Does Fast charging degrade your battery more quickly?

[Roadijeff]

Nothing wrong with leaving a phone on charge overnight. It's just superstition at this point left over from only partly understood information from two or three decades ago.

I totally agree. Once the battery reaches 100%, the charger stops trying to charge it.

 

[Mooncatt]

Nothing wrong with leaving a phone on charge overnight. It's just superstition at this point left over from only partly understood information from two or three decades ago.

There is partly misunderstood information on both sides, like your statement.

With Li-ion batteries, it's not a threat of overcharging that is the problem (what it sounds like you are referring to), but dwelling at a high charge state. If you charge to full, unplug it, and let it sit on a shelf long term, that elevated charge state is still going to accelerate wear on the battery. Anything over about 75% can be considered elevated.

I mean, your fridge spends it's time pressurising (quite possibly highly flammable) gases into liquids with a compressor which gets quite hot and is cooled by being partially submerged in those very same (possibly) flammable liquids... And I'd bet good money you let it run 24/7 without giving it a second thught.

I'm not here to tell you how to charge your phone, the right answer is always what works best for you. I just don't like FUD over nothing.

If you leave a phone plugged in, it's not likely to catastrophically fail due to the safeguards in place with the circuitry, just how a properly running refrigerator isn't going to go up in flames when left plugged in. What will happen is the battery will wear out faster if kept fully charged (my record was less than 6 months when I kept a phone plugged in at all times), just like how a fridge will wear out sooner if you set the temps at the coldest setting causing it to run more often.

 

[Mooncatt]

Doesn't fast charging degrade your battery quicker?

As others said, "it depends." Phones will throttle the charge rates based on temp, charge level, and if you're actively using it. One thing not yet mentioned is how fast is too fast. If we assume all the other boxes are checked to allow the fastest rates, the phone negotiates with the charger on what that is. Assuming the charger is capable of matching or charging faster than the phone is designed for, the phone will limit the charge to the maximum safe level.

The reason we now see faster charging abilities is largely due to increased battery size. The maximum safe charging rate is dependent on battery size; the larger the battery, the more current it can handle. It wouldn't be safe to charge a 1,000mAh battery at 5A, but a 5,000mAh battery would be fine during the initial fast charge stage as long as it isn't allowed to get hot during use or high ambient temps. The time to full hasn't really changed much over the years.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

There is partly misunderstood information on both sides, like your statement.

With Li-ion batteries, it's not a threat of overcharging that is the problem (what it sounds like you are referring to), but dwelling at a high charge state. If you charge to full, unplug it, and let it sit on a shelf long term, that elevated charge state is still going to accelerate wear on the battery. Anything over about 75% can be considered elevated.



If you leave a phone plugged in, it's not likely to catastrophically fail due to the safeguards in place with the circuitry, just how a properly running refrigerator isn't going to go up in flames when left plugged in. What will happen is the battery will wear out faster if kept fully charged (my record was less than 6 months when I kept a phone plugged in at all times), just like how a fridge will wear out sooner if you set the temps at the coldest setting causing it to run more often.

I mean, yeah, there's the "never charge above 80% or drop below 40%" crowd, but that's an entirely different silly argument.

What I was specifically referring to is the difference between fully charging, than removing it from charge. And fully charging and leaving it overnight. Which is effectively none.

What you're doing here is a bit of a Straw-man... I'm obviously talking about overnight charging and not leaving a device plugged in for days, weeks or months on end.

 

[Mooncatt]

What you're doing here is a bit of a Straw-man... I'm obviously talking about overnight charging and not leaving a device plugged in for days, weeks or months on end.

What I'm doing is correcting a factually wrong statement on your part, and your misappropriated analogy. You said there is "nothing wrong" with overnight charging, when that isn't exactly the case.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

What I'm doing is correcting a factually wrong statement on your part, and your misappropriated analogy. You said there is "nothing wrong" with overnight charging, when that isn't exactly the case.

But it is, there's nothing wrong with overnight charging.

InB4 modlock lol

 

[Mooncatt]

But it is, there's nothing wrong with overnight charging.

...other than shortening battery life. You can read the data yourself here.

https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries

This didn't use to matter when batteries could easily be replaced, because they were cheap and didn't have to worry about breaking the phone doing it. It may not even matter to someone replacing a phone yearly. For people that don't treat phones as e-waste with a data connection and keep them long term, this matters a lot.

 

[mustang7757]

[As long as we keep it civil and don't keep going back n forth on same thing or members , we should be ok .
But this topic was really on does "fast charging degrade battery " so let's try to stick to that part]

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

...other than shortening battery life. You can read the data yourself here.

https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries

This didn't use to matter when batteries could easily be replaced, because they were cheap and didn't have to worry about breaking the phone doing it. It may not even matter to someone replacing a phone yearly. For people that don't treat phones as e-waste with a data connection and keep them long term, this matters a lot.

That used to be an issue, but manufacturers realised that and most modern batteries have a floor and a ceiling built into them. Although the software displays a scale from zero to 100%, you can't actually charge a cell to 100% of it's capacity.

But as I said, it's a different argument. This isn't a technical forum. And I stand by the point, which is fast charging is fine. Slow charging is also fine. Charging your phone overnight won't hurt your battery. Charge how you want, dude. If you like to keep it between 40 and 80, that's your anxiety to deal with.

