Battery life - ONE Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Is bad for battery life if I charged my phone every night no matter the percentage of battery left?. For example today is 62%.

It's best not to charge your phone overnight because it charges so quickly that it can sit at 100% for several hours before you take it off the charger in the morning. The longer a lithium battery spends at peak voltage (100%, 4.2v), the faster it degrades, meaning your long term battery life will suffer
It's also not a great idea to let a lithium battery fully discharge too often. There's a kind of a sweet spot between 30% and 80% that, if possible, you want to try to keep your battery within when you can.
So it's best to do smaller top-up charges if you're able to. About once a month you should calibrate the high/low flags though, you can do this by fully charging the phone, then fully discharging it, and then fully charging it again.
There are a couple of really good detailed articles than can explain it far better than I can:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/do_and_dont_battery_table
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Transmitted via Bacon

Related

[Q] just got my new g2x how should i charge the battery?

my last g2x battery lasted like 4 hrs on a full charge what is the best way to charge the new one? do i let the battery run out then charge it?
When you first get a phone, you should let the battery die before charing it. Then charge it completely after it dies, this will maximize your battery life. If you charge it right out the box, you're actually reducing the amount of juice the battery can hold.
rashad1 said:
When you first get a phone, you should let the battery die before charing it. Then charge it completely after it dies, this will maximize your battery life. If you charge it right out the box, you're actually reducing the amount of juice the battery can hold.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not really accurate. Lithium Ion batteries have no memory effect like older batteries so charging them from halfway full does not reduce the maximum capacity.
What happens is the phone needs to learn to measure the amount of mAh from the phone and recognize what battery % that means. By taking the phone through the full discharging and charging cycle, the battery drivers pick up on this and will better report the battery level. With a poorly calibrated battery, you do not get less battery, but instead you just will not see accurate information about the charge level. For example, my first discharge went quickly to about 10%, and even quickly below 5%, but stayed on for hours between 5% to eventually shutting off.
The battery still will not die faster, but my phone thought it was much lower than it was, giving it the appearance of dying faster. Point is, you can do the charge/discharge cycle whenever, not just the first time, and it won't effect your long term battery health.
1) do factory reset
2) drain completely
3) charge completely
thanks!
thanks everyone for your advice!
I think it really depends on who you ask. lol Some people will say let it drain first then charge it fully. I have read info on battery maker sites that suggest when you get their battery that you let it charge fully for at least 8 hours, then let it discharge fully. They say to do this the first 5 charges to increase battery life.
When I get a new phone or battery that's what I do. as soon as I get it I charge it up overnight, then let it discharge completely for the first 5 charges. I can only speak by my experience and my experience tells me it makes a difference. Here is my reasoning: me and my ex gf went one day to get new phones. We got the same phone. She started using hers as soon as we left the store. I waited. I charged it up overnight fully and did the conditioning procedure. Our phones were pretty much mirrors of each other app and software wise. Her battery would die out a couple of hours before mine. Battery usage also didnt report any HUGE differences in consumption .
Also every once and a while I go into Clockwork recovery and wipe battery stats(after it's been fully discharged) and re do the conditioning process. It might just be a mental thing, but for me this seems to work
supposedly from htc.....
1) Turn your device ON and Charge the device for 8 hours or more 2) Unplug the device and Turn the phone OFF and charge for 1 hour 3) Unplug the device Turn ON wait 2 minutes and Turn OFF and charge for another hour Your battery life should almost double, we have tested this on our devices and other agents have seen a major difference as well
I heard/read somewhere that you should never let a lithium ion battery fully discharge. It supposedly shortens its lifespan every time you fully discharge it. Instead, you are suppose to just top it off and not let it remain on the charger, for extended periods of time, once its reached a full charge. YMMV
*Omnipresent* said:
I heard/read somewhere that you should never let a lithium ion battery fully discharge. It supposedly shortens its lifespan every time you fully discharge it. Instead, you are suppose to just top it off and not let it remain on the charger, for extended periods of time, once its reached a full charge. YMMV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is "more" true for everyday normal usage. Yes, you shouldn't constantly fully charge and fully discharge every time you use your phone. But for battery calibration it is necessary/beneficial.
I also hard that during the first charge after turning the phone off you have to strange on your head for ten minutes, then only use your left hand for the rest of the day and you will double your battery life
rashad1 said:
When you first get a phone, you should let the battery die before charing it. Then charge it completely after it dies, this will maximize your battery life. If you charge it right out the box, you're actually reducing the amount of juice the battery can hold.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I did it this way too. I get good batt
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

How low do you let your battery get before you charge?

