Article by Betty Allen
The first battery lasted no more than an hour. Invented by Alessandro Volta, it was called the Voltaic Pile. Batteries have afforded users mobility. It has affected our lives in tremendous ways though most of us would rarely stop and take a look at how this brilliant invention has changed the way we live. The battery as we know it today has allowed us to make the most out of our gadgets. We can access the World Wide Web, listen to music and watch videos for long hours.
How batteries work. Batteries are able to produce and provide power through a process called electrochemical reaction. Hundreds of batteries of different shape and size are available in the market but they can be generally divided into 2: the disposable and the rechargeable.
The lithium polymer battery. Lithium polymer batteries are cheaper to manufacture and can be shaped in every possible way and are 20% lighter than batteries in metal casings. You can see them in various gadgets in the market today: PDAs, Amazon’s Kindle, Lenovo’s Thinkpad X300, OQO palmtops, HP Mini, Sony’s Play Station 3 the MacBook family (MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro).
Lithium polymer battery and your iPad Wi-Fi 3G. This gadget runs on a built-in 25-watt-hour rechargeable battery. In layman’s term, this basically makes possible 10 hours of web surfing, video and audio playback. The battery can be charged either via power adapter or USB to a computer system. iPad’s battery is built to function in temperatures between 0 and 35 degrees Celsius. The ideal room temperature for the device is at 22 degrees.
For a longer battery lifespan and battery life. Battery life span refers to the period in which the built-in iPad battery will have the ability to retain 80% of its original capacity while battery life means the length of time it will run before it needs recharging. It takes about 4 hours plugged at 10 watts to have the device fully charged. The battery lifespan should cover 1000 full charge and discharge cycles.
Some Tips on stretching your batter’s life:
1. Always makes sure that it has the latest software.
2. Keep Auto-Brightness mode on.
3. Turn of Wi-Fi and 3G if not available or not in use.
4. Switch to airplane mode in areas with poor or no coverage.
5. Minimize use of location services (Maps).
6. Turn off Push Notifications (App Store, Apple Push Notification Services)
7. Fetch new date in lesser frequencies by switching to Manual Mode.
8. Turn off Push Mail and minimize updating emails real time (Yahoo! or Microsoft Exchange).
9. Set iPad to Autolock in a minute.
10. Use iPad regularly and charge at least 1 cycle per month.
The dead battery. There are two indicators that will help you identify when the lithium polymer battery of the iPad needs to be replaced. One is that the device no longer holds a charge and two, the device will not power on unless plugged directly to a power source. One problem with iPad is that similar to the iPhone, the iPod and the iPod Touch, there is no option for removing the battery. The user has 3 options to choose from in case of a dead battery.
1. Third party service provider. Non-apple service providers will charge about $ 97 including installation and shipping. Some replacements even come with a 10-year warranty. The turnaround time depends varies on a case to case basis.
2. iPad Battery Replacement Program. Apple will replace the unit for a service fee that costs about $ 106. All the data stored in the device will be deleted and average turnaround time for the entire process is one week.
Off to the graveyard. Compared to other rechargeable batteries, lithium polymer batteries are more environment-friendly. However, the battery must be fully discharged prior to disposal. Never allow this type of battery to come in contact with moisture or water as it will result in a violent reaction. In case of physical damage like tear and puncture, submerge the battery in 5 gallons of water with 2