Why do batteries lose charge when they’re not being used?
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It depends. Modern electronics they’re never truly “off”, so the battery will keep getting drained. But even a completely disconnected battery isn’t actually indefinitely stable. The very thing that makes a battery work, the fact that it’s internally “connected” means that there will be internal “leaks” (i.e. currents that aren’t meant to exist but are impossible to stop completely). It might take shorter or longer, but ultimately everything wants to go back to equilibrium, and a battery is very OUT of equilibrium, by design.
If you mean batteries inside electronics, chances are the device is using small amounts of electricity even when “off”.
If you mean freestanding disconnected batteries, the chemicals inside them degrade, react and break down.
It depends on the battery/device. I know the batteries for my drone are “smart” and after sitting for a certain amount of time they are programmed to discharge slowly in order to protect them. Keeping certain batteries fully charged is not good for them.
Any battery has a bit of internal resistance. This is why they get hot when you’re drawing a lot of power from one, because that current is getting dissipated in that resistance. When the battery is sitting there doing nothing it very slowly discharges itself via that internal resistance and will eventually run flat.
I just checked my two battery banks – I haven’t used them in months and they are both reporting 100%.
I know they are lying, but now I love them even more. Dirty, dirty liars.
It varies based on the battery, but for the most part it’s because the chemical reaction used inside batteries to create the electricity can’t really be fully turned off. Even if there’s nothing connected to the battery. There’s still some residual activity inside that uses up potential energy.
M a r k e t i n g ?
Batteries run out… You buy more… Cycle goes on… That’s the case for some other products
so what’s the difference between a Dollar General set of cheap batteries and expensive name brand batteries?
I work with batteries and have to talk about this a lot, *my time to shine.*
There’s two parts to this.
One, if batteries are in something, even when not being used (remote, phone, key fob) that battery is constantly putting out signal and power to the device. The only way to stop the device from drawing power from the battery is to remove the battery from the device.
Secondly, even if batteries are sitting out on the floor and aren’t in anything, they may not be providing power to anything but their battery level is still draining. Batteries are filled chemicals and they essentially “evaporate.” Think of a battery just sitting there like a cup of water sitting on the table. Eventually that water will evaporate. It may take a while, but over time the water level will decrease.
With rechargeable batteries- like lithium ion and lead acid batteries- their power level drains but the overall lifespan of the battery is usually 4-6 years. Think of that similar to the human body, we have our day to day energy that we use up and “die” and need to recharge at the end of the day (sleep) but then our overall lifespan, despite depleting our energy levels everyday for years we reach the end of our lifespan 80 years later and would actually die and be considered dead.
Batteries use kinetic energy (electricity) to operate and as mentioned above their levels still deplete even when they’re not in use since it’s just a chemical reaction. As with everything, nothing goes on forever.
One thing i haven’t seen commented is that lithium ion batteries all require safety circuits built in, including single cells. This circuit will drain a few microamps as long as it’s connected, which practically means the battery’s entire life.
This safety circuit includes a microcontroller and a switch that disconnects the battery outside of it’s allowable voltage and temperature range.
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