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Many people complain that the batteries in their cordless appliances (razors, cordless telephones, tools) do not last as long as they should. Most of these cordless appliances use nickel-cadmium (ni-cad) type of batteries. You often use most of these appliances and tools for only a short time and then place them back in the charger.
Ni-cad batteries have a memory effect. If they are only slightly run down and recharged to full capacity over and over again, like the typical cordless telephone, they begin to remember the slightly discharged state. Eventually, they will only supply power down to that slightly discharged state and then will act as though they are fully discharged and out of power.
Every month or two, let the rechargeable batteries totally run down before recharging them. They will not develop the memory of the slightly-discharged state and you will be able to get the full charge of electricity out of them when you need it. This can also increase the battery life.