Is there a best way to charge your battery??

[pawprints86]

Ive read so many things, like:

-let it almost fully discharge then charge to 100%
-li-ion batteries do best if you charge to roughly 80% and only let drain until 40%
-keep it at 100% charge as much as possible, never let it drain
-li-ion dont like to be at 100%
-they do have memory, and they dont

Whats the best thing to do??

depending on my usage, i can get 2 days out of it, but if i use it more often, ill make it one day (till it gets around 30-40%, which ive read is when its time to charge).

Some people leave them plugged in overnight, others unplug as soon as fully charged.

ive read that trickle charge inst possible - is that true??

What do you all do?

ETA: Ive also found a screen dimmer app, whcih lets me dim the screen beyond factory settings, but this uses ram. so am i better off with a bit less ram or dimmer pixels?

 

[pawprints86]

Nobody has any feedback on this at all??

 

[Sizzers]

Nobody has any feedback on this at all??

Here.... http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

And here.... http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

 

[Mooncatt]

Battery university is a great resource, but I'll answer your points in short from my past readings there.

For the absolute best life, you wouldn't want to charge to 100%, but that's probably extreme for the average user. You can charge lithiums to 100%, but you don't want to leave them plugged in after. If you plan to leave the phone off for extended periods of time, you'll want to leave it around 50-75% charge. That prevents the extended high charge while ensuring enough charge to not drain itself while shelved. This is why phones are only shipped with a partial charge, because it could be a long time before it's actually put to use. Holding a high charge and drawing it down to cutoff repeatedly will shorten their lifespan. A lot of people like to charge overnight so they have a fresh battery in the morning, but that's not a good idea anymore. They like being in the middle.

Lithiums are not affected by memory issues like older technologies. You can partially charge over and over without that becoming the new "full" mark. If in the off chance that does happen, running it down to cutoff, then fully charging it to 100% can recalibrate it. It won't fix actual internal damage that limits capacity.

Trickle charge isn't possible. The battery will charge to full and the charging will stop. Lithiums do have a self discharge at very low rates when not in use, in which case the charger will kick back on.

Screen dimmers may or may not help or hurt battery life. The app itself will have negligible effect on battery life. Memory uses the same amount of power whether it's used or free, hence the phrase "free memory is wasted memory." If it is actually dimming the backlight or pixels (for AMOLED screens), it'll help. To go below the stock minimum usually requires root access. The other form of dimming apps doesn't actually dim the screen. It puts something like virtual window tint over the display for a similar effect. Those can go as dark as you want, but the trade-off is you lose some color clarity. That's the kind I currently use and I don't even notice a hit in normal battery performance. Because that kind of app isn't actually dimming the backlight/pixels, I wouldn't expect it to increase battery life either. It may increase battery a bit on AMOLED screens since the pixels themselves generate the light and are now somewhat dimmer, but I don't know if there's been any actual testing done on that.

 

[pawprints86]

Well mine is amoled i know that much.

It just seems strange to only use 40% of the 100% the battery is actually capable of.

Im trying to decide whether i should use it from 100% for the day, and possibly have to buy a new one eventually... or treat it like its already a piece of crap and make sure to charge at 40% but only to roughly 80%?

What about the idea of charging while its on/in use vs charging while its off? I normally opt for it being off, but the odd time it is on, is that a bad thing?

 

[Mooncatt]

I think the debate is still out on general phone use while charging. As long as the phone isn't getting hot from gaming and such, I'll leave mine on to charge. The main thing there is you don't want the battery getting hot, especially while charging. If I'm going to be gaming, I'll unplug for the time being.

 

[Mooncatt]

We don't have to worry about charging lithiums too fast. A standard lithium can be charged up to a rate equal their mAh rating (the C rate). So a 2500mAh battery could handle 2.5A without any detrimental effects. Many can handle 2-3C charge rates (7.5A on a 2500mAh battery). Considering standard phone chargers are 1.5A and less, not even discounting any overhead to run the phone, we're fine charging off the wall adaptor. After all, the phones and chargers were designed to work together. Since the phone is what limits the charge rate, using stronger than stock chargers will have no effect and still limit charging to the factory rates.

