect it back and

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<v Speaker 1>recharge it all the way back up to rather than say,

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<v Speaker 1>using it and it just dropped to maybe, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>or six, and then you you know, charge it up

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<v Speaker 1>to eighty and then you let it go down to

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<v Speaker 1>forty and then you charge it back up to maybe

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<v Speaker 1>eighty again or whatever. We were thinking, well, that's that's

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<v Speaker 1>not a good idea because eventually your battery is going

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<v Speaker 1>to think that eight is the new one hundred, sort

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<v Speaker 1>of like pink is the new black. Yeah. Yeah, And honestly,

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<v Speaker 1>that's uh most of the time, that's how you're going

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<v Speaker 1>to use these things. But as your let's face it,

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<v Speaker 1>your cell phone, you don't want to go, uh, driving

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<v Speaker 1>around long distance, especially in a um car that may

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<v Speaker 1>or may not make it to the destination with a

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<v Speaker 1>half a bar left of battery life. You're gonna say, look,

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<v Speaker 1>I need my cell phone charge all the way. I

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<v Speaker 1>can't let it drain all the way and I you know,

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<v Speaker 1>gotta get it charged right now. So this is not

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<v Speaker 1>how most people do things. This is you know, they

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<v Speaker 1>just get as much energy as they can on it

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<v Speaker 1>and go back out. But that's another charging cycle, that's

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<v Speaker 1>your battery uses, so charging cycles. This is a good

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<v Speaker 1>time to address that that issue. Now. A charging cycle,

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<v Speaker 1>a full cycle is essentially one of that battery's capacity.

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<v Speaker 1>A charging cycle is when you have reached the point

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<v Speaker 1>where you have used of that battery's capacity and recharged

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<v Speaker 1>it to That doesn't have to be all at once,

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<v Speaker 1>So in other words, you don't have to have used

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<v Speaker 1>all one of your battery and recharged it all the

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<v Speaker 1>way up. Yes, that will, that will mean one full cycle.

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<v Speaker 1>But you could also do it, say the use of

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<v Speaker 1>your battery every day of the week and you recharge

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<v Speaker 1>it at the end of the day, so Monday through Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>that equals and that's a full cycle as well. It

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't matter if it's all at once or in bits

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<v Speaker 1>and pieces, and batteries have a limited number of charge cycles.

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<v Speaker 1>That's true. Um, every time you do this, it it's

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<v Speaker 1>just that a little bit more wear and tear on

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<v Speaker 1>the battery. And in general, um a lithium ion battery

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<v Speaker 1>has thousands of charge cycles. Sure, so you know your

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<v Speaker 1>laptop battery will last several years in general before you

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<v Speaker 1>have to worry about replacing it. Yeah, usually at least

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<v Speaker 1>three or four. And another issue that you have to

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<v Speaker 1>keep in mind is that it will last, but it

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<v Speaker 1>may not hold as much of a charge as it

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<v Speaker 1>used to. That it'll it'll begin to degrade in quality,

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<v Speaker 1>so you'll have maybe charge now the battery, the meter

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<v Speaker 1>is still gonna say because it's holding a percent of

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<v Speaker 1>the energy it's capable of holding, but that isn't equal

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<v Speaker 1>to the hundred percent you got when you bought it

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<v Speaker 1>in the store. And that's where the uh, that's where

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<v Speaker 1>the electronics onboard whatever device that you're powering with a

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<v Speaker 1>rechargeable battery come in. See, the battery is going through

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<v Speaker 1>a natural chemical process um and storing the energy, and

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<v Speaker 1>it basically at some point can't hold quite as much

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<v Speaker 1>as it used to. Is Jonathan was just saying, But

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<v Speaker 1>your computer doesn't know that. It still thinks it can hold,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, as much as it did two cycles ago. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>the thing is over time, your computer is gonna say, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>look you you've got this much time left and you

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<v Speaker 1>don't um. And that's why, after a while, your laptop

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<v Speaker 1>is gonna say, you're gonna unplug your laptop. In twenty

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<v Speaker 1>seconds later, it's going to give you an alert telling

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<v Speaker 1>you you gotta plug in your computer or it's gonna die.

