Almost every rechargeable device you own runs on a lithium-ion battery, and almost nobody is told how to look after one. A few habits make a real difference to how long it lasts.
Charge it before you store it
The single most common way people ruin a battery is leaving it flat in a drawer for months.
A lithium cell left fully discharged for a long period can drop below the voltage its protection circuit will recover from. At that point it may simply refuse to charge again, and there is no fixing it.
If you're not using the device for a while, charge it at least every three months. Storing it around half to three-quarters full is better than storing it completely full.
Heat is the real enemy
Lithium batteries degrade faster in heat, and an Australian summer is genuinely hard on them.
The worst place you can leave one is a parked car. Interior temperatures well above 60 °C are routine here, and that will shorten a battery's life measurably in a single afternoon.
Keep it indoors, out of direct sunlight, away from heat sources. Ours is rated for use between 10 °C and 45 °C.
Don't leave it charging indefinitely
Modern devices stop drawing current when full, so overnight charging won't destroy anything. But sitting at 100% permanently, warm, for months on end is not ideal. Unplug it when it's done.
And don't use a device while it's charging unless the manufacturer says you can. Ours says don't.
Warning signs to take seriously
Stop using any device immediately and contact the seller if you notice:
- The housing has swollen, bulged or no longer sits flat
- It gets unusually hot — warm is normal, uncomfortable to hold is not
- Any smell, or any visible damage to the casing or charge port
- The charge port is bent, loose or has been forced
A swollen battery is not a cosmetic problem. Don't charge it, don't puncture it, and don't put it in the bin.
Flying with one
Cabin baggage only, never checked. The airline limit is 100 Wh without prior approval — ours is 18.5 Wh. We've written about this in more detail.
Disposal — this part matters
Lithium batteries must never go in your household bin or your kerbside recycling.
This isn't box-ticking. Batteries that end up in general waste get crushed in collection trucks and at sorting facilities, and a damaged lithium cell can ignite. Battery fires in waste trucks and recycling centres are a well-documented and growing problem in Australia, and they start with exactly this.
The proper route is B-cycle, Australia's official battery recycling scheme. Drop-off points are in a lot of ordinary places — major retailers, hardware stores, council facilities. Find your nearest at bcycle.com.au.
If a device has a battery sealed inside it, the whole device goes to the drop-off point. You don't need to get it out.
Realistically, how long?
Lithium batteries lose capacity gradually with use — that's chemistry, not a fault, and it isn't covered by any warranty as a defect.
Treated sensibly, a few years of regular use before you notice meaningfully shorter runtime is a reasonable expectation. Left flat in a hot car, considerably less.
Read: can you take a red light device on a plane? →
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