Optimal way of recharging the battery

[SergiuB]

I've just switched from my old One X+ to the M8 and, low and behold, the 2600mA battery didn't seem to fare too well for its first 100% to 20% cycle. After reading some reviews on this topic I was pretty much expecting for the new phone to last for a bit more than 22 hours some 1+ hour screen activity time. And seeing how my old one degraded over the past 2 years (not so much as to become a big problem but surely a noticeable drop in day-to-day battery life), I started using the M8 with a certain emphasis on how fast I'm depleting its energy and how I recharge it.

Yesterday I stumbled over an article where this guy was making some recommendation on how to extend the lifetime of LiPo batteries (generally speaking), and his core advice was to never let the battery drop below 20% as the way this type of batteries is designed makes them prone to over-time damage due to the extra stress posed by recharging them below that level. Well, we all know that on android phones the low battery notifications start popping up when the device gets to 14% and I was wondering if it's better to rely on the notifications rather than going with the 20% advice. I know it doesn't seem to make a big difference but I hate to get to that point where I restrict myself to short and basic usage sessions in order to make sure my phone doesn't shut down before I get back home (been there).

On the same topic, does anyone know if Quick Charge 2.0 is as feasible as its 1.0 counterpart in terms of long term battery life?

 

[Stanley Kubrick]

My question is - how do any of these people really "know" what is best when it comes to the way to recharge and discharge these batteries? Do they have some inside information? Did they get their advice from the people who designed the battery and really know what's best? Or, are they just guessing based on reading what other people have said who don't know any more than they do? Ask three people and you will get three different answers.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

 

[SergiuB]

I think the topic was on LiPo, not Li Ion, but I agree with you that there are many who have their semi-educated opinions when it comes to certain subjects. For that reason I posted here in the hope that some HTC users have some relevant experience in this area, or maybe they have some details I might have overlooked (didn't find any clear information on this subject in the phone's documentation, but rather some basic instructions on how to use a charger)

 

[Mooncatt]

LI-Po and Li-Ion batteries are essentially the same chemical technology, just with different construction. From what I've read, the charging and care of them are the same, so those battery university links would still apply. In general, they like small charges, not drained and then fully charged. They also don't like being held at full charge either, making unplug your phone when it hits 100% even if you still have easy access to the charger.

 

[SergiuB]

After doing more research on the subject here is what I consider to be useful pieces of information:

1. Lithium-based batteries should not be allowed to deplete completely as this inflicts damage to their life span. As Mooncatt said above, smaller charges are better consequently we shouldn't need to wait for the "14% battery left" notifications. *however*
2. Lithium-based batteries have a flat discharge curve (no voltage drops), therefore the only way for the phone to estimate the charge level is to measure the amount of energy that goes in and out.
*therefore*
3. Even though it's not safe to let the battery deplete completely, you'd normally want to do this at least once, preferably immediately after buying it so that the phone can make the correct max. input and output measurements (a.k.a calibration - although some people say this was only effective for older types of batteries, this would still make sense today given point no. 2 above)
4. The rate of degradation of Lithium-based batteries is strongly temperature-dependent, therefore it's best to keep them as cool as possible (now I know why my past droids kept yelling at me when the battery went past 45deg.C). I don't know if the M8 gets hot when being left to charge overnight but I do know some of my earlier phones did, so at least from now on I'll make sure I don't let it plugged at 100% 6 hours/night, but that's just me.

 

[Mooncatt]

I don't know if the M8 gets hot when being left to charge overnight but I do know some of my earlier phones did, so at least from now on I'll make sure I don't let it plugged at 100% 6 hours/night, but that's just me.

Lithium based batteries shouldn't get hot during normal charging. They may get a little warmer, but getting hot is sign of a battery that's on its way out, if not bad already.

 

[Benjamin_NYC]

Lithium based batteries shouldn't get hot during normal charging. They may get a little warmer, but getting hot is sign of a battery that's on its way out, if not bad already.