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<v Speaker 1>And you're gonna go, wait a minute, Just a second

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<v Speaker 1>ago it said I had nothing exactly. And then that's

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<v Speaker 1>where conditioning or calibrating your battery comes in. You have

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<v Speaker 1>to get them if you will in sync with one another. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>the best advice we can give you is that whenever

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<v Speaker 1>you buy a new device with a new battery in

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<v Speaker 1>it is charge that battery all the way up as

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<v Speaker 1>soon as you get home. Don't don't start using it.

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<v Speaker 1>Like if you've got a new cell phone it's got

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit of a charge on it, don't start.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't give in to temptation like I have done on

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<v Speaker 1>many occasions, and start using that that device. Immediately, go

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<v Speaker 1>and charge it all the way up to This will

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<v Speaker 1>calibrate your battery. It will tell your device, hey, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>at a full charge. This is what a full charge

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<v Speaker 1>looks like. Um, this is what I should shoot for

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<v Speaker 1>every single time I am charging up to Otherwise, your

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<v Speaker 1>your device maybe reading your batteries life incorrectly, and as

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<v Speaker 1>Chris pointed out, it might tell you you have a

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<v Speaker 1>dred percent, but in reality you're closer to maybe seventy

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<v Speaker 1>or eight, and you're not getting as much out of

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<v Speaker 1>your mobile devices as you would otherwise. Yeah, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's hard, you know, here, we here again, this is

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<v Speaker 1>not how we use things. We're gonna want to get

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<v Speaker 1>into the temptation to go ahead and turn on your

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<v Speaker 1>new cell phone and start playing HTCG one, which I

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<v Speaker 1>did that with and immediately needed to recalibrate. Yeah, exactly. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>but yeah, all of us are excited about having the

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<v Speaker 1>new gadget and want to go ahead and start using it.

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<v Speaker 1>But you have to and and that's fine, it's gonna

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<v Speaker 1>be fine. But the thing is your battery is not

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<v Speaker 1>going to be fully calibrated and it's not going to

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<v Speaker 1>give you the maximum life out of the battery. And

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<v Speaker 1>you know, these things are expensive. If you've had to

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<v Speaker 1>replace a computer battery on your laptop, you go, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred and fifty dollars and five dollars. That's that's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty expensive. It's not you want to try to get

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<v Speaker 1>as much life as you can out of it. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's a good idea to do this, and you

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<v Speaker 1>need to do it every so often. Um, not every

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<v Speaker 1>week or anything like that, but I think the experience

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<v Speaker 1>experts recommend that it, you know, once every month or

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<v Speaker 1>a couple of months, you should go through it again. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>it does take a charging cycle to do that, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's worth it to to do that. Yeah, And here's

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<v Speaker 1>some other tips that you can use to help keep

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<v Speaker 1>your battery life lasting as long as possible. If you're

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<v Speaker 1>not using a device regularly, if it's just in a

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<v Speaker 1>once in a blue moon, it's a good idea to

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<v Speaker 1>to to take the device out every now and then

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<v Speaker 1>and let it run for a little while. Uh uh.

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<v Speaker 1>Apple actually calls this encouraging the flow of electrons. Uh

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<v Speaker 1>So if you have electron right exactly, you can do it.

