How do you discharge a rechargeable battery?
Answer:
The easiest way is to buy a battery discharger, but they vary in price, the "free" way is to leave them in an item and leave it running until they are drained.
With a battery discharger
You mean, empty it? Um, put it in the remote control and flip channels untill the remote explodes.
use it
put it in a flash light and leave it on
The best practical way to do it ? Say it is a mobile phone battery . You have to leave it as it is - in the phone - and let it discharge itself gradually - do not turn the phone off mode). Or an alternate way use it up somehow by phoning/receiving phone calls. I am told that once discharged fully you can have it charged to full again ---and it will last longer.
Just keep using it until there is no power left!
Best done when you first get one before recharging for the first time.
Why do you want to discharge it ? What type of bettery is it ?
As other have said - the simplest way to discharge a battery is to allow it to "drain" naturally in the device it is powering. BUT - depending on the type of battery, it may not be good to drain it fully. Most recharchable battery types will also self discharge over time with nothing connected. The time this takes depends on the type and capacity of the battery.
Ni-Cd batteries must be fully discharged every 5 to 10 charges to avoid memory effect. If the battery has not been entirely discharged, the charge will not be complete and will set a new lower energy capacity. This is called the 'memory effect'.
We all believe from the extensive use of Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) batteries that draining fully and recharging batteries increases performance. Whilst this can be ture for NiCads - it has the opposite effect on Lead Acid batteries.
Lead acid batteries are commonly found in motor cars, burglar alarm systems, Powered "ride on" childrens toys and emergency lighting. Draining a lead acid battery completely reduces its life span and can damage it completely.
Ni-Mh and Li-Ion batteries are modern lighter and more powerful replacements for NiCads. They do not suffer from the memory effect either and there should be no need to fully discharge these types of batteries before charging.
NiMh and LiIon batteries are used extensively today in portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, lap tops, ipods, cameras etc etc.
So ask yourself - do you really need to discharge that battery fully ?
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