Is it bad to overcharge?

[OrelTheGamer OTG]

I bought the galaxy note 7 a couple days ago and I thought IS IT BAD TO OVERCHARGE?

 

[Golfdriver97]

To overcharge, yes. However, there are safeguards in place to restrict that from happening.

 

[ecfritts]

I was curious about this as well. I put my phone on the wireless charger / stand at night so the phone serves as an alarm clock also. Then I got to thinking, if the phone is fully charged at say 0330 and I don't wake until 0530, is this bad for the battery? It's not a Samsung fast charger if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance.

 

[Law2138]

To overcharge, yes. However, there are safeguards in place to restrict that from happening.

Any idea as to what those safeguards are? I would imagine that they are on the device firmware and battery. I'm following the thread on Exploding Note 7s with USB C cables. I don't understand how it could be the cable that can lead to that.

 

[TylerLV76]

Any idea as to what those safeguards are? I would imagine that they are on the device firmware and battery. I'm following the thread on Exploding Note 7s with USB C cables. I don't understand how it could be the cable that can lead to that.

This puts it into perspective a bit.

USB 2.0

The second version of USB arrived in April 2000 and it provided a massive boost in maximum data throughput, up to 480Mbps. Power draw was also increased to a maximum of 1.8A at 2.5V.

USB 3.0

USB 3.0 was a big change as it brought new connector types to allow for its extra speed and power draw, with them often coloured blue to denote their prowess. USB 3.0 can run at up to 5Gbps, delivering 5V at 1.8A. It arrived in November 2008.

USB 3.1

The latest and greatest version of USB was released in July 2013, though uptake is still almost non-existent. It can deliver 10Gbps of throughput while up to 2A can be drawn over 5V, and optionally either 5A over 12V (60W) or 20V (100W). This is the reason the new MacBook can be powered just by its USB connection.

The voltage is significantly higher on USB C and Im betting if a cable manufacturer didnt maintain the specs they could be sending too much power to the device. Just my speculation here.

 

[tinybfk]

Any idea as to what those safeguards are? I would imagine that they are on the device firmware and battery. I'm following the thread on Exploding Note 7s with USB C cables. I don't understand how it could be the cable that can lead to that.

Look up the thread about the recall on the Anker cables. Basically if you plugged them in to something needing more power then unplugged it and plugged in your phone it would be sending more power than the phone could handle. At least that's how I understood it. The cable basically made the charger think it was a device with a higher draw. This was caused by the actual cable. There are Safeguard's in place with the the charging brick, cable and phones. But what when stuff isn't made to spec it causes a problem. Those Safeguard's cut power or reduce draw when needed, hence the reason you can leave your phone plugged in after the battery is charged without it overcharging.

 

[Law2138]

Look up the thread about the recall on the Anker cables. Basically if you plugged them in to something needing more power then unplugged it and plugged in your phone it would be sending more power than the phone could handle. At least that's how I understood it. The cable basically made the charger think it was a device with a higher draw. This was caused by the actual cable. There are Safeguard's in place with the the charging brick, cable and phones. But what when stuff isn't made to spec it causes a problem. Those Safeguard's cut power or reduce draw when needed, hence the reason you can leave your phone plugged in after the battery is charged without it overcharging.

That's pretty crazy that cables have that memory. I guess it can be compared to something getting stretched out. Once a certain amount of power goes through a cable (depending on the draw of the initial device) that will always be the amount let through? I can't recall how many times I used a micro USB cable on a tablet, phone, Xbox One remote, bluetooth speaker, etc. To think that I could be damaging a device based on the type of cable I used is alarming.

Perhaps this is more noticeable with the amount of power USB-C allows through.

 

[Strong_Genetics]

Well the chargers stop charging when Your phone is at 100% and is designed to just hold the 100% charge at that point...