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<v Speaker 1>And uh yeah, if you don't do that, then it's

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<v Speaker 1>the battery life can actually degrade over time. So even

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<v Speaker 1>if you're not using it often, it's good to take

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<v Speaker 1>it out once in a while, you know, like if

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<v Speaker 1>it's an old cell phone or any other device like

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<v Speaker 1>a gaming device. If you have a gaming device as

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<v Speaker 1>a rechargeable battery, um, you're gonna want to at least,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, let it run for a little well, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>let's let your little cousin who never gets to play

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<v Speaker 1>it give a world on legend of Zelda or something,

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<v Speaker 1>and that way it will uh with the electrons flowing,

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<v Speaker 1>it keeps everything uh more prepared for the whole charging

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<v Speaker 1>and draining cycle. Um. Also, when you store batteries storm

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<v Speaker 1>in a cool but not cold place, you don't want

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<v Speaker 1>it to get too hot, um because that will will

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<v Speaker 1>definitely shorten your batteries useful life. You don't want to

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<v Speaker 1>get too cold because that can also kill a battery. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>it takes longer for the battery to warm up and

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<v Speaker 1>actually you know, start providing juice to whatever device you have.

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<v Speaker 1>So you want a nice medium, something nice and cool. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, you don't want to keep a whole bunch

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<v Speaker 1>of extra batteries on hand either, they will degrade on

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<v Speaker 1>their own, even if you don't have them attached to anything. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>it's better to you know, you have maybe maybe an

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<v Speaker 1>extra one if it's a device where you know there's

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<v Speaker 1>a problem where it's just sucking down battery life so

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<v Speaker 1>fast that you needed an extra but I would, um,

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<v Speaker 1>I would recommend actually finding a like an extra charging

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<v Speaker 1>device for that, something that can hold a charge and

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<v Speaker 1>uh and and charge your device, usually through a USB cord.

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<v Speaker 1>I've got one of those, um where it will hold

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<v Speaker 1>probably about of my my g one's battery life on

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<v Speaker 1>this device. So if if I were to hit a

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<v Speaker 1>really low level, I could just plug it in and

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<v Speaker 1>keep it going for another couple of hours before I

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<v Speaker 1>needed to find a a more permanent solution. That's true.

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<v Speaker 1>And if you know, if you're to the point where

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<v Speaker 1>you're not using something that has a rechargeable battery in it,

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<v Speaker 1>and you realize you're probably not going to use it again,

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<v Speaker 1>it's probably best to go ahead and remove that battery

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<v Speaker 1>before it starts to corrode and you know, just to

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<v Speaker 1>recycle that sucker or you know, you know, recycled the

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<v Speaker 1>hold darn thing. If you have an old cell phone battery,

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<v Speaker 1>acid is no joke. It can ruin lots and lots

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<v Speaker 1>of cool stuff. Well details details, um So, essentially, there

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<v Speaker 1>are a lot of different theories on how you should

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<v Speaker 1>do this. Um, if you're going to calibrate your computer battery,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple has some suggestions from their website that I got.

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<v Speaker 1>Different manufacturers have different ways of doing that. But um,

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<v Speaker 1>the first thing you need to do, according to Apple,

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<v Speaker 1>is to plug your computer in and and let it

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<v Speaker 1>go until it's fully charged. Now you can actually run

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<v Speaker 1>your computer during this time. UM, but you're supposed to

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<v Speaker 1>let the battery rest for two hours. Don't unplug the

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<v Speaker 1>computer while you're using it. UM, that's really important. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>And then basically you need to unplug it and let

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<v Speaker 1>it run. You know, you can use it or just

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<v Speaker 1>let it sit until it goes to sleep on its own,

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<v Speaker 1>and then go ahead and plug it back in. Actually

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<v Speaker 1>wait a minute, sorry, check in my notes. This just in.

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<v Speaker 1>Once you do let it go to sleep, you need

0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:36.360
<v Speaker 1>to let it sit for about five hours. Wow. And uh.

0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.800
<v Speaker 1>And then once you do that, you can plug it

0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:40.320
<v Speaker 1>in until the battery is fully charged and you can

0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.160
<v Speaker 1>use it as normal. Uh. There's no mention of whether

0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:44.920
<v Speaker 1>or not you have to draw a circle on the

0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:49.640
<v Speaker 1>floor or sacrifice alive chicken. Uh. Yeah, it does seem See.

