Long Term Battery Life

[SaerBear]

Hey Guys

What's the best way to keep most of your batteries charge in the long run? I keep finding conflicting theories and now I want to find the final answer.

How should you charge and discharge your mobile gadgets (phones, laptops, tablets) in a way which results in it keeping as much of it's charge as possible in the long run.

Thanks, hope you can help.

[TheCho]

I recommend turning the device completely off and then leaving it on charge for 12 hours and then let it discharge for another 8 hours(while still off). It will let the battery re-calibrate itself so you get the most out of it. The worst thing people do with devices is when they first get it, they charge it up for 2 hours and then start using it. If you want to get the most out of your battery, you must let charge while it's off.

[Guest]

Batteries as you know are chemical reactions in some way, state, shape or form. When you get a rechargeable battery it has whats called 100% cycles. These cycles are the number of times that the battery can go from 100% charge to 0% capacity before the battery becomes unusable and won't hold a charge, therefore needs replacing. Don't get this confused with the percentage shown on your battery - that is the current level out of the current capacity. What this means is that a batter is say designed to hold 10,000 mAh when it is manufactured however over time that design capacity will deplete as the battery ages. The percentage shown by your laptop/taskbar is the current level of charge out of what the capacity is. So your battery may be depleted to only hold 8,000 mAh.

To maximise the lifespan of a battery, you want to aim to regularly cycle the battery or in other words go from 100% to dead. A couple of times a month is a good time frame and I know some people who have like weekly reminders to cycle it. What you don't want to do is every time you're using the device whether it's a laptop, smartphone, camping lantern ect is to constantly keep the device topped up. This is because just say you're only using 20% from 100% down to 80%, that means the other 80% of the battery isn't being used and will over time begin to drop its charge to the point where it cannot hold sufficient charge because it's a chemical reaction after all.

I learnt this the hard way with an old laptop which I kept nearly fully charged every day of the week - the battery died within 9 months and I thought it was a dodgy battery. Turned out what was designed to hold 6000mAh could now only hold 10mAh but it still appeared that I had 100% battery life - 100% of 10mAh, not 6000mAh.

There are programs out there that can show you your batteries design capacity as well as its current capacity for all different OS's.

If you're still unclear i'll try and simplify it for you :P

Edit: I've seen what is posted below and forgot to mention that an iPad battery for instance has about 1000 or 1100 cycles.

[Zappy]

You should just charge it whenever possible, infact the more you do full discharges fewer recharge cycles you will have. Battery calibration is just a myth that's spread around since back in the day when Nickel–metal hydride batteries were used in laptops which actually needed constant calibration. In current electronics there is no such thing as battery memory and it's best to just always keep it charged.

Here's a quick article about battery myths

http://www.androidauthority.com/the-...y-myths-46924/

and going into more depth

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/89...ery-management

[Guest]

You should just charge it whenever possible, infact the more you do full discharges fewer recharge cycles you will have. Battery calibration is just a myth that's spread around since back in the day when Nickel–metal hydride batteries were used in laptops which actually needed constant calibration. In current electronics there is no such thing as battery memory and it's best to just always keep it charged.

Here's a quick article about battery myths

http://www.androidauthority.com/the-...y-myths-46924/

and going into more depth

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/89...ery-management

Then explain exactly after 9 months of using only 10-15% of the battery - it drops dead with 0 cycles remaining and 10mAh capacity?

[SaerBear]

Unfortunately what I hoped won't happen happened. Conflicting theories.

[Guest]

Unfortunately what I hoped won't happen happened. Conflicting theories.

You have 1000 cycles in a battery for arguments sake.

Every cycle holds 10,000 mAh for arguments sake.

The battery is designed to go from 100% charge of 10,000 mAh to 0% charge 1000 times.

If you start using only a small amount, say 1000 mAh of the battery and keep charging it as my personal example has shown, the other 9000 mAh over time will loose its charge to the point where it no longer holds a useable charge.

Batteries are not an infinite source of power - they have a lifetime in which they will survive before they will need to be replaced. This is why a battery has 400 cycles or whatever.

[Zappy]

You should just charge it whenever possible, infact the more you do full discharges fewer recharge cycles you will have. Battery calibration is just a myth that's spread around since back in the day when Nickel–metal hydride batteries were used in laptops which actually needed constant calibration. In current electronics there is no such thing as battery memory and it's best to just always keep it charged.

Here's a quick article about battery myths

http://www.androidauthority.com/the-...y-myths-46924/

and going into more depth

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/89...ery-management

Well if it were an old laptop, it could have been NiMH based battery where calibrating it does work or just as simple as a defective battery.

[Zappy]

After some research I can't find anything on Google printed in the last 5 years that supports doing a 100-0% discharge besides for calibrating a laptop time remaining meter will do any good at all. All the research mentions nothing about exercising the battery to keep up the chemical reaction. Everything points to using your battery on a consistant but not all the way to 0% to get the best results. Here's yet another article explaining the same thing from one a website I trust.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/02/ask-ars-what-is-the-best-way-to-use-an-li-ion-battery/

[Guest]

I've personally tried both ways, only using about 15% of the battery and another battery going through an entire cycle every 5-7 days and the one I used only 15% of died within 9 months. The one whereby I've gone through a cycle about every week I've had for roughly two and a half years.