That makes no sense. My M8 gets hot while charging under certain circumstances, like charging while using the screen at the same time. And the battery is certainly not in the way out. By hot I mean up to 110°F.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Old Stoneface]

I've seen all kinds of advice on how to baby rechargeable lithium batteries--much of it conflicting. Here's what I do: I use it all day and put it on the charger when I go to bed. Take it off the charger when I get up. I'll do an intermediate charge on those rare occasions where battery consumption has been exceedingly high. If the device all-of-a-sudden appears to be consuming power at a higher-than-normal rate, repeatedly, for no apparent reason, I assume it's lost track of the battery's capacity and I run it into the ground to re-teach the device the battery's runtime.

To avoid excess battery consumption I avoid applications and services that consume inordinate or unnecessary power. For example: I disable all Google services I'm not using. I uninstalled TuneIn Radio Pro when I found out it sat there, 24x7x52, nattering on the network, consuming power. (It seems they've since made it even more annoying, with forced social media integration. Glad I got it for cheap, on sale.)

If ever I owned a device for which the above (reasonable, IMO) measures were insufficient to give me reasonable runtime: I'd be rid of that device as soon as practical and would be disinclined to chose another from that manufacturer again.

 

[Mooncatt]

That makes no sense. My M8 gets hot while charging under certain circumstances, like charging while using the screen at the same time. And the battery is certainly not in the way out. By hot I mean up to 110°F.

That's because you're using the phone, which is to be expected. For a good idea of how the battery is being affected by charging, you should monitor it while the phone is sitting idle and not generating much get from use.

 

[momo jo]

When all is said and done the M8 battery, unless it's defective, will last, on average, two years. No matter how we use our phones and/ or our charging rituals. And this is coming from someone with no battery expertise except smart phone usage and personal history.

 

[Benjamin_NYC]

That's because you're using the phone, which is to be expected. For a good idea of how the battery is being affected by charging, you should monitor it while the phone is sitting idle and not generating much get from use.

Ah you mean when not in use? OK yes it does not get hot then. Question, since you seem to be knowledgeable in this area:

My N5 never gets hot even when charging. However, it gets up to 113°F when using a wireless charger. And this is not while using the screen. Is there something wrong with my wireless charger? It's a OEM Nokia one, so I thought it would be high quality.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Android Optimizer]

Here's what I do: I use it all day and put it on the charger when I go to bed. Take it off the charger when I get up.

Do you have an m8 (or other recent flagship phone)? Do you heavily use your phone all day (watching videos, etc)? The HTC One m8 lasts multiple days (3-5) on a charge for most users. If you're only using 20-30% of your battery in a day, and then you're plugging it into charge every night then your battery is not going to last as long as someone who charges the same phone less frequently (most manuals will tell you that batteries only charge a certain amount of times). You'll also find a lot of people on the forum that will tell you leaving your phone charging after it hits 100% is not a good idea. (Aka: charging overnight is not a good idea). The m8 with its original charger takes less than 2 1/2 hours to fully charge, so leaving it plugged in longer then that is unnecessary.

 

[Mooncatt]

Ah you mean when not in use? OK yes it does not get hot then. Question, since you seem to be knowledgeable in this area:

My N5 never gets hot even when charging. However, it gets up to 113°F when using a wireless charger. And this is not while using the screen. Is there something wrong with my wireless charger? It's a OEM Nokia one, so I thought it would be high quality.

I'm not too familiar with wireless charging, but I remember seeing a comment in another thread somewhere, possibly on another site, that wireless charging isn't as efficient as a plug in. I don't know how true that is, but would maybe explain the temperature rise. I'd suggest contacting the manufacture about it just to make sure, unless someone else here can answer that.

 

[SergiuB]

If you're only using 20-30% of your battery in a day, and then you're plugging it into charge every night then your battery is not going to last as long as someone who charges the same phone less frequently (most manuals will tell you that batteries only charge a certain amount of times).

I don't know about that, the information I got on this subject points to the fact that for Lithium-based batteries the number of recharges is not as big of a problem as rises in temperature is. And since recharging the battery does exactly that, logic would dictate more short recharge sessions rather than less - but longer - ones.