4 ms·

Do you charge your battery 100% each day? That eats charge cycles like crazy. Never go beyond 80% and your battery will last much longer.

eridius 8y ago
I'm pretty sure this advice was obsolete at least a decade ago.
- londons_explore 8y ago
  Not true - lithium cells see most 'wear' when used and stored above 90 percent charge and below 10 percent charge. The effect is so dramatic that some manufacturers rescale the indicator so it isn't possible to reach those charge levels, and makers of electric cars won't charge above 90 percent by default.
  - eridius 8y ago
    Right but we're talking about the whole battery, not individual cells. I thought "prevent the cells from charging too high or dropping too low" was standard practice these days for everybody, and so at the battery level the "don't charge to 100%" advice is obsolete.
    - 05 8y ago
      I don’t think you got that quite right. Most cellphone batteries are single cell (L shaped ones excluded). All cells have the property of degradation per cycle depending on range of charge/discharge (0-100 worse than 10-90 worse than 20-80). Standard cell phone BMS charges 0-100 because most manufacturers optimize for battery life per unit weight, not cycle count. Planned obsolescence and all that..
      - eridius 8y ago
        At the very least, the "battery" includes the circuitry protecting and mediating access to the cell(s), and that's the point where it would prevent the cell(s) from overcharging.
  - isodude 8y ago
    After reading both Apple and Samsungs recommendation they even say don't go below 20%.
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
Why do you believe that? (It's so very wrong, but I'm curious if someone told you, or you came to this conclusion on your own)
- londons_explore 8y ago
  Why do Tesla cars not charge over 90 percent by default then...?
- vel0city 8y ago
  This site seems like a decently credible source on battery life, and they recommend setting devices into a mode to leave the charge at around 80% if its not going to be really used heavily as a mobile device. https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to... "A laptop battery could be prolonged by lowering the charge voltage when connected to the AC grid. To make this feature user-friendly, a device should feature a “Long Life” mode that keeps the battery at 4.05V/cell and offers a SoC of about 80 percent." I've had a lot of laptops with this kind of mode on them from several different manufacturers. I think Samsung, Lenovo, and HP have some knowledge of extending the life of their batteries. https://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?from_osc=&homeid=566783&idx=652952&modelcode=NP940X3L-K01US&modelname=NP940X3LI& https://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubl... "...it is strongly recommended to select "Optimize for Battery Lifesapn mode" or Conservation Mode and keep AC adapter connected alll the time. This mode will enable the battery to be fully charged to 80% or 60% of its design capacity." https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht069687 https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht069687 I have little reason to think a similar concept applies to phone batteries, as they're usually a similar chemistry these days.
- lorenzhs 8y ago
  Can you share why it's wrong? I learned the same thing as the OP and would love to learn more. As far as I learned, the more harmful part is discharging to very low levels, especially if you use it until it shuts off and then don't connect it to the charger for a long time. Is that also no longer the case? I know that manufacturers sometimes gate off some of the capacity so that the battery doesn't actually reach extremely high or low levels of charge, but that would still imply that avoiding the very high and low ends of the reachable spectrum would still be helpful, just maybe not as much.

eridius 8y ago

I'm pretty sure this advice was obsolete at least a decade ago.

londons_explore 8y ago
Not true - lithium cells see most 'wear' when used and stored above 90 percent charge and below 10 percent charge. The effect is so dramatic that some manufacturers rescale the indicator so it isn't possible to reach those charge levels, and makers of electric cars won't charge above 90 percent by default.
- eridius 8y ago
  Right but we're talking about the whole battery, not individual cells. I thought "prevent the cells from charging too high or dropping too low" was standard practice these days for everybody, and so at the battery level the "don't charge to 100%" advice is obsolete.
  - 05 8y ago
    I don’t think you got that quite right. Most cellphone batteries are single cell (L shaped ones excluded). All cells have the property of degradation per cycle depending on range of charge/discharge (0-100 worse than 10-90 worse than 20-80). Standard cell phone BMS charges 0-100 because most manufacturers optimize for battery life per unit weight, not cycle count. Planned obsolescence and all that..
    - eridius 8y ago
      At the very least, the "battery" includes the circuitry protecting and mediating access to the cell(s), and that's the point where it would prevent the cell(s) from overcharging.
- isodude 8y ago
  After reading both Apple and Samsungs recommendation they even say don't go below 20%.

SlowRobotAhead 8y ago

Why do you believe that? (It's so very wrong, but I'm curious if someone told you, or you came to this conclusion on your own)

londons_explore 8y ago
Why do Tesla cars not charge over 90 percent by default then...?
vel0city 8y ago
This site seems like a decently credible source on battery life, and they recommend setting devices into a mode to leave the charge at around 80% if its not going to be really used heavily as a mobile device. https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to... "A laptop battery could be prolonged by lowering the charge voltage when connected to the AC grid. To make this feature user-friendly, a device should feature a “Long Life” mode that keeps the battery at 4.05V/cell and offers a SoC of about 80 percent." I've had a lot of laptops with this kind of mode on them from several different manufacturers. I think Samsung, Lenovo, and HP have some knowledge of extending the life of their batteries. https://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?from_osc=&homeid=566783&idx=652952&modelcode=NP940X3L-K01US&modelname=NP940X3LI& https://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubl... "...it is strongly recommended to select "Optimize for Battery Lifesapn mode" or Conservation Mode and keep AC adapter connected alll the time. This mode will enable the battery to be fully charged to 80% or 60% of its design capacity." https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht069687 https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht069687 I have little reason to think a similar concept applies to phone batteries, as they're usually a similar chemistry these days.
lorenzhs 8y ago
Can you share why it's wrong? I learned the same thing as the OP and would love to learn more. As far as I learned, the more harmful part is discharging to very low levels, especially if you use it until it shuts off and then don't connect it to the charger for a long time. Is that also no longer the case? I know that manufacturers sometimes gate off some of the capacity so that the battery doesn't actually reach extremely high or low levels of charge, but that would still imply that avoiding the very high and low ends of the reachable spectrum would still be helpful, just maybe not as much.