We wrote a post that we link to below, in which we detail factors affecting internal resistance in lithium-ion batteries. That’s all well and good, a reader wrote back. How does the internal flow rate affect me as an end user? We thought his feedback was excellent and we welcomed it. So without further delay, here’s an introduction to battery internal resistance and performance.
4 Ways Battery Internal Resistance Affects Performance
- Efficiency and Energy Loss – Higher internal resistance means a battery has to work harder to retain its voltage. The battery sheds more heat during charging and discharging, reducing its overall efficiency.
- Capacity Loss and Less Run Time – A battery with high internal resistance has less capacity available for storing energy. This affects the run-time of the battery, and so it needs recharging more frequently.
- High Demand and Voltage Drop – High battery internal resistance and performance drop can penalize a user, when they impose too high a demand. This can prompt a premature low-battery warning when gaming or down streaming.
- High Heat Affects Battery Health – A power tool with high energy demand, can cause a battery with high internal resistance to overheat. This heat may shorten battery life between charges, if it degrades faster as a result.
How High Internal Resistance Shortens Operating Life
We described how high internal resistance throttles battery life between recharges, in the first part of this post. However, the same phenomenon can affect a battery’s lifetime too, because, as Ufine Battery mentions, this resistance increases as batteries age.
Battery materials, especially cathodes, anodes, and electrolytes, degrade over time. This degradation is the cause of the greater resistance.
This increased resistance means the battery has to spend more energy fighting it. This process generates additional heat, speeding up eventual battery failure.
A battery user can slow this battery degradation somewhat, by matching their device to the battery’s capacity. They should not allow the battery to become too warm, and avoid deep-discharging it, if at all possible.
More Information
Electrical Resistance in Lithium-Ion Batteries
