First Strike Meters from DMSI LLC

Proper care can greatly extend your battery life.

Understand and care for your meters battery.

Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries feature high energy density, high capacity, light weight and high power. Li-ion batteries are one of the most popular types of rechargeable battery for portable electronics, with one of the best energy densities, no memory effect, and a slow loss of charge when not in use.

Principle and Reactions:
When a lithium-based cell is discharging, the lithium is extracted from the anode and inserted into the cathode. When the cell is charging, the reverse occurs.

What is a Li-ion battery?
Li-ion battery is the device that transforms the chemical energy to electrical energy through the chemical reaction between the anode and cathode.

What is the primary battery and secondary battery?
The primary battery refers to the battery that can only discharge and is not rechargeable. The secondary battery refers to the rechargeable battery that can be charged and used in duty-circle operation.

What are the main components of battery?
The main components are: the positive plate, the negative plate, diaphragm paper, cap, can, and insulating layer.

What is the cycle life of rechargeable battery?
When a battery experiences a charge and discharge, we call it a cycle or a period. In the stated charge and discharge principles and the capacity decline before a stated standard, the total cycles it can undergo is called rechargeable battery cycle life. Batteries may need to be re-charged (cycled) three or more times to reach their full potential.

What is battery inner impedance?
Battery impedance is the resistance when the current flows through an operating cell, in general the internal resistance includes both d.c. and a.c. resistance. For the rechargeable cell, resistance is small and electrode is easily polarized along with producing a polarization resistance while measuring d.c. resistance, the accurate value can not be measured.

What is the memory effect?
Memory effect only happens on Ni-CD batteries. Li-ion batteries are not subject to 'memory effect'.

What is "short circuit"? May I short circuit Lithium battery?
If the positive and negative terminals come into contact with each other or with a metal object, this can cause a short circuit, generating heat. If the batteries are stacked on top of each other the resulting short circuit can lead to heat generation, leakage, bursting and, eventually fire. Do not short circuit Lithium batteries.

May I apply heat on Lithium batteries or dispose of in fire?
If heated to 100°Cor more, plastic materials in the battery such as the gasket and separator may be damaged, causing leakage. The heat generated by a short circuit inside the batteries may lead to bursting or combustion. If disposed of in fire, batteries may burn violently. DO NOT throw Li-ion batteries into a fire or otherwise burn Li-ion batteries.

May I solder Lithium batteries directly?
If solder is applied directly to the battery, resin materials in the Lithium batteries such as the gasket and separator may be damaged due to overheating. This can cause leakage, and heat generated by a short circuit inside the battery may lead to bursting or fire. Even if no abnormality takes place immediately after soldering, the resulting leakage and other damage may harm the components attached to the battery over a long period of usage.

May I charge Primary Lithium batteries?
When a Primary Lithium battery is charged, gas is generated inside the battery and can result in swelling, heat generation, leakage, bursting and fire. All of our meters use secondary (re-chargeable) Li-ion batteries.

May I force discharge Lithium batteries?
When batteries are force-discharged with an external power source, the voltage drops to under O V (reverse electrode), and inner gas is generated. This can lead to swelling, heating, leakage, bursting or fire. DO NOT force discharge Li-ion batteries.

May I disassemble, apply excessive pressure on Lithium batteries?
If a battery is disassembled by force, gas may be generated which may cause throat irritation, or the Lithium metal may generate heat, causing fire. If deformed under pressure or under impact, distortion of the seal may lead to leakage, or a short circuit inside the battery may lead to swelling, heat generation, bursting or fire. DO NOT disassemble Li-ion batteries.

Can I use Lithium batteries mixing with other battery types?
If different types of batteries are used together, or new batteries are used with old ones, the difference in characteristics of voltage, capacity, etc., may cause over-discharge of the battery which is exhausted first, leading to swelling, bursting or fire. DO NOT mix new and old batteries. DO NOT mix different types of batteries.

Can Lithium battery be contacted with water?
No. This may cause corrosion or the formation of combustible gas. Avoid moisture on Li-ion batteries.

Can the battery be kept inside the meter if the battery is dis-charged or the meter is in long-term storage?
The battery should be taken out of the meter and kept in a dry place at low temperature if the meter is in long-term nonuse. If left in the meter, the battery discharge at a low current rate and will reduce the service life of the battery.

Where Lithium batteries should be stored?
Lithium batteries should be stored in a place not exposed to direct sunlight. Make sure the area is dry and has minimal temperature variation. Storage in areas subject to high temperatures, humidity or rain may cause deterioration in battery quality and durability. To avoid short circuiting batteries during storage, be sure that the positive and negative terminals do not come in to contact with each other.

What effect can the temperature have on battery performance?
Among all the environmental elements, temperature has biggest effect on the battery performance. The electrochemical reaction on the electrode / electrolyte interface is connected with the temperature. The electrode / electrolyte interface is considered to the heart of the battery. If the temperature gets too low, the reaction rate of the electrode also gets lower. If the battery voltage is invariable, the discharge current becomes lower, and also the power output will be reduced. If the temperature goes up, the condition is reversed. That is, the battery's power output will increase. Temperature will also affect the speed of the transmission of the electrolyte. If the temperature goes up, the speed of transmission will be faster. If the temperature goes down, the speed of transmission will be slower. The battery performance will also be affected. But if the temperature becomes too high, the chemical balance inside the battery will be rendered unusable.

What are the possible reasons for the battery service life reduction?
Charger or charging circuit is not matching to the battery type.
Over charging.
Over dis-charge.
Battery type is not matching to the appliance.
Use only the charger that came with your device.

What are the possible reasons for zero voltage or low voltage of the battery pack?
Single battery in the battery pack has zero voltage.
Short circuit or open circuit of the connector or wrong connection.
Cold solder joint between the batteries and lead.
Wrong connection between the batteries.
Cold solder joint between the connection strap and battery.
The wrong connection or failure of the electronic components inside the battery pack.

What are the possible reasons for zero voltage and low voltage of the battery?
Short-circuit outside of the battery.
Overcharged, usually by continually charging the battery or using the wrong charger.
Over discharge. Letting the battery go completely dead.
The battery is continuously over charged using a high current charger.
The battery is internally shorted.

What are the possible reasons if the rechargeable battery or rechargeable battery pack can not be charged?
The battery is zero voltage or there is battery with zero voltage in the battery pack.
There is wrong connection inside the battery pack.
There is abnormality of electronic components and/or PCB inside the battery pack.
Failure in charger.
Elements cause the charging efficiency to be too low, such as extremely low or high temperature.

What will happen if batteries with different capacity are used together?
If the batteries with different capacity or new and old batteries are used together, leakage, zero voltage and other problems might happen. If the batteries are rechargeable and are being charged, some batteries are overcharged and other batteries are not in full charged state. During the discharge, some batteries can not discharge fully and other batteries might over discharge. This will damage the battery.