How long will a charged 18650 stay charged in storage?

[Bamspleno95-055]

Has anyone charged an 18650 battery then put it away to use later? If I charge an 18650 battery then put it away to use later, How long can I have it "in storage" before I would have to recharge it? (consider the battery is new) Has anyone done this?

 

[Izan]

Hi ,
How long are we talking here and under what conditions?

Cheers
I

 

[Bamspleno95-055]

Hi ,
How long are we talking here and under what conditions?

Cheers
I

Conditions would be "normal"(not in a freezer and not in the sun) as for "how long are talking here" that's what I want to know.

 

[Izan]

If I had some 18650s that I needed to store for 6 months to a year, I would charge them to about 45% (3.6V-3.7v) and seal them in plastic case.
This is how we receive the batteries from most manufactures and it seems to be the "best practice" method.

Cheers
I

 

[DreamWithin]

Moved from Accessories discussion to batteries & Chargers forum

I think the longest I've left a fully-charged battery to sit unused was a few months. After that time, it had only self-discharged a very small amount. Typically I follow the same "best practice" as Izan mentions above

This website is a great resource for battery info
BU-702: How to Store Batteries – Battery University

 

[Spirometry]

I discharge mine to 3.85V when I'm not planning on using them for a while.

 

[Ryedan]

Has anyone charged an 18650 battery then put it away to use later? If I charge an 18650 battery then put it away to use later, How long can I have it "in storage" before I would have to recharge it? (consider the battery is new) Has anyone done this?

I have a few Li-ion batteries in storage. I put them away at room temperature close to 3.7V and after six months there was no noticeable change in voltage on my multimeter. IMO they will lose about 1-2% charge per month, so six months would mean about a 9% drop in charge level. I'm going to check them again at Christmas and expect to see some voltage drop then.

OTOH, I believe if you store them at full charge you'll lose a lot more cell life than at half charge. By cell life I mean charge/discharge cycles. It's also better to store at colder temps like in a home freezer at just under zero deg C. Here's some more info it.