What should be paid attention to for the first charge of 26650 lithium battery?

2021/7/6 9:28:35

What should be paid attention to for the first charge of 26650 lithium battery?

There is no special requirement for the first charge of lithium battery , as the battery has undergone several charge and discharge processes before leaving the factory. Taking the product of Lithium Battery as an example, every lithium battery has been pre-charged, 72 hours’ high temperature aged and 350 hours’ room temperature aged at fully charged status, and classified before shipping out. Therefore, during actual use, customer just needs to use qualified charger that meets technical requirements. Original charger is always preferred.

Then why does customer still have so many questions about the first charge?

First of all, the term "first charge" originates from the era of “NIMH (nickel-metal hydride) batteries". The earliest mobile phones mostly adopted NIMH batteries, which has memory effect, hence requires fully charged and discharged, otherwise batteries’ capacity and cycle life will be affected.

The charge and discharge characteristics of lithium battery and NIMH battery are quite different. For lithium battery, over-discharge and over-charge will cause serious damage to battery itself. Even worse, for lithium batteries produced in irregular factories, it may lead to explosion and fire, when the safety protection mechanism fails. Therefore, it is recommended to charge according to the requirements stated in the lithium battery manual. For consumers, it is better to use the original factory-standard charger. Charge should be stopped when the battery has been fulled charged, no need to extend.

In fact, shallow charge and discharge is more beneficial for lithium batteries. Deep charge and discharge is necessary only when the power module of the product is calibrating. Therefore, in daily use, for lithium battery, remember to charge it early and often, no need to stick to the old rule that “charge only when it has been fully discharged”. This is one of the reasons why lithium battery is rapidly replacing NIMH battery.

Notes for charging lithium battery:

DO NOT charge at high temperature

Take lithium battery as an example, the required charging temperature is 0 ~ 45℃. Charge beyond this specified temperature may reduce the performance, affect the cycle-life, or cause danger. Different material systems require different charge temperature, so please refer to the product data sheet for specific requirements.

DO NOT charge at low temperature

As the activity of lithium ion will decrease under low temperature, so charge under this specified temperature may reduce the performance, affect the cycle-life, or cause danger.Different material systems require different charge temperature, so please refer to the product data sheet for specific requirements.

DO often use

For the storage temperature and time of lithium battery, it is well stated in the data-sheet. The performance of lithium battery varies under different temperature. Self-discharge is lithium battery’s characteristic.  Long term storage under low voltage will lead to over-discharge, and further cause damage to the battery or even danger.