Longer Term Storage - suggestions?

[youngr3]

Carwings usually disconnects after 2 weeks.... did the periodic charging allow you to continue using CW to monitor for the extended period?

Carwings continued to report status of charge every week while pluged in. Did not check it after that but it may disconnect after that.

 

[smkettner]

Carwings usually disconnects after 2 weeks.... did the periodic charging allow you to continue using CW to monitor for the extended period?

Carwings continued to report status of charge every week while pluged in. Did not check it after that but it may disconnect after that.

So you did not actually log in to check CW status and charge level?
If the short weekly charge kept CW operating that might be another reason to stay on the timer.

 

[TonyWilliams]

If the short weekly charge kept CW operating that might be another reason to stay on the timer.

It needs at least a five minute charge.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I have a HP laptop that I bought in 2003. I used it as a primary computer for the 5 years I was in college. It still has the original battery in it and will still hold a 3 hour charge. I rarely take it off the dock, so it is plugged in all the time. Not disputing your claims that keeping it plugged at 100% kills the battery, just saying it doesn't always work that way since mine didn't.

It is possible, even likely, that the HP battery management system doesn't allow the battery to charge to "100%" when it is left plugged in. In the case of the LEAF, Ingineer has reported that a "100%" charge is actually about 95% and turtle is about 2%, IIRC.

Different battery chemistries. Prius is NiMh, LEAF is Li. NiMh have a high rate of self discharge, Li do not.

Do as you wish, but leaving a Li battery at full charge for extended periods is exactly the wrong thing to do.

I'll have to disagree with you again. I also run a business refurbishing laptop computers. Nearly all of these laptops use the 18650 Li-Ion cells in their battery packs. When I get in a shipment of computers, one of the first things I do is charge up all of the batteries and then test them. I test them by running the laptops until they shut off. Then I write down how long they worked. Then I recharge them all. I replace all of the dead batteries with good batteries. Then I put them in the warehouse.

OK, sounds great. The problem is, sometimes a group of computers might sit on a shelf for 6 months. Unfortunately, it happens all of the time due to priorities shifting on different merchandise coming in or being sold. When I finally get those computers off of the shelf, the batteries in all of them will be completely empty. So then I put them back on the chargers for a few hours. Guess what? You can bet that 25% of the batteries will never charge up again. Now, these are usually the older batteries. If the battery was a brand new battery it will typically recharge even after being discharged for a while. The older ones seem to be a lot more sensitive to that.

I'm actually going through this right now as I've got a bunch of MacBooks that have been on the shelf for 6 months and since this is the holiday season, pretty much everything in storage will be sold by the end of the month. I've spend most of the day going through this group of computers and finding all of the batteries that are dead so I can replace them. Sadly, these batteries were good 6 months ago when they were tested and were able to power the computer for at least 2 hours (that is my standard) but now they are dead as a doornail.

I'm trying to start a new system for 2012 where I will make it a point to charge up the batteries on stored laptops at least once every 30 days. That should save some money and eliminate the problem.

While laptops will shut down well before they reach 0%, the problem is that the computer will continue to draw power even when it is off and that will damage the Li-ion battery if it gets to the real zero charge. If a laptop is to be stored unused for a lengthy time the battery ought be disconnected from the computer. I believe that will prevent significant self-discharge and that's the way they are shipped IME.

On topic:
The LEAF battery is very large and ought to handle being unplugged at half charge for quite some time, as those who have tried it have found. As others have mentioned, that's how Nissan ships the cars.

 

[davewill]

Why not just do what Nissan SAYS to do in the owner's manual:

If vehicle will not be used for long period of time:
a. NISSAN recommends charging with long life mode.
b. Charge once every 3 months.

I'd set the timer to do 80% charging, charge it to 80%, leave it unplugged, and arrange for someone to plug it for a day at least every 3 months.