I read that a battery will last longer if you don't let it get below 40%, and full discharges are bad for the longevity. Is this true? Here is a good read on the subject. http://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Jspeer said:
I read that a battery will last longer if you don't let it get below 40%, and full discharges are bad for the longevity. Is this true? Here is a good read on the subject. http://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is true. the affect is probably minimal though(like we probably lose .7% of our battery per month if dont let it get low before charging it, instead of the typical 1% per month)
i get through half of my day with about 50% battery less, sometimes more. so i've made it a habit of charging it once i see it's around this 50% mark.
Jspeer said:
I read that a battery will last longer if you don't let it get below 40%, and full discharges are bad for the longevity. Is this true? Here is a good read on the subject. http://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The effect is accelerated/more pronounced below 20%...
Here is the good thing though... These phone's minimum operating voltage is higher than the minimum voltage of a Li ION battery. Using standard battery life measurements, the 0% according to the phone, is about 20% of standard.
Should you do a full discharge every now and then in order to calibrate the battery? I haven't been able to find a definitive answer on this in other related threads. Some say you should, some say it's not necessary since the battery doesn't have memory cells. I have never let my battery get below 50% and everything seems to work fine but it does seem to make sense to do a full discharge from time to time so the battery knows its capacity.
Jspeer said:
Should you do a full discharge every now and then in order to calibrate the battery? I haven't been able to find a definitive answer on this in other related threads. Some say you should, some say it's not necessary since the battery doesn't have memory cells. I have never let my battery get below 50% and everything seems to work fine but it does seem to make sense to do a full discharge from time to time so the battery knows its capacity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Li-ON battery's do not need to be calibrated. that was only with old battery tech such as Ni-Cad or NIMH
I let mine get low all the time I use my phone a lot. Hopefully its not to expensive to replace battery since Google thinks that replacing a battery is to complicated for us tech savvy people
Justice for Kelly Thomas RIP
I don't worry about it. I charge it overnight. If I've over used it in the day and I feel it will die before bed, i'll top it up but not to protect the battery. Just to ensure I can use my phone.
If they wanted you to do anything special with charging / draining, it would be in the instructions
-----------------------
Sent via tapatalk.
I do NOT reply to support queries over PM. Please keep support queries to the Q&A section, so that others may benefit
markdapimp said:
Li-ON battery's do not need to be calibrated. that was only with old battery tech such as Ni-Cad or NIMH
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery itself does not but occasionally the controller needs a kick in the pants. Deep drains on li-ion should be avoided at all costs. The phone hasn't been out long enough to even think about the sort of problem. But after a couple hundred charges you might see a behavior that will be corrected by one full discharge.
Its not uncommon to see cases where you actually replace the cell behind a controller and the controller not picking up the change in capacity. Never in cell phones mostly laptop battery rebuilds etc but it exhibits an idea of what happens. The battery controller takes note of the original, current maximum and current charge capacity. Not sure how I suppose voltage versus read amp hours. But as a battery gets old you might start seeing the maximum capacity reading fluctuate. But if at any time the actual chemical capacity is higher than the controller thinks it is the controller will prevent the battery from reaching its potential.
Used to have older PSP batteries reach 100% real quick, quick fix was to deep discharge through the controller using a small light bulb. The battery would then take a significant charge and last a few more months before kicking the bucket.
Jspeer said:
I read that a battery will last longer if you don't let it get below 40%, and full discharges are bad for the longevity. Is this true? Here is a good read on the subject. http://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
40% is a good number for storage, its actually better to store it at 40% than 100%. Actual use 20 to 25% is my personal range but I would say just never let it get below 15%. Lithium Ion does not mind being topped off. Deep discharged will ruin it real quick. My laptop battery lasted 3 years never letting it go below 25%, murdered a cell phone battery once a year letting it die.
I let it go to 1% and turn itself off. Then I charge it back up. But if I know I am going out in the next few hours I charge it as much as I can before I leave.
markdapimp said:
Li-ON battery's do not need to be calibrated. that was only with old battery tech such as Ni-Cad or NIMH
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lots of the fuel gauges for these types of batteries do need to be calibrated. this is not true for the N5 though(i think). I want to say i remember reading that this fuel gauge is different, like a 'smart fuel gauge' or something
kmx said:
I let it go to 1% and turn itself off. Then I charge it back up. But if I know I am going out in the next few hours I charge it as much as I can before I leave.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't do that almost ever. And by no means as a regular practice.
Molitro said:
You shouldn't do that almost ever. And by no means as a regular practice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats what the built in protection is for:
Marine6680 said:
The effect is accelerated/more pronounced below 20%...
Here is the good thing though... These phone's minimum operating voltage is higher than the minimum voltage of a Li ION battery. Using standard battery life measurements, the 0% according to the phone, is about 20% of standard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enddo said:
lots of the fuel gauges for these types of batteries do need to be calibrated. this is not true for the N5 though(i think). I want to say i remember reading that this fuel gauge is different, like a 'smart fuel gauge' or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not any different. as with older battery technologies they would loose capacity until they are calibrated 0% to 100% this is due to the chemistry of the battery
LI-ON battery's have a different chemistry which allows them to store greater capacity without loss like NI-CAD and NIMH did this is why you turn off your phone for a week and turn it on you find it still has about the same battery percentage as you turned it off before.
here's an example of a NI-CAD battery which needs to be calibrated.
You have a drill you haven't used for 3 days it was fully charged before you put it away if you take that same drill 3 days later you'd find it dead. where as LI-ON battery's would still be alive and full capacity. if you charge it from there it wouldn't be calibrated. as calibration requires you to drain the battery 2 times or more till it reaches it full capacity and charge it back up to 100% and repeat.
