Battery Question

[xocarrie]

Before getting my Droid I had a Blackberry, and I was told to let the battery run down to very low (to 10% or so) before charging it, so battery would last and hold the charge longer. But, I know for iPhones you can charge them whenever you want (for example even if they're at 70%) and it will not damage the battery memory at all.

What's the deal with Droid batteries? I just got mine over the weekend and haven't been sure how to charge it. I've just been plugging it in when it warns me it's getting low, but there are times I want to quickly plug it in before work to bump the 80% to 100%. Can I do this without hurting the battery?

Thanks.

 

[Roy Aguilera]

You will be fine charging these whenever. These newer batteries don't need special treatment.

 

[agripan.5]

Am under Motorola Technical Support and rightnow Motorola sent OTA(Over-The-Air) randomly to customers Updates on the phone about improving battery life.
DA6 is correct, it's fine charging the battery even if how much battery life remains in it. We sent out newer battery in the Market.

 

[Cory Streater]

Most phones use lithium-ion batteries, so the same rules apply.

This site provides some pretty useful info.

Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory.

 

[ericatomars06]

The more you play on it the faster the battery will go. Today I was stuck in school all day without a charger and unfortunately my Droid didn't last to make it home.. Also check to see what apps you have in the background and automatic brightness will really kill the battery.. I usually dont charge mine until the battery is in the yellow. I always charge it thru out the night and its good all day. The battery is pretty good on the droid.

 

[D-LuX]

These batteries are Lithium Polymer or Li-Po batteries... They can be charged anytime.. at 10% or 90%.. They have no memory like Nicad or Nmh batteries do. However... if you have an extra battery, and it's dead, and you toss it in a drawer dead for a while... You can kill a Li-Po... once they go below a certain voltage level they CANNOT be recharged. I'm assuming they have a low voltage cutoff on the phone to prevent this.

Li-Po's will hold a charge for quite a while when not used, but once they drop below a certain level, like if left dead for a few days. If will basically be unusable..

I only know this as I run Li-Po batteries in my RC cars... the tech is the same...

Also if you didn't know... Li-Po's are super dangerous, and can explode if they short out. So try not to drop your phone!

 

[hossberry]

i haven't had any problems charging the battery when ever if i think ill be away from a charger for a long period i'll throw it on to get a bump in the charge and havent had any problems on shorting up battery run-time
but if your using the gps for extended periods it will drain it rather quickly

 

[anthonyzul]

I'm having an issue as I write this...

Before bed last night I plugged my charger in and turned on the Multimedia Dock like I always do.. But when I woke up this morning, the phone never charged. The battery is saying it is at 5%, which is lower then when I went to bed last night. I plugged it into the wall outlet, I have it plugged into the computer right now, nothing is working. It is staying at 5%. I don't understand why it won't charge...

Any thoughts?

UPDATE: I think it might actually be working. I just noticed on the lock screen the battery power has suddenly jumped up to 10%. I'm not sure how this happened... maybe it got unplugged somehow in the middle of the night? But what I do know is that the battery charging animation is not animated. This lead me to believe things weren't quite right. Maybe after it gets so low it doesn't animate anymore? Whatever. It seems to be charging, and that's really all I cared about.

 

[prometheus]

I didn't know there was actually a CHOICE involved. I've never lasted more than 1 day. And I'm usually plugging it in when it's completely 100% dead.

 

[jdwx]

Mine religiously lasts 4.5 hours from full charge to 15% under fairly constant usage reading feeds and browsing sites, with the screen being 66/68% of the drain. And it's turned down pretty low.

Just bought the Seidio 2600 mah batt. Ugly but...

And yeah, sometimes my job is pretty boring... Haha...

 

[largeselection]

Can't wait for seidio to release the extended slim battery.

 

[li2327]

My battery life has greatly improved since the update. I still charge my battery every night though.

 

[simp_10]

My use is quite high but not likely as constant as some. I just went to 15 percent and recieved the plug in warning. I chose the option to see battery use and it has not been plugged in in 1 day and 8 hours! I am constantly checking emails but not so many calls. I'm very pleased with the battery so far but I usually plug it in everynight just in case.

 

[largeselection]

I always plug mine in every night, but I always did with the storm, curve, and tour. Most times I couldn't get through more than a day of use (I guess I'm a heavy user). Plus I wouldn't want to risk having it die in the middle of the day or something