Every so often, Tech Rescue gets a battery question. This Tech Talk will try to answer some of the most common ones.

1. Batteries have a “memory” don’t they?
Technically speaking, current nickel–cadmium, nickel metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries do not have a memory effect. It used to be that you had to “train” a battery when it was new, by fully depleting and then fully charging. This was supposed to insure that the whole battery was being used. Over time one could see a depletion of charge capacity and sometimes you could “train” the battery again to get some of it back. This is because older batteries had only one charging monitor. This means that if one cell gets filled up, the charge monitor stopped the charging process, even if some of the other cells were not full. Current batteries have one charge monitor per cell, so each cell gets fully charged before it turns off.

2. Can I charge my battery, even if it isn’t all the way dead?
It shouldn’t hurt a battery to get charged up even if it is not dead. Frequent charges will do no damage to your battery.

3. Can I use my phone while it is charging?
As long as you are using the charger that came with your phone, you will be okay. Some off-brand or cheaper chargers may not have enough amperage to charge and allow use at the same time.

4. Can I put my battery in the freezer to help it live longer?
No, there is no evidence that freezing a battery actually works. In fact, Li-Ion batteries are negatively effected by both cold temperatures and hot temperatures.

5. Should I turn off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GPS when I am not using them?
It is up to you as it doesn’t really matter. The only times these radios drain a battery is if they are actually being used. With this in mind, leaving them on all day will not effect your battery life enough to make a big deal.

6. What is the best way to get more battery life?
There are a few, but the best one is often turning down your screen brightness. Other options are to not play games (the graphics chip uses lots of energy), turn off background data (Facebook especially) and don’t be afraid to plug in if you are near an outlet throughout the day.