The advent of modern technology has been amazing to help people getting things done in twice the time, and getting things delivered twice as fast. But what do we do when our technology fails us? What happens when our techny clip-board dies? Sure you can smack it a couple of times but honestly this solution will be short term and may end up only damaging your equipment. The best insurance that a battery will last you a long time is using quality components and following all the instructions.

Battery life time varies greatly depending on a number of factors. Two important factors are the number of applications and types of applications on the small appliance being used. If you want your battery to last a long time, try not to run down the battery life by overusing the appliance. If it is necessary to run multiple applications for an extended period of time, you may want to consider purchasing a larger capacity battery (if available), or purchasing an extra battery so you will always have a charged battery when you need it.

The 'memory effect' is another factor you may have heard about that affects battery life. The memory effect is a pattern seen in certain batteries that causes then to hold less charge. It occurs when a battery is only partially used and then recharged to full charge. It is similar to voltage depression, a condition in which the battery's voltage level drops faster even though total charge power of the battery remains the same. These effects are caused by repeated over charging of that batteries that leave electrolyte build up on the battery. People have come up with several theories to overcome the memory effect, thought most are just that, theories, and are difficult to duplicate in the real world.

Battery manufacturers have worked to develop more powerful and effective batteries. The newest and most popular advent in battery technology is the Lithium Ion battery and it surpasses traditional batteries in many ways. Li-Ion batteries charge faster and weigh much less. They are also more environmentally sound because they do not contain toxic materials such as mercury. And most importantly, Li-Ion batteries do not suffer from memory effect. The technology for Li-Ion batteries is increasing every day.

So an everlasting battery may not yet exist, but we can be assured that engineers are working every day to make the batteries that help us in our daily lives, faster, safer, and more powerful.