charging a battery outside the phone

[ShaggyKids]

I have a new extended battery coming today and I'm wondering (you can all laugh if you want to but I really don't know the safe answer here) ... can I charge a phone battery when it's not inside the phone? In other words just plug the battery itself in and charge it w/o a docking or charging station? I would like to charge both batteries for a solid 24 hours and I can't do that when it's in my phone and I can't turn my phone off for 24 hours.

If I can do this are there any safety precautions I should take?

 

[fatboy97]

Two ways I see: USB Battery Dock+Charger Cradle For HTC Thunderbolt 4G, or AC Home Dock Battery Charger for HTC Thunderbolt 4G New

These should work with any battery... but I don't have a second battery, so I can't personally speak for them... but you will need something like one of these to charge a battery externally.

 

[Treknologist]

I have a dock that I use to charge (the second one linked to above) and it works quite well.

 

[FrankXS]

You'll need a contraption of some sort

I have this one and it works good: seidioonline.com. It will allow you to charge the one in the phone and the one in the contraption simultaneously.

And I have this one coming in the mail:
2x BATTERY DOCK Charger For HTC Thunderbolt 4G VERIZON | eBay

I've had one like the above cheap one before for another phone. It worked alright for me. This one also allows charging the external battery and the phone at the same time.

Both work for the HTC standard and the HTC extended battery.

-Frank

 

[ShaggyKids]

Dang, I thought I could just plug the HTC cable into the battery and the wall outlet but now that my new battery is here I can see that's not an option. Dang dang dang. I don't have an external charging dock.

Does anyone know if charging the battery for a full 24 hours makes any kind of difference at all as far as getting a better, longer lasting charge?

 

[FrankXS]

Does anyone know if charging the battery for a full 24 hours makes any kind of difference at all as far as getting a better, longer lasting charge?

In my opinion it will not make any difference. Or, at least, negligible difference. This whole "charge for 24 hours" thingy is mostly a relic of older technologies (like NiCAD).

Remember that Li-Ion batteries (like these for the TBolt) have circuits built-in to prevent overcharging. The way they work is to discontinue charging when the battery reaches a full charge, let it drift down to some lower value (maybe ~95 percent?) and then resume, and then stop, etc. By leaving it on charge for 24 hours you are simply getting more of these "cycles" faster than if you didn't leave it on for 24 hours. But, eventually, with normal usage, you would have gotten them anyway.

However, it is very important not to run the battery down to nuttin' until after you have fully charged it for the first time (few hours at least).

During all of this the phone can be powered on, though. No need to keep the phone off.

-Frank

 

[fatboy97]

However, it is very important not to run the battery down to nuttin' until after you have fully charged it for the first time (few hours at least).

I would NEVER recommend EVER letting a smartphone battery run down to nuttin'. I try to keep my phone plugged in as much as possible... which is never going to hurt your battery... but personally, if I had to have 2 batteries, I'd only let my phone go down to 10-15 percent before replacing it.

 

[Charmed Juan]

I have three spare batteries and two cradle chargers, one at work and one at home.
You can get these cheap from Ebay (4 IN1 CHARGER BATTERY CABLE 4 HTC Thunder Bolt 4G Phone | eBay)
At the end of my work day, I put in a fresh battery from the cradle charger and I am usually good for the rest of the day.