0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:51.160
<v Speaker 1>I had to write it down because I didn't have

0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.360
<v Speaker 1>it all memorized. UM. Some manufacturers, although Apple is not

0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.240
<v Speaker 1>one of them, actually have software that they include with

0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.960
<v Speaker 1>their laptops that help you calibrate your battery UM. A

0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.040
<v Speaker 1>lot of PC manufacturers will do that to help you

0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:06.800
<v Speaker 1>go through the steps and you don't have to read

0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:08.680
<v Speaker 1>a long list of things that you might get lost

0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.800
<v Speaker 1>in the middle of like I did right and well

0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.520
<v Speaker 1>and and the encouraging the flow of electrons. Part of

0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.280
<v Speaker 1>that also is if you use your your laptop and

0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.640
<v Speaker 1>you plug it in a lot like like we do here,

0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.120
<v Speaker 1>it's a good idea every now and then to just

0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:25.400
<v Speaker 1>let run on battery life and and use it on

0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:27.120
<v Speaker 1>battery life for a while, and then you know, you

0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.240
<v Speaker 1>plug it back in and you know that's fine. You

0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.240
<v Speaker 1>can work on it, but but vary it so that

0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.840
<v Speaker 1>sometimes you're using it on battery, sometimes you're using it

0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.120
<v Speaker 1>under you know, a cable power and UM and that

0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.000
<v Speaker 1>can also help extend your batteries life and all of them.

0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.520
<v Speaker 1>You know, again, you don't have to do this, it's

0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.600
<v Speaker 1>not something that's required, but it is going to help

0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:48.640
<v Speaker 1>you get the maximum life out of the battery, which

0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:52.280
<v Speaker 1>is a sizeable investment if you have to go have

0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.680
<v Speaker 1>have it replaced especially if it's something that you have

0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.640
<v Speaker 1>to have somebody else replaced for you, and in different

0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.400
<v Speaker 1>electronics that have to be eervis by the manufacturer. So

0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.240
<v Speaker 1>I can think of one manufacturer right off the top

0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:08.160
<v Speaker 1>of my head where that as a common problem. Yes,

0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.240
<v Speaker 1>my wife, this is a good segue into that my

0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:15.040
<v Speaker 1>wife had battery replaced. My wife has a popular MP

0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:19.560
<v Speaker 1>three brand player. Um that what she couldn't have. She

0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:21.520
<v Speaker 1>it wouldn't hold a charge, it would, you know, She

0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:23.520
<v Speaker 1>try and turn it on and it would stay on

0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.960
<v Speaker 1>for a couple of seconds, it wouldn't necessarily play a

0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:27.880
<v Speaker 1>song or would start playing. It would immediately just go

0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:29.679
<v Speaker 1>black and she wouldn't be able to do anything with it.

0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.120
<v Speaker 1>And it turned out it was this problem where the

0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.160
<v Speaker 1>software was not recognizing how much power was left in

0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.800
<v Speaker 1>the battery, and all it really took was resetting the

0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:43.960
<v Speaker 1>the device back to its original settings, charging it all

0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.880
<v Speaker 1>the way up and everything's fine now. Unfortunately, in the

0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.040
<v Speaker 1>process that means losing all the stuff that was on there,

0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.160
<v Speaker 1>so we had to reload it. But that's still even

0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.920
<v Speaker 1>though that's annoying and frustrating, that's not nearly as annoying

0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.800
<v Speaker 1>and frustrating as buying a new device when you think

0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.320
<v Speaker 1>that you've broken your old one. The old one wasn't broken,

0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.640
<v Speaker 1>it just needed to be recalibrated. Yeah, and it's certainly

0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:09.160
<v Speaker 1>an inexpensive thing to try. I mean, recalibrating the battery

0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.719
<v Speaker 1>doesn't cost you anything except maybe a battery cycle. So

0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.040
<v Speaker 1>you know it might be worth it to try. And

0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.000
<v Speaker 1>next time you have something some weird behavior go on,

0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.240
<v Speaker 1>at least before you go and drop three more dollars

0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:24.720
<v Speaker 1>on a new something. Very true, Very true. That was

0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:26.400
<v Speaker 1>a good discussion, I think. Are you you know? I

0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.320
<v Speaker 1>got a real charge out of it. Oh geez, hopefully

0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.640
<v Speaker 1>our listeners did too. I find it revolting nice. Well,

0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.320
<v Speaker 1>before we go with this shocking podcast, I would like

0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.280
<v Speaker 1>to once again visit our favorite segment, Plug your Ears Pillette.

