Understanding the Battery Memory Effect: Do New Lithium-ion Batteries Need Activation? The memory effect is a phenomenon where the contents of a battery crystallize due to use. It generally only occurs in nickel-cadmium batteries, less so in nickel-metal hydride batteries, and not in lithium-ion batteries. If a new mobile phone battery is a lithium-ion battery, the first 3-5 charges are generally considered an adjustment period, and it should be charged for at least 14 hours to ensure full activation of the lithium ions.
Understanding the Battery Memory Effect
The battery memory effect means that the battery seems to remember the user's daily charging and discharging amplitude and pattern, and over time it becomes difficult to change this pattern, making it unable to perform large-amplitude charging or discharging. Lithium-ion batteries do not have this effect.
The battery memory effect refers to the reversible failure of a battery, meaning that the battery can recover its performance after failure. The memory effect refers to the tendency of a battery to automatically retain a specific performance characteristic after undergoing a certain number of operating cycles over a long period. This concept was first applied to nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries; pouch-type NiCd batteries do not exhibit a memory effect, while sintered batteries do. Modern nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries are not bound by this definition of memory effect. In practical applications, there are strict guidelines and procedures for eliminating the memory effect. Improper operation can be counterproductive.
Lithium-ion batteries have a very small memory effect, which is almost negligible. Therefore, there is no need to fully charge and discharge them every time, and this is actually harmful to the battery.
Do new lithium-ion batteries need to be activated?
Newly purchased mobile phone batteries do not need to be activated. Simply start charging when the battery level drops below 20% and charge until fully charged. Regarding the issue of battery "activation," many sources suggest that charging time must exceed 12 hours and three full charge-discharge cycles should be performed to activate the battery.
Modern mobile phones use lithium-ion batteries, which are counted based on the number of full charge cycles. This means that regardless of how many times you charge it—for example, if you charge it to 20% and unplug it, charge it to 50% and unplug it, and charge it to 30% and unplug it—the total charge amount is 100%, which is considered one full charge. Therefore, your battery is considered activated. So you can charge it whenever you want.
Lithium-ion batteries do not require special activation methods; they will activate naturally during normal use of the device. All practices involving 12-hour extended charging or letting the lithium-ion battery drain until the device automatically shuts down are incorrect.
Lithium-ion batteries are easy to activate; they can be activated and restored to normal capacity after just 3-5 normal charge-discharge cycles. Due to the inherent characteristics of lithium-ion batteries, they have virtually no memory effect. Therefore, users do not need special methods or equipment to activate new lithium-ion batteries.
Activating a new lithium-ion battery is not the user's responsibility; the process is completed by the manufacturer before it leaves the factory. In fact, activating modern lithium-ion batteries is not so complicated. Lithium-ion batteries do enter a "dormant" state after long-term storage, and their capacity drops below normal. At this time, simply charging them normally 3-5 times (without intentionally fully charging or depleting them) will activate the lithium-ion battery and restore its normal capacity.
