Spare Battery

[christianttt]

The battery I ordered from Alixpress for 11 dolars just arrived with a cheap wall charger.
I'll use it occasionally only when needed. Is it necessary to drain it to 0 first and then fully charge it to make it work at it's full potential?
What advice can you give me to use it safely?

 

[flyingkytez]

#1 do not use aftermarket external chargers, they are not certified and cannot control the correct amount of power current to the battery. It's best if you used the original LG external battery charger cradle. Doing so may decrease the longevity of your battery. You can go cheap but there's no guarantee what will happen.

#2 letting your battery go to 0 is actually BAD for your battery despite the myths. It's best to keep the battery between 25%-80%. If you're storing batteries for long term, keep it at 50%.

#3 best way to get it to it's fullest potential is to use it a few times to give time to settle in

 

[christianttt]

#1 do not use aftermarket external chargers, they are not certified and cannot control the correct amount of power current to the battery. It's best if you used the original LG external battery charger cradle. Doing so may decrease the longevity of your battery. You can go cheap but there's no guarantee what will happen.

#2 letting your battery go to 0 is actually BAD for your battery despite the myths. It's best to keep the battery between 25%-80%. If you're storing batteries for long term, keep it at 50%.

#3 best way to get it to it's fullest potential is to use it a few times to give time to settle in

Yeah I guess it's too risky to use that cheap external charger. Maybe I will only charge both batteries on the phone, 1 at the time and I will keep the spare battery to use only at "emergencies".
I've seen the original battery pack on Amazon, too bad they don't ship to my country.

 

[Mike Dee]

#1 do not use aftermarket external chargers, they are not certified and cannot control the correct amount of power current to the battery. It's best if you used the original LG external battery charger cradle. Doing so may decrease the longevity of your battery. You can go cheap but there's no guarantee what will happen.

#2 letting your battery go to 0 is actually BAD for your battery despite the myths. It's best to keep the battery between 25%-80%. If you're storing batteries for long term, keep it at 50%.

#3 best way to get it to it's fullest potential is to use it a few times to give time to settle in

The extended batteries all recommend cycling the battery from full to zero 4 to 5 times before normal usage.

I have a Droid Maxx several years old that still holds a good charge and I never paid attention to how low or how high it got.

 

[Doug Moffat]

I skimp on alot of things but never chargers or batteries.

 

[christianttt]

Is there a need to calibrate the batteries before or after using them?

 

[Mike Dee]

Is there a need to calibrate the batteries before or after using them?

Don't really know for sure, but like I said earlier, the extended batteries recommend full cycling a few times when you first get them. They even go as far as to tell you to leave them on charge for two hours after they reach 100 percent which makes no sense to me.

 

[recDNA]

Don't really know for sure, but like I said earlier, the extended batteries recommend full cycling a few times when you first get them. They even go as far as to tell you to leave them on charge for two hours after they reach 100 percent which makes no sense to me.

It's not for the battery. It's so the phone "learns" the extra capacity and gives you more accurate battery %. I would never drain the battery to 0. Never, never, never, never. It isn't good for the battery. I don't care if it costs me 10 minutes of runtime or whatever. I also wouldn't use anything but a stock battery for safety reasons.

 

[Mike Dee]

It's not for the battery. It's so the phone "learns" the extra capacity and gives you more accurate battery %. I would never drain the battery to 0. Never, never, never, never. It isn't good for the battery. I don't care if it costs me 10 minutes of runtime or whatever. I also wouldn't use anything but a stock battery for safety reasons.

From what I've learned most batteries do require some kind of conditioning and the best practices vary with the type of battery and or application.
In my case I don't think the phone learns much because I use three different types of battery capacities.

I go by my experience and I've never had a problem with third party batteries and I use them for a lot of applications that require hi speed charging and draining.
I don't know how much battery life you actually save by following all of the suggested rules but I know I've got phones and other devices with sealed batteries that are over two years old that still have great battery life. The only exception for me has been laptop batteries. Those always seem to die early. In any event, I try to charge my phone before it gets to low but that doesn't always happen. I just go with what works for me. If I kill the V20 batteries I'll just buy new ones.

 

[recDNA]

I agree. If you swap batteries and I do too btw the phone cannot adjust perfectly to those batteries. I just swap genuine LG batteries so they are pretty much the same. Now if you get a Zerolemon battery the capacity is 3 times greater. If you want to have full access to it it is best to follow their directions. My experience with them is good. I also used another high capacity brand with good ratings. I'm sure I never got the last drop of energy out of either of them because I didn't like the added weight and always swapped back to OEM battery. I would not use "Bob's Zippypower" from China. I'd be afraid it would blow up. In other words there are other well known batteries besides LG. If they have great reviews on Amazon I'd try them. I would not try some unknown brand on Ebay.

 

[recDNA]

Yeah I guess it's too risky to use that cheap external charger. Maybe I will only charge both batteries on the phone, 1 at the time and I will keep the spare battery to use only at "emergencies".
I've seen the original battery pack on Amazon, too bad they don't ship to my country.

I got mine on ebay. Not as safe as Amazon but I think they ship everywhere. Original OEM external charger and battery.

BTW, just because label says 4100maH doesn't mean it really is. I bet it is closer to 3000 than 4100 unless it is very thick and they gave you a new back cover to use on your phone.

 

[Mike Dee]

I agree. If you swap batteries and I do too btw the phone cannot adjust perfectly to those batteries. I just swap genuine LG batteries so they are pretty much the same. Now if you get a Zerolemon battery the capacity is 3 times greater. If you want to have full access to it it is best to follow their directions. My experience with them is good. I also used another high capacity brand with good ratings. I'm sure I never got the last drop of energy out of either of them because I didn't like the added weight and always swapped back to OEM battery. I would not use "Bob's Zippypower" from China. I'd be afraid it would blow up. In other words there are other well known batteries besides LG. If they have great reviews on Amazon I'd try them. I would not try some unknown brand on Ebay.

Yes....I stick with Amazon

 

[christianttt]

Yeah i'm sure 4100maH is not the real capacity. So far I've seen good feedback on this battery, but of course I would feel safer using a LG branded one. I'll take a look in Ebay.
About calibration, I guess I don't have to worry about it if i'm changing batteries and getting enough battery life haha.

 

[Mike Dee]

Yeah i'm sure 4100maH is not the real capacity. So far I've seen good feedback on this battery, but of course I would feel safer using a LG branded one. I'll take a look in Ebay.
About calibration, I guess I don't have to worry about it if i'm changing batteries and getting enough battery life haha.

If it was a small difference in the same size it would be possible, but 4100...that's a big stretch

 

[Ejjba]

I use the set from Amazon. International battery with charger. Switch them every few weeks. Works great

 

[Mike Dee]

Same here

 

[christianttt]

Just an update. The battery and the charger work fine. Battery life is equal or superior than the original.
When is at 0 can not be charged from the phone.

 

[Mike Dee]

so the phone recognizes it as the incorrect battery?

I have extended capacity aftermarket and they don't have that issue.

 

[christianttt]

Only if you try to charge it from 0

 

[Mike Dee]

Only if you try to charge it from 0

Interesting