Charge Cycle Life
It is the number of full charge-discharge cycles a battery can complete without its capacity dropping noticeably. For lithium-polymer cells the general accepted figure is typically 300–500 cycles. The end of life is noticed not as a sudden failure but as the shift duration slowly getting shorter.
A cycle means the capacity being consumed once in total; discharging halfway twice a day counts as one cycle. For this reason putting it on charge after short periods of use does not accelerate the ageing. Capacity falling to about 80% of its initial value is generally accepted as the end of life.
- Factors that accelerate it: charging and storing at high temperature, continuous 1.0 C fast charging, fully discharging and leaving it for a long time, storing for months at full charge.
- Factors that slow it down: 0.5 C standard charging, storing in the shade and in a cool environment, 40–60% state of charge during long idle periods.
- Planning: if you assume one charge a day on a single-shift site, 300–500 cycles corresponds roughly to a few years of use; keeping a spare remote control on critical lines reduces downtime to zero.
These values are general Li-Po data; the battery capacity and charging time of the ST100 and ST200 remote controls are not stated in the product data.
The context in which this term is used: Wireless Crane Remote Control Selection Guide