User:1sfoerster/enes100/fall2013/p1Power/Batteries Guide

Lithium Polymer
Lithium Polymer Batteries found in the Lab

Lithium Polymer Battery Operation

Howard Community College usually returns Lithium batteries to stores or places that recycles batteries when they have small stocks. When the stock is large they are taken to the County dump and they are recycled there.

Nickel Metal Hydride
Nickel Metal Hydride Battery Found in the lab

Nickel Metal Hydride Operation

Howard Community College usually returns Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries to stores or places that recycles batteries when they have small stocks. When the stock is large they are taken to the County dump and they are recycled there.

Nickel Cadmium
Nickel Cadmium Battery Found in the lab

Nickel Cadmium Operation

Howard Community College usually returns Nickel Cadmium Batteries to stores or places that recycles batteries when they have small stocks. When the stock is large they are taken to the County dump and they are recycled there.

Lead Acid
Lead Acid Batteries Found in the lab

Summary of the principle on lead acid batteries

Howard County College takes the regular 12V lead acid batteries to the county dump and they are recycled there. Any custom designed lead acid a taken to any place that recycles lead acid batteries.

Alkaline Batteries
Alkaline batteries

Howard Community College disposes of Alkaline batteries in the regular disposal bins

Recycle and Disposal
When your battery no longer holds a charge or its capacity is no longer useful, you can easily recycle it at over 30,000 locations in U.S. & Canada such as Sears, Office Depot, Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and others.

Howard County Battery Recycling

Comparison Between the Batteries
Charge/Discharge Cycle Life – This represents the number of times a battery can be charged and discharged, which equates to the lifetime of the pack. Usage patterns can lengthen or shorten this number.

Memory Effect – The memory effect occurs when a battery pack is repeatedly recharged before it has been completely discharged. The result is that even after a full recharge, the battery will not allow its full capacity to be extracted. NiMH batteries are less susceptible to memory effect. Li-Ion is not susceptible to memory effect.

Operating Temperature – This is the range of temperatures at which the battery can be reliably used due to characteristics of the chemical reactions involved. Batteries that are used in very cold or very hot conditions for extended periods of time can be permanently damaged.

Charging Temperature – This is the temperature range in which batteries can be charged due to limitations of the chemistry.

Storage Temperature – If batteries are stored above or below their storage temperature range, permanent performance degradation can result. In short, batteries must not be stored in excessively hot or cold locations.

Storage Charge- Batteries should be kept at certain charge state for storage.

High-Temperature Susceptibility – Prolonged high-temperature discharge damages the organic materials for both NiCd and NiMH. High-temperature discharge can occur while a user is operating the radio in a high-temperature environment, or if the battery is stored in a high-temperature environment. Short exposure to high temperatures will not permanently damage the cells. Short-term performance will be degraded, but can be recovered through a couple of charge/discharge cycles at room temperature (typically 77°F or 25°C).

Self-Discharge – Self-discharge is the gradual loss of charge over time for an unused cell. It is directly proportional to ambient temperature. The higher the temperature, the faster the battery discharges. The lower the temperature, the slower the battery discharges.

Information obtained from Tycho Electronics

Thunder AC6 Dual Charger
All these batteries can be safely charged/dischareged using the Thunder AC6 ChargerThunder AC6 Charger which is located in the lab with the batteries. It can also charge the batteries to the correct storage charge.