All batteries will fail at some point, when they have been in use for longer periods of time.
However if that happens prematurely it is a major frustration for most people.
Most people think that turning the device off will extend battery life, but the opposite is true.
Devices consume more power when they are starting up, so turning them off is not such a good idea if they are going to be switched on frequently.
Cars and Other Automobiles Most importantly, protect the battery from the hot temperatures under the hood with a case or heat shield.
Keeping the battery always charged will extend it's life.
When temperatures are hot outside you need to check the electrolyte levels more often.
In recent studies, it was shown, that placing the battery outside the engine compartment increases the battery life by about eight months.
In newer cars you will often find, that the manufacturer moved the battery to the passenger compartment or trunk, to avoid hot temperatures You can also use wet batteries, that are vented to the outside or cells that do not produce gas when recharged.
When you drive infrequently and only short distances the battery might be permanently undercharged, accumulate lead sulfate (sulfation) and eventually lose capacity.
Charging can be done with an external battery.
Temperature is incredibly important for all batteries.
Protecting batteries from too much heat will significantly extend their life.
Obviously the higher temperature increases the speed of chemical reactions.
Use deionized or demineralized water to water the battery more often.
In case of emergency, you can however use rain water as a substitute.
Other than with reduced temperatures you can improve the battery life by reducing the charge/discharge cycles.
Unused batteries need to be kept fully loaded under extremely cold conditions.
Portable Electronic Devices Lowering the screen brightness when possible will greatly improve battery life of cell phones, laptops, iPods etc.
It is unnecessary to leave the brightness at 100% at night or when you are in a dark room.
The ideal brightness is, when you can read the screen without major strain on the eye.
You can also shorten the time in which the backlight stays on when not in use.
Taking the iPod as an example, it should be OK to reduce the time from 10 seconds to 2 seconds.
When idle, laptops should be set to hibernate mode.
Especially lowering the volume will greatly improve battery life.
It often helps to use more powerful headphones and leave the device's volume at 50%.
Application running in the background consume a lot of energy.
So, close applications that are currently not in use.
De-fragmenting helps using the hard drive more efficiently and reduces energy consumption.
Remember to automatically send the computer to standby mode after a certain idle time.
In any case resuming will be more efficient than completely restarting the computer.
Leaving a CD/DVD in the drive will increase power usage, as the drive spins up from time to time.
Wi-Fi Applications To improve battery life you can increase the capacity of the battery or decrease the power consumption of the WI-FI product.
You can always use a battery with higher capacity, but in most cases it will be bigger and cost more.
That leaves us with reducing the power consumption of the device, which is possible by increasing the standby time and reducing the time of the active cycle.
When you don't need WiFi you can switch it off easily on your iPod and save power.
You will see that these energy saving tips will greatly improve the life time of your batteries.
Once you get used to it, you can easily implement these common sense techniques.
However if that happens prematurely it is a major frustration for most people.
Most people think that turning the device off will extend battery life, but the opposite is true.
Devices consume more power when they are starting up, so turning them off is not such a good idea if they are going to be switched on frequently.
Cars and Other Automobiles Most importantly, protect the battery from the hot temperatures under the hood with a case or heat shield.
Keeping the battery always charged will extend it's life.
When temperatures are hot outside you need to check the electrolyte levels more often.
In recent studies, it was shown, that placing the battery outside the engine compartment increases the battery life by about eight months.
In newer cars you will often find, that the manufacturer moved the battery to the passenger compartment or trunk, to avoid hot temperatures You can also use wet batteries, that are vented to the outside or cells that do not produce gas when recharged.
When you drive infrequently and only short distances the battery might be permanently undercharged, accumulate lead sulfate (sulfation) and eventually lose capacity.
Charging can be done with an external battery.
Temperature is incredibly important for all batteries.
Protecting batteries from too much heat will significantly extend their life.
Obviously the higher temperature increases the speed of chemical reactions.
Use deionized or demineralized water to water the battery more often.
In case of emergency, you can however use rain water as a substitute.
Other than with reduced temperatures you can improve the battery life by reducing the charge/discharge cycles.
Unused batteries need to be kept fully loaded under extremely cold conditions.
Portable Electronic Devices Lowering the screen brightness when possible will greatly improve battery life of cell phones, laptops, iPods etc.
It is unnecessary to leave the brightness at 100% at night or when you are in a dark room.
The ideal brightness is, when you can read the screen without major strain on the eye.
You can also shorten the time in which the backlight stays on when not in use.
Taking the iPod as an example, it should be OK to reduce the time from 10 seconds to 2 seconds.
When idle, laptops should be set to hibernate mode.
Especially lowering the volume will greatly improve battery life.
It often helps to use more powerful headphones and leave the device's volume at 50%.
Application running in the background consume a lot of energy.
So, close applications that are currently not in use.
De-fragmenting helps using the hard drive more efficiently and reduces energy consumption.
Remember to automatically send the computer to standby mode after a certain idle time.
In any case resuming will be more efficient than completely restarting the computer.
Leaving a CD/DVD in the drive will increase power usage, as the drive spins up from time to time.
Wi-Fi Applications To improve battery life you can increase the capacity of the battery or decrease the power consumption of the WI-FI product.
You can always use a battery with higher capacity, but in most cases it will be bigger and cost more.
That leaves us with reducing the power consumption of the device, which is possible by increasing the standby time and reducing the time of the active cycle.
When you don't need WiFi you can switch it off easily on your iPod and save power.
You will see that these energy saving tips will greatly improve the life time of your batteries.
Once you get used to it, you can easily implement these common sense techniques.