A guide to proper lithium-ion battery storage

21 Feb.,2024

 

Why you should not charge your lithium-ion battery before storing it

Today, battery technology uses lithium-ion as standard, and these cells experience negligible levels of self-discharge. To protect cells from over-discharge a lithium-ion battery is usually built with separate integrated fuses that can automatically switch a highly discharged battery to a rest state so they don't need to be fully charged before storage. In fact, lithium-ion battery life is extended if it goes into storage partly charged – that said, it’s worth remembering that cells are negatively impacted in the event of storage with a very low level of charge or if the battery is fully charged. We recommend that you store a lithium-ion battery with two lit LEDs, indicating a charge of 40-60%, to minimise ageing and self-discharge.

Outdated battery technologies have high self-discharge

Older battery types such as nickel-cadmium batteries (NiCd) or lead batteries used in motor vehicles have high self-discharge rates, and so if a battery has not been used for a long time, it may be prone to over-discharge. This is when the battery charge level falls below the cut-off voltage. When this happens energy can no longer be supplied and the battery may fail to charge. That’s why battery care advice used to specify fully charging before any lengthy storage period, as well as regularly checking the remaining charge.

Cutting-edge lithium-ion battery technology protects against over-discharge 

STIHL batteries rely on lithium-ion cells and feature exceptionally low self-discharge rates of just 1-3% per year of storage. In addition, all STIHL batteries include an intelligent battery management system known as BMS. This monitors the voltage in each cell integrated into a battery, and in doing so prevents over-discharge: if voltage in the lithium-ion battery cells falls too far, the battery automatically switches to rest state, and the discharge process is interrupted.

This also happens during lithium-ion battery storage and when unused for long periods, meaning that you no longer need to worry about your battery being damaged by over-discharge.

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