Battery life is quite an important aspect for users in a smartphone. It is safe to assume that none of us want our devices to leave us hanging right in the middle of our day. Smartphones’ battery performance tend to go bad over time by their nature. However, there are ways to slow down this process, and the most important one of those is to control your charging habits. Let’s get into how to charge your phone in a healthy manner to maximize efficiency.
Charge your battery partially
Yes, we have all heard that rumor going around that says “you need to fully discharge and recharge your battery”. It is an ancient myth that most people still think is true and to be honest, no one wants to bother with that. It was only true for lead-acid cells and now outdated with the rise of lithium-ion batteries.
Partial charging is a decent fit for li-ion batteries and it can even be beneficial for cell durability. Li-ion batteries draw constant current and operate at a lower voltage. This voltage gradually increases as the cell charges up, leveling off at around a 70% charge before the current begins to fall until the capacity is full.
Avoid full charges
Li-ion batteries work best when the charge span is between 20%-80%. Going from 80% to 100% actually causes it to age faster. Consider the last 20% as extra in case you are not free to put your phone into charge but do top it off by charging as long as you can. Li-ion batteries works best in the middles.
This is not to say you should never fully charge your device of course, because we do need it at times like for battery calibration or whatever reasons you may have however you should always keep in mind to avoid it. It goes without saying that charging over night is not a great idea unless you are controlling the charge flow like stopping it at a certain battery level.
Heat is a battery killer
Heat is actually one of the worst enemies of a battery and has a higher chance of impacting the lifespan negatively. High temperatures puts it at risk for losing capacity much faster than regular temperatures. It is for this reason that fast charging is considered to increase battery damage because it puts a stress on battery and that stress results in heat. Make sure your device isn’t overheated during charges and keep it in a spot that isn’t hot if you can.
To summarize:
- Do not fully charge your device
- Charge partially between 20% and 80% as much as you can
- Use fast chargers responsibly, keep the device out of hot areas while charging and prevent device heating overall
