For example: Stick your dead camera or phone battery in the fridge/freezer to revive it. Sounds too good to be true? It actualy is.
Will Freezing Batteries Actually Help Them Charge
The Science Behind Cold Boosting
Lithium ion batteries will experiences an initial increase in voltage when exposed to cold temperatures. This give you that little bit of juice to power on the device. Techies refer to this as cold boosting.
Why does it work? For what kind of time? You aren’t repairing the battery.
You’re only tricking the phone into thinking it has one. That’s where science comes into play. When lithium ion cells get older, the materials within them breaks down.
That makes it harder for electricity to flow inside the cell which leads to a voltage drop when the cell is placed under load. That voltage drop become low enough for your phone to think battery is dead, so the phone turns itself off to prevent damage. The cold reduces internal resistance.
Voltage reading pops right back up. It is just high enough over the line. Phone boots up.
You cheer. Plug it in. So… do you risk it?
Risks of Condensation and Short Circuits
Is it a risky bet or can you count on it to keep your phone alive? Lithium ion batteries are unforgiving chemistry. These cells rely on a delicate balance of ions moving between anode and cathode.
When a battery is frozen, it slow that chemistry. It also thickens the viscosity of electrolyte. So for a brief period, lower internal resistance gives appearance of a better cell.
This is why your voltage reading increases. But you haven’t gained back any capacity of the battery. You’ve simply reduced the hurdle for what tiny bit of juice remains.
It’s similar to pumping air into a sinking boat instead of patching holes. Condensation poses another major danger. While batteries are sealed units, they’re not perfect.
Take a cold, frozen battery out of freezer and immediately place it in warm, humid air. What happens? Condensation forms on the exterior.
Moisture enters charging port or interior contacts. A short circuit occur. How do lithium ion batteries react to water?
Not well. A short circuit can causes overheating, leaking, or. If you get really lucky (a house fire).
Why It Is Only A Temporary Fix
Is a few more minutes of power worth the risk of ruining your expensive device or potentially burning down your house? Not all batteries act this way; some older batteries may actualy respond well to the cold. For example, nickel cadmium or nickel metal hydride cells may gets a small performance boost when it’s cold out.
Likewise, they don’t have the same voltage drop problems. But most moddern batteries used in consumer products over the past 15+ years will be some variation on lithium ion or lithium polymer cell. If you have a smartphone, laptop, or digital camera, those probably fit the bill.
How voltage drops as lithium cells age is exactly what the cold boost trick was designed for. It’s a band-aid solution for one type of failure mode, not necessarily applicable anywhere else. The cold trick is a band aid if you have an aged battery on the fritz.
But it won’t work forever. Sometimes the internal resistance gets so high that it drop the voltage below what the cold can mask. Then it’s time for the battery to die.
Better Alternatives To Freezing Batteries
Replacement is realy the only answer. Newer batteries are designed to be good for hundreds of charging cycles. When they get past the useful point there is nothing that the cold can do to bring back the battery’s capacity.
Your money would of been better spent with a portable power bank or a high quality replacement battery. This is a last resort, cold boosting. Picture yourself out on a hike with your phone dead.
You have no charger. But you know that freezing your battery for 20 minutes might give you enough power to turn the device on. It is a desperate situation.
Maybe. Worth trying because in that desperate situation it may buy you enough time to call for help. But don’t make it a habit.
Freezing the battery and then allowing it to thaw puts thermal stress on the battery. This can causes cracking of the battery case. It can speed up the deterioration of inner components of the battery.
The short-term win isn’t worth the long term loss to your cell. Know your tech’s limitations. Your batteries aren’t magic wands; they’re chemical devices.
Stressing or aging them makes ’em worse off. Freezing doesn’t make that go away. It just masks the symptoms temporaraly.
Look up your last battery change date next time your device abruptly shuts off. Been awhile? Time to get a new cell.
Don’t hide from your issues in the freezer. Address ’em properly. It’s not an electronic food storage unit.
Keep your batteries at room temp and swap ’em out when they actualy die.