if you feel that the battery life of the device is lower than you want it to be then its a good idea to buy a new battery, however if you dont have a prob with the amount of use ure gettin out of it on a charge there is no point in gettin a new battery just for the sake of it
Well maintained LI-ION batteries (charge kept above 80% as much as possible, deep discharges avoided as much as possible) will start to degrade slowly as soon as it is manufactured. Unless you have abused it, you should not see any significant decline for a while, although at the two year point I would start to be more observant. From one website.
Quote:
The Li-ion does not like prolonged storage. Irreversible capacity loss occurs after 6 to 12 months, especially if the battery is stored at full charge and at warm temperatures. It is often necessary to keep a battery fully charged as in the case of emergency response, public safety and defense. Running a laptop (or other portable device) continuously on an external power source with the battery engaged will have the same effect. Figure 15-1 illustrates the recoverable capacity after storage at different charge levels and temperatures.
The combination of a full charge condition and high temperature cannot always be avoided. Such is the case when keeping a spare battery in the car for a mobile phone. The NiMH and Li-ion chemistries are most severely affected by hot storage and operation. Among the Li-ion family, the cobalt has an advantage over the manganese (spinel) in terms of storage at elevated temperatures.
Temperature /40% charge level (recommended storage charge level)/ 100% charge level(typical user charge level)
0°C / 98% after 1 year / 94% after 1 year
25°C / 96% after 1 year / 80% after 1 year
40°C / 85% after 1 year / 65% after 1 year
60°C / 75% after 1 year / 60% after 3 months
Figure 15-1: Non-recoverable capacity loss on Li-ion batteries after storage.
High charge levels and elevated temperatures hasten the capacity loss. Improvements in chemistry have increased the storage performance of some Li-ion batteries.
So, keep it from deep discharges, but do let it discharge to about 80% often enough to avoid the storage loss. Keep it in a cooler spot.
Thanks for this thread! My X5 is about 1 1/2 years old and I have been pondering the same question. Since the cradle has room to hold an extra battery, I was originally thinking it was something I should have. Now I'm thinking I should hold off as long as possible. I imagine too, that every time you switch batteries out, you drain your back up battery a little - and my back up battery is still at 100%, so why rock the boat? Agreed?
When the time comes though, what do you recommend to replace it with (keeping in mind that I have an Innopocket/Rhino metal case that won't hold a wide battery)?
I went ahead and got a second battery, I havent spent the time to see if its better but I can say that the intial drop to destruction takes longer.
Question for those with the secondary battery:
What do you do with your second battery? Leave it on the secondary battery setion charging 24/7 until you need a fresh battery and swap?
I know its not good to drain these things so I keep it charging but then it seems wasteful after a threshold. Opinions?
I keep my backup battery in my purse. After all, what good is it if I don't have it with me when I need it. But, like, my cell phone backup battery, I will switch them out once a month.
As for the battery, I rarely lett them drain completely. Being in the cell phone business, I've reason to believe that draining them completely can kill 'em.
I use the Mugen 3800 and am very pleased with it. It's big, but it really supplies long-lasting power.
I haven't noticed any degradation of my original (18 month old) X5 battery, but I haven't been using it much lately since I got my Mugen.
I have not had any experience with Mugen. Are they totally compatible? Are they the same size as the original Dell battery? Are there any other batteries that are better or cheaper? Thanks for any information you can provide.
the Mugen batteries are usually considered the best generic batteries for the axim.
The 2000maH ones are the same size as the standard dell 1440 battery and the extended one (think 3800mah) is the size of the extended dell battery.
There have recently been a wave of generic batteries from china or something and we dont know their reliability yet.. the mugens should be good though.
The Mugen batteries are terrific. I have not had occasion to use it, but I have noticed that they also have a very responsive support team.
As Awdark says, the Mugen 2000 is the same size as the standard Dell battery, and the Mugen 3800 is the same size as the extended Dell battery. They fit perfectly in your axim and also in the spare battery slot in your cradle, if that's what you mean by compatible, Steelpirate.
Thanks for the info. I think I'll try them out. Just one further question. When you talked about size, I'm assuming you mean capacity rather than physical size. Am I correct? I am using a Sena case, so I wouldn't be able to use something that is physically bigger. I'll check out the Mugen website, but any feedback on this would be great. :)
The physical size of the Mugen 2000 maH battery is the same as the standard Dell 1440 maH battery that came with your axim. It has nearly 40% greater capacity, but it is the same size.
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