As caregivers, we all love a good deal, especially in this economy. Shopping at one of the various dollar stores (The Dollar Store, The Dollar Tree, The 99 Cent Store, etc.) can shave quite a bit off your monthly household and care giving budget.

When you do something processor intensive, plug in the charger. Not only because this usually triggers a higher performance setting and give you more horse power to play with, but because when the battery is discharged at maximum rate it's more probable to overheat, and heat is a great enemy of Lithium-Ion.

Use lithium stock the battery. Li-Ion safety circuits do a lot of great things to keep it in good condition, but they're going to go south if you don't use them. There is no wonder they're stored charged to half-capacity. If you most often use your netbook using AC power while you're at home, make sure that you let it run to the point where windows gives critical battery level warning at least two or three times a week.

In case you some how do not use the battery for 3 months or more, the above described procedure should be followed before you restart using the battery as normal.

When you store it, make sure the temperature is not too high nor too low. Don't freeze it and storing the unit in a hot car or near the radiator is a bad idea as well. Use a sealable bag, charge the Lithium battery stocks to about 50% and put it into the fridge between 0 and 5C.

If your cordless tools were acquired a long time ago, the battery and charger were of an older technology. The new generation batteries are more efficient and can be charged very quickly. That can be a slight problem with the older charger. The newer chargers have a smart sensing circuit that will cut down Lithium mines Ontario the charge rate as the battery is close to getting full. But for older chargers that do not have such smart circuits, they can overcharge the battery, making it hot when it's left on the charger for extended amount of time. So it's worth the time to investigate if a newer type of charger should be in order when getting a new replacement battery.

Don't empty the battery completely. Modern safety circuits take care of this, but if you take it to 3% capacity, then leave it like that for three months, it's most probably going to be damaged and lose some of its maximum capacity. If you have to store it for a while, charge it to 60%, and leave it like that in a dry and cold place.

Using these easy tips to keep the battery in the best condition won't do wonders, but will let you use it to the maximum number of recharges. Ever wondered why some laptops keep their maximum capacity for 3-4 years, while others dive under an hour of runtime in one? This is why.