But I will agree we should just bring back user replaceable batteries and make it an absolute certain non-issue! Although for the record my OnePlus 5 is still in use and holds a charge fine 5 years on.

 

[Ambreen Mustafa]

so, I've tried Samsung's 25 Watt charger and Aukey 60 watt charger with 100w USB c wire. but, it doesn't show "super fast charging" only "fast charging" on my s21 ultra exynos variant. its already checked on the advanced battery setting. tried turning of the adoptive charging as well.

any solution?

 

[Mooncatt]

so, I've tried Samsung's 25 Watt charger and Aukey 60 watt charger with 100w USB c wire. but, it doesn't show "super fast charging" only "fast charging" on my s21 ultra exynos variant. its already checked on the advanced battery setting. tried turning of the adoptive charging as well.

any solution?

I know on some of Samsung's phones, they use a non-typical charging voltage that third party chargers have been slow to adopt. There is much more to chargers than wattage. Voltage and amperage (which are multiplied to get wattage) are the determining factors.

 

[Ambreen Mustafa]

I know on some of Samsung's phones, they use a non-typical charging voltage that third party chargers have been slow to adopt. There is much more to chargers than wattage. Voltage and amperage (which are multiplied to get wattage) are the determining factors.

Yeah well I said I used samsung charger. So this doesn't really help me

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Yeah well I said I used samsung charger. So this doesn't really help me

Not the greatest way to solicit help... Sounds like your phone is broken, too bad.

 

[Mooncatt]

Yeah well I said I used samsung charger. So this doesn't really help me

I thought Samsung only included the 25W say charger, and it's their 45W charger needed to get the super fast charging. So when you said you went from 25W OEM to 60W Aukey, I read that to mean you were trying to get the 45W speed without paying the expensive OEM price.

 

[Ambreen Mustafa]

s21 ultra doesn't support 45 watt charging. it's 25 watt charging is super fast charging

 

[Mooncatt]

s21 ultra doesn't support 45 watt charging. it's 25 watt charging is super fast charging

Samsung needs to make up their mind, then. Lol

Though, to be honest, it doesn't matter much to me. Phones charge plenty fast for me without needing to push the battery so hard. My chargers top out at 15W, even though my phone can accept 25W power, and it is fine. Besides, the faster the initial charging power, the slower the second stage constant/voltage/variable current goes. Higher wattage may help with a quick bump, but charging times overall haven't really changed much. Less than 10 minutes difference between 25W and 45W on other Samsung phones that can make use of 45W chargers.

 

[BergerKing]

Edited your title to reflect that it's a question you were asking about fast charging.

But I rode my Note 9 for 3 years running off its fast charger. It's just really starting to fade due to the extraordinary amount of usage, I've practically lived on the device since I got it, and I'm notorious for killing batteries prematurely, so I'd say no, I've noticed no problem with fast charging to this point.

 

[gray2018]

I use the 25 watt charger for my device. I also have the 45 watt charger. I use the 45 watt charger when I'm in a hurry. And when I'm not in a hurry, say like over night, I turn off fast charging and just use the 25 watt charger.
I personally don't care if it degrades the battery or not. I want to use my device when I want, and if that means charging it really fast when I need it, that's what I'm gonna do. I can always have the battery replaced over time if need be. So that's not an issue at all.
And for 50 bucks, for my device, I wouldn't normally say the Samsung 45 watt charger is worth it for that price over the 25 watt charger. But, I got mine for only 12 dollars. So I think that wasn't too bad. Just my two cents.

I also like the fact that with Samsung devices, you have the option to use standard fast charging, or super fast charging. At least with devices that support the 25 watt charger.

 

[Roadijeff]

That used to be an issue, but manufacturers realised that and most modern batteries have a floor and a ceiling built into them. Although the software displays a scale from zero to 100%, you can't actually charge a cell to 100% of it's capacity.

But as I said, it's a different argument. This isn't a technical forum. And I stand by the point, which is fast charging is fine. Slow charging is also fine. Charging your phone overnight won't hurt your battery. Charge how you want, dude. If you like to keep it between 40 and 80, that's your anxiety to deal with.

But I will agree we should just bring back user replaceable batteries and make it an absolute certain non-issue! Although for the record my OnePlus 5 is still in use and holds a charge fine 5 years on.

Fast charging causes a battery to get hotter. Heat degrades battery life. I turned off the options for fast charging in my S21 Ultra and I get 3+ days out of a 100% charged battery before it needs to be put back on the charger for 4-5 hours. I just leave it on there overnight.

 

[anon(40376)]

Were talking a battery here, not a nuclear device. Charge it how you want to charge it. I have never taken the time to cut the power to a phone after hitting 80% and never had a real batter problem will my Moto Z-Force and that was most likely due to it sat, connected to a cord, on a stand for almost two years acting as a clock in one of my rooms. I checked it out and the battery had pretty much deteriorated so I replace it. Approx. thirty bucks and an hour at the table. Back living life as a clock again, but could also be used as a phone.

My Pixel 4XL has been either connected to a cord or placed on a wireless charging stand and left to charge overnight since I received it almost two years ago; battery is till going strong...