Wait until almost empty before recharge?

[tbns]

Is there any compelling reason why I need to wait until my battery is almost empty before recharging?

I don't want to end up with a low battery at an inopportune time, so I'm often hooking the phone up to the charger even when the battery is at only 50% or so and charging until it's full. Some of my friends suggest this is bad for the battery, while others say it is just fine.

 

[Rem]

You're doing it right.

Letting it run down to empty too often could actually have a negative affect on its lifespan. This type of battery "prefers" partial charges. Also see: Charging Lithium-ion.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

For general day-to-day use, I really don't believe it's necessary. I've never followed this practice and I've never noticed a significant degradation in performance because of it.

If you're trying to get a good battery calibration after clearing the battery stats, then yes, it is recommended that you clear stats at full charge, let it run down to close to zero, then fully charge it again.

These batteries don't have the "memory" issues that older rechargeable batteries used to have, so there's not real reason to have to follow this type of practice routinely. I've even read that allowing the battery to completely drain frequently could cause it worsen in performance.

 

[kalopsia]

Most of the time you want to charge it as soon as possible, but every once in a while you want to give it a full charge. Or so a lot of people have told me. I'm by no means a battery expert or an engineer.

 

[FrankXS]

Agree with the posts above. Generally "topping off" often is the best bet. About once a month or so let it run down into the yellow/red warning and recharge until full. This insures recent, accurate battery calibration.

-Frank

 

[worwig]

Charge it early, charge it often.
The people that recommend running a LiIon battery dead are a decade or more behind the times. Ignore them. Even in the NiCad days, running the battery dead each and every time for voltage depression (called memory by many) was usually overkill which could also damage the battery pack.

 

[cadzilla74]

Rem beat me to it. Ideally Li-On batteries should always be kept charged in between 10% and 90%. Neither dead nor overcharged is good for battery life.