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Battery charging tips

A

AndroidxGuy

Android Enthusiast
I recently stumbled across this article on a study of the overall lifetime of Li-ion batteries based on how they were charged. It's an interesting read and i have changed my charging habits based of this useful information. Hope it answers a few questions i know many of you will be wanting answers to. CHEERS! :D

Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries
 
Perhaps you would like to highlight your habits in a post so we don't have to read that long article. :) And if we question your habits we can refer to the article for evidence.
 
Funnyusername said:
Perhaps you would like to highlight your habits in a post so we don't have to read that long article. :) And if we question your habits we can refer to the article for evidence.
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+1 on this compadre. i's b from da south and i's can't read all dat's stuff in dat's article. Cliff Notes version anyone?
 
It's about finding a balance that works for you and you're happy with based on that info, unless you're one of the people that likes to carry around 2-3 extra batteries then the info is of little relevance to you.

I don't really watch the voltage as stated in the article but i now try to disconnect between 80-90% charge. Which means that when my 2 year contract is over and i sell my (currently) shiny new GS3 the battery will still be like new.
 
AndroidxGuy said:
It's about finding a balance that works for you and you're happy with based on that info, unless you're one of the people that likes to carry around 2-3 extra batteries then the info is of little relevance to you.
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This still doesn't tell me the habits YOU have changed because of this article.
 
Easy.. plug your phone in, let it charge till the led turns green, unplug it and immediately plug it back in, and wait until it turns green again a few minutes later.
 
rehpyc said:
Easy.. plug your phone in, let it charge till the led turns green, unplug it and immediately plug it back in, and wait until it turns green again a few minutes later.
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If you scroll tho the bottom of the article their ous a guidelines list. That says what you recommend is very wrong.
 
The best thing to do is just use your device and not worry about your battery. I see more people who are OCD about their battery to the point it gets in the way of enjoying their device.

For most just charge while you are sleeping. Done.

For those who can not keep their hands off of their "toy", charge whe you can during the day. Running the battery to dead is not good for your L-Ion battery and is about all you can do to shorten it's life.

There is nothing you can do when your battery is new that will greatly increase it's capacity.

Just use it and enjoy!
 
From the article:

A portable device must be turned off during charge.
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Apparently the 'parasitic load' while charging confuses the charger at the fully charged threshold, inducing 'mini-cycles' which stress the battery (poor thing).

Li-ion does not need to be fully charged, as is the case with lead acid, nor is it desirable to do so. In fact, it is better not to fully charge, because high voltages stresses the battery. Choosing a lower voltage threshold, or eliminating the saturation charge altogether, prolongs battery life but this reduces the runtime. Since the consumer market promotes maximum runtime, these chargers go for maximum capacity rather than extended service life.
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Well yeah. Most people are more concerned about their charge getting them through the day or evening before their phone dies, than whether the battery will need replacing in two years' time.

If I disconnected between 80-90% charge, I'd be continually watching my battery drain with dread... ("Will it last until I get home... maybe I should turn it off for a while... I'll be alright as long as I don't turn the screen on..."). However, this charging technique would be perfectly fine if you had a backup battery, also charged to 80-90%.

Hmm. But how would you know know how far it had charged if you have the phone turned off?
It wouldn't need to be turned off; as long as you stopped charging in time to avoid the mini-cycles at the full charge threshold.

Avoiding full charge has benefits, and some manufacturers set the charge threshold lower on purpose to prolong battery life.
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:hmmmm: I don't think I would be ecstatic if Samsung did this. I could do with an extra 15%...

Some lower-cost consumer chargers may use the simplified
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AndroidxGuy said:
Yes i did. I'll charge to about 85% and double the service life of my battery and the $20-30 ill save on needing another one i can spend on a few apps. :D
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Just messing w/ ya since you were the OP. I just fully charge & when the battery icon turns yellow I plug her on in. I don't really think about or over think about this stuff too much.
 
Got mine last week on the 12th and have been using it moderately. Just charged it this morning for a little bit. Seems like a decent battery but they always have a good charge when their new.
 
bplusshoe said:
Got mine last week on the 12th and have been using it moderately. Just charged it this morning for a little bit. Seems like a decent battery but they always have a good charge when their new.
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Welcome to the forums bplusshoe !!!!
 
Good read, never really looked into batteries. It's a shame we're still at this point where they are still the same old technology we had a couple years ago :D I've never had a battery die on me with a phone and my old HTC hero is still doing quite well even after some thousands of charges... It's like others have said, don't worry about it and enjoy your device, it's got that safety net to shut the phone off before the battery is totally dead to protect the battery.... :p
 
I don't know about the rest of you, but I ain't watching my phone to see when it gets to 85% to unplug it.

Summary - hasn't all your batteries usually lasted the life of your phone?
 
hal1 said:
I don't know about the rest of you, but I ain't watching my phone to see when it gets to 85% to unplug it.

Summary - hasn't all your batteries usually lasted the life of your phone?
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They have lasted the life of the phone yes. But towards the end of my Thunderbolt days, the battery was noticeably not as good as when I first got the phone. And that's not something I thought wouldn't happen. I was just to cheap to replace it. Haha.
 
hal1 said:
I don't know about the rest of you, but I ain't watching my phone to see when it gets to 85% to unplug it.

Summary - hasn't all your batteries usually lasted the life of your phone?
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I really hope Light Flow gets the coding for the S3 led figured out, because you can change your battery charged alert to different percentages.

I figure ideally i would charge the phone overnight turned off and when charging it turned on during the day I would set the alert to 80 or 85%.

Until then, I will charge it turned off at night and keep an eye on it during the day.
 
hal1 said:
I don't know about the rest of you, but I ain't watching my phone to see when it gets to 85% to unplug it.

Summary - hasn't all your batteries usually lasted the life of your phone?
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LOL. I am with you on that. Some of these people need to get a life. I work for a living and that does not include monitoring my battery while it charges.

Plug it in when you go to sleep. Done.
 
TadeoNYC said:
I really hope Light Flow gets the coding for the S3 led figured out, because you can change your battery charged alert to different percentages.

I figure ideally i would charge the phone overnight turned off and when charging it turned on during the day I would set the alert to 80 or 85%.

Until then, I will charge it turned off at night and keep an eye on it during the day.
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You can use battery indicator to set an alarm when it reaches a certain percentage i believe or just guesstimate like me and set an alarm manually.
 
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