If you were to do that with a LI-ON battery you're basically doing nothing but wasting your charge cycles on the battery and you could kill it as LI-ON battery's DO NOT LIKE TO BE EMPTY
Because of all that NI-CAD and NIMH mess mostly all power tools you'd find in a shop such as home depot are now equipped with LI-ON battery's as they don't require calibration and can be left for months and it would still have its initial capacity prior to charging because Ni-cad battery's suffer from a memory effect and LI-ON does not, NI-CAD Requires full discharge before recharge LI-ON does not you get the point here right? LI-ON is better!
Now for those apps that claim calibrate the battery they do nothing they just Improve the reading of the software in android to get the battery percentage which is reset every time the battery charges to 100% so in short don't calibrate your battery
You can read more here http://www.diffen.com/difference/Li-ion_vs_NiCad
and watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrcbcm11830
markdapimp said:
Its not any different. as with older battery technologies they would loose capacity until they are calibrated 0% to 100% this is due to the chemistry of the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery controller is still the source of the problem. If the batteries chemical capacity at a given moment is 1800 mah down from its original 2300 and the charge controller thinks the capacity is 500 the controller will only charge the battery to 500. Most controllers do not act like their dumber counter parts which will trickle or cut off when the cells characteristics indicate it is reaching a full charge.
The controller in these batteries while varying greatly in design all have one thing in common. They are designed for safety. The controller will actually stop accepting a charge forever if the voltage of the cell goes below a certain point. It will also never charge it above the current observed maximum capacity no matter what reality is.
You can poll a battery using vendor specific commands to get the designed, current maximum and current charge. The current maximum charge capacity is a changing value it will change over the life of the battery. This was an aging laptop battery that while the controller knew what the "Full Charge Capacity" was currently it decided not to report that to windows resulting in a hilarious 410%.
But we are talking about a problem that really won't rear its head for 1 or 2 years and were talking about doing it once or twice over the life of the battery. People doing it now and all the time WILL kill the battery very quickly for no benefit.
markdapimp said:
Its not any different. as with older battery technologies they would loose capacity until they are calibrated 0% to 100% this is due to the chemistry of the battery
LI-ON battery's have a different chemistry which allows them to store greater capacity without loss like NI-CAD and NIMH did this is why you turn off your phone for a week and turn it on you find it still has about the same battery percentage as you turned it off before.
here's an example of a NI-CAD battery which needs to be calibrated.
You have a drill you haven't used for 3 days it was fully charged before you put it away if you take that same drill 3 days later you'd find it dead. where as LI-ON battery's would still be alive and full capacity. if you charge it from there it wouldn't be calibrated. as calibration requires you to drain the battery 2 times or more till it reaches it full capacity and charge it back up to 100% and repeat.
If you were to do that with a LI-ON battery you're basically doing nothing but wasting your charge cycles on the battery and you could kill it as LI-ON battery's DO NOT LIKE TO BE EMPTY
Because of all that NI-CAD and NIMH mess mostly all power tools you'd find in a shop such as home depot are now equipped with LI-ON battery's as they don't require calibration and can be left for months and it would still have its initial capacity prior to charging because Ni-cad battery's suffer from a memory effect and LI-ON does not, NI-CAD Requires full discharge before recharge LI-ON does not you get the point here right? LI-ON is better!
Now for those apps that claim calibrate the battery they do nothing they just Improve the reading of the software in android to get the battery percentage which is reset every time the battery charges to 100% so in short don't calibrate your battery
You can read more here http://www.diffen.com/difference/Li-ion_vs_NiCad
and watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrcbcm11830
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look man
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine; there is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life, other than to calibrate the fuel gauge on a smart battery once in a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now believe what you want
Once in a while isn't explicit. The video posted earlier says once a year or so... both of those are "a while" to me
It all depends on the controller and the software but mostly its no longer necessary.
-----------------------
Sent via tapatalk.
I do NOT reply to support queries over PM. Please keep support queries to the Q&A section, so that others may benefit
Molitro said:
You shouldn't do that almost ever. And by no means as a regular practice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the recommendation.:angel:
rootSU said:
Thats what the built in protection is for:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough.
But still doens't seem like a good practice given how the recommendations with this kind of tecnology are usually don't go too low and try to charge at different values, not always plug the charger at the same level.
Li Ion batteries charge to a maximum voltage before the charge stops in a phone or other device that charges while also operating.
To fully charge a Li Ion battery you need to monitor current draw of the battery as it is charging, it drops as the cell reaches saturation. This is difficult to do in an operating circuit... Though the tech may be getting better, as load sharing was not common for charging cell phones a few years ago, but it may now be, I have actually been looking for info on powered device charging, but find little beyond load sharing type.
So the battery in a phone could hold more juice if it was charged out of the device, and more still if the phones could run at the 3v minimum of Li Ion. (min voltage of arm devices is around 3.5v) Load sharing chargers can charge fully though.
Also charge rate affects battery life... slower charging is better for long lifespan. If you overnight charge, use the lowest rated charger you have, or standard USB charging. The current phones come with higher amp chargers now... It really doesn't speed up the overall charge cycle to 100% very much, but it does make charging to 80% quicker. So you can do a quick charge of a low battery to a usable level in a hurry.
Power tools use LiFe chemistry batteries which are more tolerant of abuse and misuse... at the cost of less voltage and capacity and more weight.
I work from home so it's easy for me to top off the phone as needed. I'll usually throw it on the charger for a while around 3-ish PM to make sure that I have a full charge going into the evening since I do a lot of reading on it after the kids are in bed. I'm definitely what you would call an opportunistic charger - there's no need to drain the battery all the way unless you absolutely can't get to a charger. I don't understand why people choose to run their batteries down all the way when they don't have to.

