Cold Battery Blues

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Thanks again Dal-e

On Radio Humberside talking about cold batteries. Apparently Tick Tockers (whatever they are) have been noticing that they can’t make as many videos on their phone in the cold weather. This is what I said:

  • Low temperature increases the “internal resistance” of the battery. This limits the amount of power you can get from it.  It also means that to get a certain level of performance it takes more power out of the battery.

  • Electric cars are affected too. They heat up the battery in cold weather. If you have the car plugged in at home you can “pre-condition” the battery to warm it up. This can improve the range, which is a good idea in winter because cold substantially reduces range (at least by a third).

  • Always Be Charging. There’s no advantage in running your lithium battery right down before charging it (in fact flattening a lithium battery can destroy it). Keep your battery charged every chance you get. The only reason to let the battery run down is so that the phone can work out the battery life.

  • Keep your phone in an inside pocket so that you keep it warm.

  • If you give your phone something hard to do this will warm it up (although of course it will also flatten the battery). There are even “hand-warmer” apps that do this – but they are not a particularly good idea.

  • Charge the battery when it is warmer.

  • Warm your phone up before you do something that consumes a lot of power.