Question about Anker QuickCharger

[Aflaaaak]

I recently picked up an Anker 6 port Quickcharger that features 1 QC 2.0 port and 5 "standard" ports.
Amazon.com: Quick Charge 2.0, Anker 60W 6-Port USB Charger PowerPort+ 6 for Galaxy S7/S6/Edge/Plus, Note 4/5, LG G4, HTC One M8/M9, Nexus 6, iPhone, iPad and More: Cell Phones & Accessories
I plugged my OEM G4 cord into the 2.0 port since it's the only device that has the Qualcom capabilities (it charges the battery from around 10% to around 100% in just over a couple hours ). My question is does using the quickcharge port degrade the overall battery life faster, or result in a full charge not lasting as long during the day as a charge using one of the slower ports? A lot of the time I charge my phone overnight and don't need the quick charge, so plug my phone into my son's Samsung cable for a standard rate charge just to be safe and didn't know if it really mattered .

 

[shadavis08]

No it does not degrade the battery life faster just because it charges fast. Lithium ion batteries degrade over time based on 100% charge cycles. I. E. Every time the phone is charged to 100%. So if you started your change at 50% and charged it to 100% then you use the phone and it discharges back down to 50%. That would be 1 charge cycle. You would have to ask Anker how many charge cycles their battery is rated for I guess or however made the battery you are using.

 

[Aflaaaak]

Thanks! I know about number of charge cycles degrading battery, but wasn't sure about rate of charge affecting battery longevity.

 

[Mooncatt]

Modern lithium batteries are able to handle higher charge rates. Without getting into the technical details, the G4 battery could handle at least a 3A charge before that even becomes an issue. Yes, it is possible to charge a battery too fast and cause degradation (or even explosion), but that isn't something to worry about on a phone charger.

 

[jaytee]

I thought Li-ion battery life depended more heavily on full charge cycles. In your example: 100% to 50% and then back to 100%, that should correspond to 1/2 a cycle. Am I wrong? (It happens often)

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Mooncatt]

I thought Li-ion battery life depended more heavily on full charge cycles. In your example: 100% to 50% and then back to 100%, that should correspond to 1/2 a cycle. Am I wrong? (It happens often)

Lithium battery life depends on a number of things, including both the cycle count and charge/discharge rates.

 

[jaytee]

That does count as a 1/2 cycle though, not a full cycle. Li-ion batteries, all else held constant, do better with partial cycling. For instance, if a battery is subjected to full (100%) discharges it might get 300 to 500 cycles before reaching EOL at 70% initial capacity. The same battery might be able to sustain 1200 to 1500 half (50%) discharges before reaching the same EOL capacity.

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

3,750 – 4,700

 

[Aflaaaak]

That does count as a 1/2 cycle though, not a full cycle. Li-ion batteries, all else held constant, do better with partial cycling. For instance, if a battery is subjected to full (100%) discharges it might get 300 to 500 cycles before reaching EOL at 70% initial capacity. The same battery might be able to sustain 1200 to 1500 half (50%) discharges before reaching the same EOL capacity.

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

3,750 – 4,700

I used to be at around 65% charge at the end of the day, and often would get two days from a charge. Now I'm closer to 45-50% so was debating if I should charge it overnight and top it off during the day, but sounds like I might as well just charge it overnight at 40%. The article mentioned avoiding "ultra fast chargers", but that sounded like it was more for laptop and other larger Li-ion type of batteries, no mention of Qualcom Quickcharge 2,0 on cell phone batteries. Either way, is sounds like unless I need a fast charge, it might be better overall to just do what I had been doing and use the standard rate charger port overnight.

 

[Mooncatt]

It sounds like according to Battery University, ultra fast chargers are anything above 1C charge rate. The C rating is a ratio between battery capacity and charging/discharging current. A 1:1 ratio would be 1C. For example, in our phones, the stock 3000 mAh (3Ah) battery would be capable of a 3A charge rate at 1C. The stock charger is only capable of 1.8A total. Deducting what it uses to power the phone, Ampere reports a charge rate of only about 1A to the battery on my phone.

QC2.0 chargers don't even make it to 3A on our phones, so there's no real danger. By comparison, some hobby Li-ion batteries are designed to handle 3-5C charge rates. They require special chargers, but it would be equivalent to charging the G4 battery at 15A.