What is the memory effect of batteries?

The memory effect occurs in a battery when it is not fully charged and loses capacity.

How does the memory effect of batteries occur?

During the chemical reactions of charging and discharging, crystals are created in the lead pores due to the heating of the electrolyte, causing the batteries to lose efficiency and need to be charged more times.

How to avoid the memory effect in batteries?

To prevent the formation of crystals, it is sufficient that all battery charges are complete.

It is advisable to perform an equalization using special battery chargers that have an equalization charging mode to charge the battery to its maximum possible charge.

Which batteries suffer from the memory effect?

The batteries that suffer most from this phenomenon are nickel-cadmium (NiCd) and nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries.

Although all batteries are affected by this phenomenon, lithium-ion batteries are the most common. (Li-Ion) and the lead-acid ones are hardly affected by this effect.

Even in batteries without memory effect, a full discharge followed by a full charge is recommended from time to time, e.g., in lithium batteries, a full discharge is recommended on a monthly basis.

En las baterías de polímero-litio no deben descargarse por debajo de un cierto voltaje, dependiendo este de cada modelo.

There are other types of non-chemical batteries that do not show memory effect, such as kinetic or inertial batteries or high capacity capacitors.

There is another reaction in lithium batteries similar to the memory effect called "passivation", which occurs when the batteries are not used for a long time or when the charges are very small.