How many charge their Pixel 2's overnight?

[davidnc]

Im awake whenever I am charging my phone.
I do not charge overnight as I sleep.

 

[radgatt]

I charge overnight every night. Just out of habit.

 

[stang6790]

I think batteries degrade with each charge cycle, and the deeper the charge cycle, eg. from 10% to 100%, the more damaging. If you charge every single night you are wearing out your battery faster than if you keep your battery between, say 40% and 90%.

I guess the bottom line is if you replace your phone every two years or sooner go ahead and charge every night, the battery will degrade but should get you to the two year mark.

If you plan on keeping the phone longer than two years I wouldn't charge every night. I'm in the "keeping more than two year" category. With the strong battery life in my 2 XL I typically go to bed with it at 60% or so. When I wake up I plug it in, do my morning routine and when I go to work 45 minutes later I typically have 90% charge or so. Sometimes I don't charge in the morning, I can make it until work is over, then plug it in.

The idea is to reduce the number of charge cycles and avoid deep charging cycles.

But by keeping it between 40 and 90 you end up with more charge cycles than if you charged to 100 and ran down to 10, since you are charging at every 50% usage and I would be at every 90%.

 

[Jordan Sheppard]

But by keeping it between 40 and 90 you end up with more charge cycles than if you charged to 100 and ran down to 10, since you are charging at every 50% usage and I would be at every 90%.

My understanding is that a charge cycle is 0 - 100% so either way is the same. I don't leave mine on the charger overnight because once it hits 100%, it starts to discharge and then kick-starts the charger at 99% which over time adds up to more charge cycles. I don't know how true this is, but it makes sense to me.

 

[Orion78]

I charge every night. Been doing that since the EVO days lol. I upgrade every two years anyway. With the exception of the Nexus 6....had that phone for 3 and the battery degraded big-time.

 

[Mike Dee]

I charge overnight, I lose ~30% overnight so I need to lol

30 percent overnight is pretty steep

 

[ca_steve]

But by keeping it between 40 and 90 you end up with more charge cycles than if you charged to 100 and ran down to 10, since you are charging at every 50% usage and I would be at every 90%.

There's a lot of different Li-Ion chemistries...but, in general, deeper discharge of the battery will shorten the battery's lifetime...and many of these batteries start to degrade after 300 charge cycles (can't find the reference paper at the moment). So, there will be a sweet spot between how much you discharge your phone in a day vs number of charge cycles per year in order to maximize the battery's life. It turns out to be in the 40-50% range.

I'm a light user. For my N5X, this meant charging every other night. For my P2, it's ~3 days.

Also, no downside to charging the phone overnight.

 

[Morty2264]

I charge every night with every phone I've had. Phones nowadays don't overcharge - once they hit 100%, they will be safe.

 

[cbreze]

I agree there is no issue with leaving a phone plugged in all night. My concern is do all the topping off charges during the nite count in my battery's degradation? My pixel drops 7% overnight so my logic is do I need to keep topping it off through out the night? With a pixel 7% is negligible as it still lasts me all day and then some. So while I used to always leave it plugged in overnight with every other phone. I'm not seeing a valuable point to charge it up to 100% in about an hour or so then leave it plugged in to keep it topping itself off so I can be at 100 in the morning. That's about 7 hours of plug in time beyond a full charge. If I feel the need I can boost it back to 100% in a few short min after I get up. Anyway just my 2 cents.

 

[TeamSeven]

I charge overnight but when I wake up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I just unplug it.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

But by keeping it between 40 and 90 you end up with more charge cycles than if you charged to 100 and ran down to 10, since you are charging at every 50% usage and I would be at every 90%.

That's still better for the battery than charging to 100 and deep discharging every day. Battery University suggests staying between 25 and 85 for best results.

 

[Morty2264]

I charge overnight but when I wake up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I just unplug it.

Yup. Even if I wake up at 3 AM, as I roll over to switch to another pillow, I unplug my phone. Always gotta be thinking about my phone!

 

[PowrDroid]

Yup. Even if I wake up at 3 AM, as I roll over to switch to another pillow, I unplug my phone. Always gotta be thinking about my phone!

So you sleep with your phone, too?

 

[Morty2264]

So you sleep with your phone, too?

LOOL usually it's charging at my bedside table... But I did sleep with it last night. What can I say - it's like an external organ!

 

[Eggmundo]

That's still better for the battery than charging to 100 and deep discharging every day. Battery University suggests staying between 25 and 85 for best results.

So never let battery drop to below 25 and try not to charge it up beyond 85?

In that case it's best not to charge overnight as it will be at 100 for hours, right?

 

[PowrDroid]

So never let battery drop to below 25 and try not to charge it up beyond 85?

In that case it's best not to charge overnight as it will be at 100 for hours, right?

That's the consensus advice. BUT, the question then becomes--how much damage does charging overnight actually do? I've never heard a definitive answer, just that your phone should be OK for two years.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

So never let battery drop to below 25 and try not to charge it up beyond 85?

In that case it's best not to charge overnight as it will be at 100 for hours, right?

Occasionally draining the battery below 25 is fine. Just try to stay within that range as often as possible. Deep discharging is probably worse for the battery than charging overnight, but it will trickle charge after reaching 100%. This will lead to higher temperatures over several hours which is known to play a role in battery degradation. I never charge overnight since my phone only drains 1-2% overnight and I keep some of my phones for 2+ years. My 2.5+ year old Nexus 6 still has 90+ % battery capacity after usually staying between 25 and 85 and never charging overnight.

 

[idiotekniques]

I did some more reading and now installed a battery alarm for 90% and 30% to take off the charger and then put back on and will try to adhere to that when it is convenient. Thanks for the replies

 

[Mooncatt]

That's the consensus advice. BUT, the question then becomes--how much damage does charging overnight actually do? I've never heard a definitive answer, just that your phone should be OK for two years.

Lithium batteries prefer a happy medium. Deep discharging and high charge levels both cause accelerated wear, but a high charge level is the lesser of two evils. So even though it's hard to say exactly how much wear happens from overnight charging, it's enough to say it is being worn out more than if you went to bed with it at 70% or so and charged in the morning for immediate use.

It's not over charging or heat that's the issue here. It's the simple act of being above 75-80% for an extended amount of time. You could charge a lithium to 100%, completely disconnect the battery and put it on the shelf, and it'll still likely be toast in a matter of months.

 

[Kangda]

I charge before bedtime to 100%, then unplug before I sleep. I usually lose about 7% overnight, not having used or touched the phone overnight.