Charging Battery

What's the consensus on when to charge and how long?
Is it safe to charge the S7 battery overnight, even if only around 50%? Or is it better to wait until your almost dead?
One of the I.T. guys at work was saying you should wait until you're below 20%, then always charge to 100%.
Just charge it whenever you want, this isn't the 90's or 2010. You'll probably replace your phone before you start to see it majorly affecting your battery.
You'll get a very slight improvement in overall battery life if you keep the charge between 25% and 75%. But we're talking very small. But yes, it's perfectly safe to charge your phone over night. The battery / phone / charger electronics won't overcharge the battery.
What you do want to avoid is draining the battery down to zero, or close to it. If at all possible, don't let the charge drop below 20 - 25% on a regular basis.
meyerweb said:
You'll get a very slight improvement in overall battery life if you keep the charge between 25% and 75%. But we're talking very small. But yes, it's perfectly safe to charge your phone over night. The battery / phone / charger electronics won't overcharge the battery.
What you do want to avoid is draining the battery down to zero, or close to it. If at all possible, don't let the charge drop below 20 - 25% on a regular basis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. I thought it was beneficial to charge all the way to full?
Sent from my SM-G930V using XDA-Developers mobile app
Lithium Ion batteries are different than older technologies, such as NiCad and NiMH. These batteries suffered from the "memory effect" (although not as badly as most people thought), so it was good to charge those fully. If you always charged them to, say 80%, they would eventually only take an 80% charge. Li batteries don't suffer from a memory effect, so you don't need to worry about that.
The other thing is that Li batteries hate three things: excessive heat, being fully drained, and being overcharged. Tesla stops charging when the battery pack reaches 75% of full charge, and displays that as a full charge. Similarly, they consider a 25% charge as "empty." Then again, a Tesla battery pack costs something like 10,000 bucks, so it's important to as much as possible to maximize the life of the pack.

