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Is Fast Charging all the time bad for the battery/phone?

smooth4lyfe

Trusted Member
Sep 16, 2012
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Something I was wondering, for those who charge up their phones a lot using the cable, if one were to leave fast charging on all the time, is that bad for the battery or phone?
 

clevin

New member
Nov 12, 2010
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this has been asked before, in theory, yes, in practice, nobody has seen noticeable difference.
 

Rukbat

Retired Moderator
Feb 12, 2012
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"Fast" charging is actually about 0.5C charging, which, as far as the battery is concerned, pretty slow charging. (0.75C is the maximum recommended rate for the life of the battery, but charging at 1C once in a while, as long as the battery is ventilated enough to not overheat, is no problem.

Leaving the charger plugged in for a few years is no problem either - charging stops when the battery is fully charged. If you leave the charger plugged in long enough the battery will self-discharge down to about 99% and the charger will kick in for a few minutes to top the battery off. BTW, when the phone says "100%", the phone probably isn't at full charge. If you don't have an app that shows battery voltage to 3 places, leave the charger plugged in for 30 minutes after reaching "100%" to make sure the battery is fully charged. (If you do, keep charging until the voltage stops increasing - that's what the phone's supposed to be watching for to turn charging off.)

@Clevin:
No one will, unless the charging circuit in the phone goes bad and the battery gets overcharged. (Which, other than one defective lot of Sony batteries a few years back, hasn't happened.)
 

smooth4lyfe

Trusted Member
Sep 16, 2012
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"Fast" charging is actually about 0.5C charging, which, as far as the battery is concerned, pretty slow charging. (0.75C is the maximum recommended rate for the life of the battery, but charging at 1C once in a while, as long as the battery is ventilated enough to not overheat, is no problem.

Leaving the charger plugged in for a few years is no problem either - charging stops when the battery is fully charged. If you leave the charger plugged in long enough the battery will self-discharge down to about 99% and the charger will kick in for a few minutes to top the battery off. BTW, when the phone says "100%", the phone probably isn't at full charge. If you don't have an app that shows battery voltage to 3 places, leave the charger plugged in for 30 minutes after reaching "100%" to make sure the battery is fully charged. (If you do, keep charging until the voltage stops increasing - that's what the phone's supposed to be watching for to turn charging off.)

@Clevin:
No one will, unless the charging circuit in the phone goes bad and the battery gets overcharged. (Which, other than one defective lot of Sony batteries a few years back, hasn't happened.)

Awesome thanks for this answer
 

clevin

New member
Nov 12, 2010
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just to add, for li-ion battery, charging to 100% is not recommended, nor is it required. You can pretty much charge from any % to any % with no ill effect on the battery itself, actually better to avoid 0-100 charging.
 

smooth4lyfe

Trusted Member
Sep 16, 2012
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just to add, for li-ion battery, charging to 100% is not recommended, nor is it required. You can pretty much charge from any % to any % with no ill effect on the battery itself, actually better to avoid 0-100 charging.

Why is that? So overnight charging is not good?
 

msm0511

Trusted Member
Aug 23, 2014
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my explanation is in full here http://forums.androidcentral.com/go...w-realy-really-prolong-your-battery-life.html

All information from batteryuniversity.com

Now, obviously you will have to balance the recommendation in my other post, with the fact that the phone needs to last reasonably long, so if 30-80% rule doesn't work for you, try 20-85%.

I remember reading a while ago about a 20-80% advantage. I can't seem to follow that advice. LOL. My battery rarely gets below 30%, but can't break the habit of charging til 100%
 

STEVESKI07

New member
Mar 10, 2015
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I remember reading a while ago about a 20-80% advantage. I can't seem to follow that advice. LOL. My battery rarely gets below 30%, but can't break the habit of charging til 100%

Same. I can't stand seeing my phone dropping below 30%, but I will most likely be going to 100% each time, especially over night to start the next day.
 

paperb0x

New member
Apr 1, 2015
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Since the S6 only comes with a fast charger, would anybody suggest purchasing another charger that isn't "fast charging"?
If so, any suggestion/recommendations?
 
Aug 11, 2015
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In my business of charging I've seen batteries charged at way above 1C. The thing about fast charging is it uses more voltage than amps. While I'm not 100% familiar with the way my peak chargers load all the amps in using more voltage seems fairly unsafe. The idea of battery physics us against it however the laws of electricity are for it as far as I know

Posted via the Android Central App
 

ArtificiallyYours

New member
Aug 7, 2015
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Usually I've started plugging my phone in when it was on the red or gave me critical-notice, I've also restarted my phone to charge it as to alleviate drain issues. But this blows those methods out of the water. Thank you for posting this man.
 

Eddy Q

New member
Nov 3, 2015
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Can the fast charger be used for other devices

Since the Fast Charger outputs 9 or 5 volts, is it safe to use it to charge other phones that are not setup for fast charging?
 

Eddy Q

New member
Nov 3, 2015
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Re: Can the fast charger be used for other devices

I typed the post twice but can't see how to delete the 2nd one so I changed it to this "ignore" message.
 

Eddy Q

New member
Nov 3, 2015
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Re: Can the fast charger be used for other devices

I have to charge mine at least twice a day. I play with it constantly.
 

thatnote4

New member
Jan 4, 2016
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Why is that? So overnight charging is not good?

Yes, charge over night. Dont listen to that guy. FTom years of experience and being a technician myself. I can tell you that it won't hurt the battery. As long as you don't overheat the battery your fine. Also, You can charge 0-100 with no side affects. Now don't do It regularly but it is good to "calibrate" the battery by going 100% to 0% and back to 100%. Do what your comfortable with and what you can do in your time. The batteries of today are smarter and so are the chargers them selfs.
 

bbtkd

New member
Dec 27, 2014
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Yes, charge over night. Dont listen to that guy. FTom years of experience and being a technician myself. I can tell you that it won't hurt the battery. As long as you don't overheat the battery your fine. Also, You can charge 0-100 with no side affects. Now don't do It regularly but it is good to "calibrate" the battery by going 100% to 0% and back to 100%. Do what your comfortable with and what you can do in your time. The batteries of today are smarter and so are the chargers them selfs.

I agree that you should be able to allow your phone to charge overnight, and should be able to use rapid charging - but that is presuming a problem doesn't arise. There have been several cases - certainly the vast minority - on these forums of phone batteries bursting, failing, and even destroying the phone. In these cases something apparently did not work as designed, and that can happen with any technology. It comes down to how paranoid you want to be. I personally won't use rapid charging because I don't need it, so can eliminate some risk. Same goes for overnight (read unattended) charging - I avoid that by charging before I go to bed. Lithium Ion batteries are dangerous if breached and exposed to air, so charging needs to occur in a way that is controlled and does not exceed specified temperatures.