[ErwinS]

What windspeed says is indeed correct. The only thing I have to add, is that charging your Mobile device via your PC is the best way to keep a long charge. You will notice that it will charge slower than a wall outlet. This is a good thing. USB to wall outlet adapters charge your battery faster than what is needed, which causes a reduction in battery lifespan as well as your device not being able to hold a charge for as long as it would if it were charging off of your PC. Your PC USB also has cleaner power than the wall outlet adapter. This is because they want to reduce costs as much as possible where ever they can, e.g those cheap earphones you get with the device. This means they skip out on the power delivery of the adapter, which means power spikes will most likely reach your phone, reducing battery lifespan.

[Zappy]

Does anyone else have any sources to cite at all... to backup any of their claims

As for the mobile device via PC thing, you can read a blow by blow takedown of the Apple iPhone charger that explains the quality filtered power it provides for the mobile phone http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

[ErwinS]

Does anyone else have any sources to cite at all... to backup any of their claims

As for the mobile device via PC thing, you can read a blow by blow takedown of the Apple iPhone charger that explains the quality filtered power it provides for the mobile phone http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

Apple chargers, as everyone should expect, would be high quality since you pay a "premium" ( to say the least ) for the product.

[Zappy]

Does anyone else have any sources to cite at all... to backup any of their claims

As for the mobile device via PC thing, you can read a blow by blow takedown of the Apple iPhone charger that explains the quality filtered power it provides for the mobile phone http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

Yeah but it also doesn't necessarily mean LG, ASUS, Samsung or HTC use lower quality parts in their chargers

Here is the same guy looking at many different chargers http://www.arcfn.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html

[xeks]

From my understanding:

Never let Li-Ion batteries discharge completely, ie the batteries from a GSIII,

and the opposite for Na-Ion batteries; you should discharge them completely before recharging.

[ErwinS]

Does anyone else have any sources to cite at all... to backup any of their claims

As for the mobile device via PC thing, you can read a blow by blow takedown of the Apple iPhone charger that explains the quality filtered power it provides for the mobile phone http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

He can do as many tests as he wants. I know from first hand experience that my Samsung G Note II WILL hold a charge longer if i charge it on my pc. And its obvious that your pc will provide cleaner power than a compact phone charger.

[quantumsuicide]

Does anyone else have any sources to cite at all... to backup any of their claims

As for the mobile device via PC thing, you can read a blow by blow takedown of the Apple iPhone charger that explains the quality filtered power it provides for the mobile phone http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

ErwinS, that's a cognitive bias if I ever saw one. Ignoring evidence because it conflicts with your opinion. Stop posting in this thread, you're just humiliating yourself.

[ErwinS]

Does anyone else have any sources to cite at all... to backup any of their claims

As for the mobile device via PC thing, you can read a blow by blow takedown of the Apple iPhone charger that explains the quality filtered power it provides for the mobile phone http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

Excuse me, but i was referring to the battery life when charged via pc. I agree that some chargers that are provided with "premium" devices are well built in terms of providing clean power to your device. I agree with the link that Zappy has posted 100%.Oh and this is your fist post on the forum, quantumsuicide? How about you help some members out before you start shit-talking on the forum.

[MetalLobster]

Three years ago when I was doing construction work for co-op, my team had both NiCD and Lithium cordless power tools and we were always told to charge the NiCD battery only when they were completely used up, otherwise the battery life would be the full capacity minus how much battery was left when its put to charging. Both the NiCD and Lithium tools were bought around the same time, but near the end of my term, I found myself using the Li powered tools more often because it held its charge longer and it was consistent in its lifespan. I didn't calculate how much battery life the NiCD had left, but it everyone did notice.

So from my personal experience, it doesn't really matter how you charge Li because it will stay pretty consistent. However, power tools have their own charging dock that regulates the charging unlike the AC to USB wall socket that come with all phones these days, so maybe some of the suggestions above are very useful.

[rcarlos243]

the best article i could find

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1914417

[Glenwing]

With old computers, if you didn't cycle the battery fully every once in a while it would wear out quickly, and you may find that if you get a computer today and you DO cycle it from 0% to 100% regularly it won't wear out quickly like your old computer did; that is not due to the cycling procedure, but a change in battery technology. NiMH and other older battery types you should cycle from 0% to 100% regularly, but Lithium Ion batteries which pretty much all modern electronics use, are fairly consistent with how they wear out whether or not you do full cycles or partial cycles. In short; don't worry about "cycling the battery from 0 to 100% regularly". Lithium Ion batteries do not need to go through this process to keep their capacity. Only older battery technologies do.

As far as keeping battery capacity as long as possible, just note a few things if you leave your battery unused for a long time (a month or more), like if you have a spare battery or something. For batteries in long-term storage, discharge them to around 50% capacity before putting them away, and keep them cold (refrigerated if possible) for the least wearing over time.