If you are preparing for a solo trip to explore unknown territory for scientific pursuits, it’s very important that you learn how to prolong the life of a battery powered microscope. After all, your battery powered microscope is your most important equipment and without it, probably none of your goals would be attainable.
Tips on How to Prolong the Life of a Battery Powered Microscope
Tip #1 Draining - Do not completely drain your battery’s power often. Emptying it totally of power places extra strain on your battery. Draining is, of course, necessary once in a while but never perform it frequently.
Tip #2 Charging – Some batteries are safe to charge even when they aren’t yet low in power while other batteries have to reach a certain level before they can be safely charged. Researched about the batteries you’re using to know which category they fall under. If there are charging instructions provided with your battery purchase, read these carefully because there may be other things you should be aware of before charging.
If you are using an external battery charger, read instructions carefully to ensure that you’re using the correct charging procedure. Any error, even if it’s not deliberate, could negatively affect the quality and lifespan of your batteries.
Tip #3 Temperature – Batteries of virtually all types benefit from cool temperatures. If you have taken your car with you, never leave your batteries – whether they’re being used by your microscope or not – inside the vehicle. Room temperature is ideal when you’re charging your batteries. If you leave them in extremely hot temperatures, there’s a possibility for the batteries to explode, ruin valuable equipment in the area and perhaps endanger your life as well.
Tip #4 Spare Batteries – It’s imperative that you have spare batteries with you to prepare for instances that you’re unable to avoid draining batteries you’re currently using. If you’re going to buy a spare pack, make sure however that you will use them once in a while. If you let them languish in an unused state for a considerable period of time, this could affect their power and lifespan and make them less effective than they should be.
Batteries may not have expiry dates but do your best to purchase only new stocks of batteries. Do not buy batteries sold at discounted rates because they could be part of old stocks already.
If you are using a current and extra pack of lithium-ion batteries, use them alternately. The spare one should be kept cool inside a refrigerator if possible, but not inside the freezing unit. It’s also ideal to store the battery with forty-percent of its power remaining.
Tip #5 Light – Battery powered microscopes allow you to modify use of light in various ways. Firstly, there’s the light coming from the diaphragm – use the lowest or smallest light if possible. Do the same with other light sources. If it comes with a digital display of any sort, check if you can switch off the light during daytime.
And speaking of daytime, make sure to maximize use of sunlight while reducing use of the light sources of your battery during the day.
Tip #6 Battery Inventory – Although intended for batteries of your PDA software, a battery inventory software program may also be used to benchmark the lifespan of your microscope’s batteries. It will let you know how long your batteries are expected to last and determine when it’s best to use.
Tip #7 Low Power Settings – When you view an object at low power, this is also good for your batteries because the burden on them is reduced as well. At the same time, avoid multitasking because this also places added strain on your microscope’s batteries. Do not open applications or use functions of your microscope if it’s unnecessary to do so.
Tip #8 Switching On or Off – The process of turning a microscope on or off takes more than the usual amount of power from your batteries. That’s why you need to be wise in determining when it’s best to temporarily switch off your microscope and when to leave it in standby mode.
Don’t turn it on if you haven’t prepared your slide yet. Don’t turn the microscope on if you haven’t laid out your phase contrast kit in preparation. In other words, turn on your microscope only when you know you’ll be able to use it immediately.
Of course, learning how to prolong the battery life of a battery powered microscope will do you no good if the quality of your batteries is poor. So make sure you’re using new batteries of good quality before you set out for your trip. Good luck!