0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:48.040
<v Speaker 1>It's listener mail. Can I plug my ears? And So?

0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:53.560
<v Speaker 1>Today's listener mail comes from Chris Besquez of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.

0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:58.320
<v Speaker 1>So hello a and for Chris writes. He says, Hey

0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.760
<v Speaker 1>guys from Tech Stuff that be Us. You have a

0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.120
<v Speaker 1>great podcast, Thanks Chris, but you have did have an error.

0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:05.880
<v Speaker 1>In one of your latest podcasts, you said that you

0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:07.880
<v Speaker 1>would never see a virus in your task bar. But

0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.440
<v Speaker 1>that's not true. You see plenty of viruses in your

0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.600
<v Speaker 1>task bar if they're designed to be there. There's tons

0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.080
<v Speaker 1>of viruses that say you have a virus on your computer,

0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:20.400
<v Speaker 1>so you install their anti virus software, which is actually

0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:24.000
<v Speaker 1>a virus. There are other ones as well. Now, Chris,

0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.320
<v Speaker 1>I see what you're saying here. Um, I agree. There

0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.240
<v Speaker 1>are programs out there that are a viruses out there

0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.680
<v Speaker 1>that are masquerading as legitimate programs. They try and trick

0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:36.440
<v Speaker 1>you into downloading a virus by saying, hey, your computer

0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.000
<v Speaker 1>is at risk. You need our software so that you

0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.960
<v Speaker 1>won't be attacked by viruses. And many of us think, hey,

0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:44.480
<v Speaker 1>that's a good idea because I don't want to get

0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.880
<v Speaker 1>attacked by virus. So you download it, not knowing that

0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.160
<v Speaker 1>you're actually installing a virus on your own computer. And

0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.440
<v Speaker 1>you might see that in the system trade and and

0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.120
<v Speaker 1>you would go, hey, look my virus protection software. There

0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.840
<v Speaker 1>it is, it's workings running. Now, what we were saying

0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.720
<v Speaker 1>is you would not see a blately obvious virus in

0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.160
<v Speaker 1>your task bar because that would give away the whole,

0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:07.400
<v Speaker 1>the whole uh point that there was a virus on

0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.200
<v Speaker 1>your computer. Um, so that was that was the point

0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.240
<v Speaker 1>we were making, Chris, was that we don't think you

0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.600
<v Speaker 1>would see a little skull and crossbones in your task

0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.240
<v Speaker 1>bar saying ha ha, I got you you have a virus,

0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.200
<v Speaker 1>because that would mean that you would take the steps

0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.040
<v Speaker 1>necessary to remove it. But you are right. If you

0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.680
<v Speaker 1>install a virus that is masquerading as a legitimate program,

0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.520
<v Speaker 1>it could show up in your task bar. So thank

0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.960
<v Speaker 1>you very much for the email, and if any of

0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.240
<v Speaker 1>you want to email us, you can do so at

0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.400
<v Speaker 1>our email address, which is tech stuff at how stuff

0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.720
<v Speaker 1>works dot com. If you want to learn more about

0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.720
<v Speaker 1>lithium ion batteries and portable mobile devices, we have information

0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.440
<v Speaker 1>in dozens of articles on how stuff works dot com.

0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.320
<v Speaker 1>Their live right now and we will talk to you you

0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.520
<v Speaker 1>again really soon for more on this and thousands of

0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:59.840
<v Speaker 1>other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com front

0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.400
<v Speaker 1>by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camry. It's ready, are

0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:03.880
<v Speaker 1>you