Proper Battery Charge and Depleting

I still currently own a Samsung galaxy s3, and I have been charging it to full 100% and letting it drain fully until it shuts off. Once i get S8+, should i still be doing this or will that mess up the battery over time. Do you guys drain until 10% , and charge up too 90%? Was curious.
Batteries have so many charge cycles at a certain depth of discharge. My understanding is you get more charge cycles if you discharge less.
So, unlike removable battery phones, I plan on leaving this phone on a charger as much as possible and usingbt the battery when necessary.
The battery change on this device looks hairy!
masbirdies said:
Batteries have so many charge cycles at a certain depth of discharge. My understanding is you get more charge cycles if you discharge less.
So, unlike removable battery phones, I plan on leaving this phone on a charger as much as possible and usingbt the battery when necessary.
The battery change on this device looks hairy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I See, does the phone stop from overcharging the battery once you reach 100%?
It's best to keep it between 20%-80%
Also, pretty much all lithium ions are nearly impossible to overcharge.
You generally want to keep your batteries between 40-80% I believe is the sweet spot. I will not let my battery go below 30% generally and I top it off whenever available. Forgot where I read it but as others have said your phone has so many charge cycles (500 or so before the battery starts losing a certain compacity). And if you constantly charge from 0-100% each time, you are using a full charge cycle. Instead if you charge it at 50%, you would be using half a cycle, etc.
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
Sent from my SM-G955U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Ive read similar things. I generally follow this and try to charge before i reach 20% up til 89%.
Ive also read somewhere to deplete battery to 0 atleast every few months if not sooner. Dont know if its true though.

Charging question

Hi Guys,
What is the best practice to charge our Note 20 to maintain good battery life?
I checked my charge cycle and it shows its 8 so far but I only have the phone for a few days now. And I guess 8 is not good as it says on Internet the battery life cycle is 400-500 charge cycles. So I want to avoid battery damage.
With this in mind:
1. Do we need to wait for phone to completely shut down because of battery and then recharge? Or its not good for the battery?
2. If the answer to previous question is "no" then when exactly we need to charge the battery to maintain good battery health? If, for example, the phone is on 30% and we recharge, how is it different from phone being on 80% and we recharge battery life-wise? And how this affects charge cycle and health?
3. Can we charge the phone as often as we want despite the battery level?
4. Can we leave the phone charged at all times (100%)
Just want to make sure I am using the most efficient method. Don't want my battery to die in a few months time.
Thanks!
Just change it whenever you want. No matter how you take care of the battery. With today's battery technology, you need a replacement after 2 years.
Best practice is never run your phone or any battery powered device past 25%. I know it's easy to do since we are on our device pretty much all day. Reason for this is because when charging the battery it needs to have resistance to charge correctly. Less resistance the less charge is given there for weakening the battery life and quality. I charge mine every night no matter what. Ive been doing this with all my Samsung phones and never had any issues. And last its OK to run the ballery down once a month to clean out old or bad charge voltage left behind.
Best to charge between 30-80%
Li's love small frequent charges ie 40 to 65%
As the cell voltage climbs so does the damage; try to avoid going above 80%.
Charging battery below 80° F can cause LI plating which permanently degrades the cell; try to avoid. Never charge when below freezing.
Try to avoid going over 100° F
High temperatures and battery voltage cause the most damage.
Between 5-20% has the lowest power density of the voltage curve, try to avoid using that range.
If discharged to 5%, recharge within a few days. If the cell voltage drops too low it will be useless. Generally this would take 2 months or more but don't chance it.
Use the 25 watt brick to charge, enable fast charging.

Categories

Resources