Does tethering kill battery

[Goku1814]

I have been using tethering on my Note 9 to my computer, until I officially move, but does using tethering kill my battery?

[HenrySalayne]

It will consume power to use tethering, but why should it kill your battery?

[Goku1814]

2 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

It will consume power to use tethering, but why should it kill your battery?

No BC its connected to my PC so its also charging it but once its fully charged, it keeps charging it even when its at 100% thats my concern

[BobVonBob]

4 minutes ago, Goku1814 said:

No BC its connected to my PC so its also charging it but once its fully charged, it keeps charging it even when its at 100% thats my concern

Modern phones have charging controllers that prevent them from damaging themselves by charging too long.

[Goku1814]

Just now, BobVonBob said:

Modern phones have charging controllers that prevent them from damaging themselves by charging too long.

Oh okay thank u that's what I was worried about BC I've been keeping my phone plugged into my computer for several hours at a time 

[Bombastinator]

8 minutes ago, Goku1814 said:

Oh okay thank u that's what I was worried about BC I've been keeping my phone plugged into my computer for several hours at a time 

There are perhaps other reasons to be worried about phone batteries.  That isn’t one of them normally though.
 

factoids about phone batteries

Spoiler

I don’t know specifics about your phone but some common generalizations can be made:

phones usually (but not absolutely always) have LiPo batteries, and LiPo, while there may be some small variances within it (making LiPo sort of a subclass of rechargable Lithium batteries) have some similarities.  LiPo MUST always have undercharge, overcharge, and heat protection or very bad things can happen. The numbers are usually between 2.5-3.0v and 4.0-4.2v   As a result because it has protection they cannot be overcharged or underdrawn as long as the protection is working.  If the protection fails they can become very dangerous.  This is a major reason why counterfeit Lithium batteries should never be used ever. 

 

[Zodiark1593]

Tethering used to be murderous in regards to power consumption on older devices, but that (at least 4G devices) is no longer the case. There is modest power consumption, but shouldn’t hit the battery very hard over even several hours. 

[Bombastinator]

7 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Your phone will trickle charge while tethered. This will cause rapid battery deterioration and it will ultimately bloat.

 

I once used a Redmi Note 3 Pro in this fashion as a WiFi adapter for one of my computers, and the battery bloated in like 3 months being used in this manner. The screen was being lifted off the body...

 

If you want to keep it tethered without trickle charging, you will have to root and use charge limiting app like 'Battery Charge Limit' which is available on the Play Store. There are no non-root alternatives.

 

Now with this installed on another spare phone that took the place of the Redmi Note 3 Pro, is showing totally no signs of malfunction or overheating or bloating after nearly a year of use as a tethered WiFi adapter.

 

If you think the phone's physical charging controller or OS is going to do the job without any additional measures, you are making a terrible mistake. Do not say that I did not warn you.

Re: battery bloat

depends on the battery chemistry, and the charging system. Might apply in this specific case.  Would require rather primitive charging systems though. I can’t say it won’t because I don’t know enough about the specific case, but it doesn’t always.  Older and simpler systems DO do this.  It’s a major issue with ecigarettes. They often have cheap batteries and electronics though.   I don’t know if this is one of those or not. 

[HenrySalayne]

59 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

This will cause rapid battery deterioration and it will ultimately bloat.

Sources?

9 hours ago, Goku1814 said:

No BC its connected to my PC so its also charging it but once its fully charged, it keeps charging it even when its at 100% thats my concern

Using it like this for a few month is ok, but you shouldn't do it for a few years. The battery will degrade faster (but not rapid) if kept at a 100%.
If you charge your phone like me while sleeping, it will reach 100% after 1 hour and keep hanging on the wall wart for another 7. It didn't blow up so far and it's at 100% for at least 6 hours a day.