Cell Phone Battery

[Cass]

I recently purchased 2 new cell phone battery's that are supposed to be 1000 mAh rated. My old battery's were 750 mAh rated and I am thinking that I was ripped because the new battery's are not lasting any longer than the old ones did.

Can any one tell me if there is a way to measure the out put to see if they are 1000 mAh.

[Cookie]

How many minutes per month do you talk?

[jimbo]

If the batteries are Nickel Cadmium, it can take several complete charge/discharge cycles until they reach full usable capacity.

If they are NiMh or Li Ion, I don't think that is the case. Is your charger rated to properly charge the new batteries?

[Cass]

I have 2 phones and 2 batterys. I use 1 as a charger to charge the battery while I use the other one. I just pop the used one out and the new one in then recharge the used one.

I have had the batterys for a couple of weeks and have charged them each at least 1 time a day for the past 2 weeks. They don't seem to last longer and I paid 3 times the $$$ for them that is why I was wondering if there was a way to test them.

They are Li Ion.

[Squ1rrel]

Did you completely run them down before charging them the first time? Sometimes, rechargeable packs will not take a full charge until they are drained, otherwise they just recharge to the point they were at when you first used them, which is never fully charged. might be worth a shot

[hj]

How about going to the supplier where you got them and asking why their performance seems to be less than advertised? Someone with equipment to measure the output while draining the battery could tell you but that might cost more than the batteries.

[jadnashua]

Just like there are special testers for verifying operation of a car battery, therer are testers for other types...basically, you need a ammeter and a load and something to monitor the voltage. Discharge a battery too fast and it can blow up, so it really depends a lot on what it is.

If they are say 3vdc batteries, if you had a 3 v bulb at a known wattage (small) and let it run until the bulb dimmed (maybe also hook it up to a voltmeter or a photo cell), you could get an idea, but without monitoring equipment, the knee of when it goes for acceptable to unusable tends to be pretty quick once you get to the knee.