 

[pawprints86]

Its quite disappointing... i treated my battery like i had read to (hardly ever full charge, didnt let it get too low too often, etc) and it still deteroriated, probably as quickly as it would have if i just always charged it until full and used it until empty. *but* the battery was made in 2012, and the phone was used (despite it being listed as new, grr. new phones arent rooted and dont have nandroid backups on them) - so i cant say how the other owner was with the battery.

The one i have now is more mAh than my factory one. not by alot... but ive noticed a significant difference in the battery life. When i first got i, i charged it to about 95%, and just decided to use as normally and see how long it took. granted i havent been texting as much the last couple days... but it still took me 2 days to burn 60%. my old battery i would have charged at least once by now, if not twice.

the only thing i have yet to test is if it will drain significantly in airplane mode (my old one seemed to like taking a nosedive, despite *nothing* running)... ive been nervous to do that at all though, ive just been turning it off at night now.

I just thought id post my battery differences here. i *hope* the battery keeps up this life for a good long time.

 

[Mooncatt]

Its quite disappointing... i treated my battery like i had read to (hardly ever full charge, didnt let it get too low too often, etc) and it still deteroriated, probably as quickly as it would have if i just always charged it until full and used it until empty. *but* the battery was made in 2012, and the phone was used (despite it being listed as new, grr. new phones arent rooted and dont have nandroid backups on them) - so i cant say how the other owner was with the battery.

I'm kinda in the same boat. I went through warranty roulette with my M8, which has a non-removable battery. My original still had the same battery life as day 1, but the certified used M8 they sent back has poor battery life. I've been debating if I want to risk another exchange (if covered at all), pay for replacement, or just deal with it.

 

[pawprints86]

I'm kinda in the same boat. I went through warranty roulette with my M8, which has a non-removable battery. My original still had the same battery life as day 1, but the certified used M8 they sent back has poor battery life. I've been debating if I want to risk another exchange (if covered at all), pay for replacement, or just deal with it.

I dont get it, why do newer phones have non removable batteries?? I mean i know they want people buying new devices... but the other day my moms moto G was acting strange, andi thought i know, ill do a battery pull... no dice. not without tools. Which was really weird because the back door does come off, but it gives you access to.... nothing. not without tools... i dont even really remember seeing a memory card slot (she doesnt use one). But i didnt want to mess anything up so i left it alone. even my really old non smart phone needed battery pulls every so often... i just thought it would be a thing on all phones forever, for it to just be an occasional maintainence thing... i guess not? The first one that had me wondering about that was iphone... but the only person i know iwth one gets the new one when they are made so ive never seen one in operation long enough for the battery to go bad/wonky on it... come to think of it i dont think battery pulls are possible on any apple handheld device, even ipods. hmm.

But yeah, restarted my mothers but its still funky, even went through and cleared out caches thinking maybe somehow related, but it wasnt. I thought with that being a "cheaper" model that battery pull would be possible. nope! i bought my own battery, didnt have to send in my phone at all... i like that about a removable battery, alot actually. i kept my factory one too though, just in case, storing at around 40% as recommended. Its also recommended to use it at least once every 3 months, but i have a feeling it will be drained to 0 by 3 months. i guess ill see!

 

[Mooncatt]

From what I've heard, it's consumer demand for lighter phones with more power and a non-removable battery gives manufacturers more flexibility in battery design. They can go with larger capacities in a smaller space. There's some truth to that, but it's not without its tradeoffs.

 

[pawprints86]

I actually, maybe im weird but i wouldnt want my phone being too light. Like those macbook air commercials made me so nervous... one accidental nearly sitting on it and its snapped easily, or if you have kids in the house or whatever, one of them steps on it. heck, even my cat stepping on it... snap! I dont mind a little bit of bulk if it means physical strength lol.

So if my moms phone keeps acting up, could i technically go in with a screwdriver and do a battery pull? or would it totally wipe her phone and all of its contents?

 

[Mooncatt]

A battery pull won't delete anything, so you're ok doing that if you think you can do so without physically damaging the phone. It'll probably have a special connection too, so it won't be a regular "pull."