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I've been seeing "Battery Calibration" a lot lately especially with custom Roms and how to improve battery life. Here is great info on prolonging battery life for your epic. And what NOT TO DO!
Forgive me if this is in the wrong section of the forum but I saw a lot here on this topic so I thought I would share the information I have.
Lithium Ion batteries DO NOT NEED TO BE CALIBRATED. Forgive me for yelling but I can't stress it enough. The current lithium ion batteries for your computer and most of all, your Samsung Epic4g do not have an internal memory. All they have is an internal chip that prevents them from overcharging, and of course the cells for the Lithium Ion process to occur.
Nickel Cadmium or NiCad batteries do have an internal memory that acts much like a fuel gauge in your vehicle, it tells the battery small information on % charge etc.
Your Samsung Epic 4G has to interpret the amount of charge left and % from your battery. That's why it saves battery stats. It really works by averages and the only thing the battery tells the phone is "I'm Full!" when it reaches 100%. or "I'm Dead!" when the cells are empty. Your phone does the rest and interprets to you in % how much life is left in that battery.
Someone got the not so bright idea of calibrating the battery, maybe because it worked on a NiCad battery, maybe it should work on a Lithium Ion battery? WRONG!
Lithium Ion batteries have a prescribed life. The average life of a 1500mAh battery is around 2000-3000 charges. The reason behind this is the Lithium Cells become unstable and are prone to explosion.
So, every time you fully discharge your battery and recharge it, you just shortened the overall life of your battery. And if you're one of those people who discharge and recharges 3 times consecutively, you're really messing up your battery. Heat is the biggest enemy of Lithium Ion Batteries, if they get too hot, from forced discharges they actually develop tiny crystals on the inside of the cells that prevent it from being truly 100% charged.
So, in reality your phone is telling you your battery is 100% charged when it is only 85% fully charged inside the battery.
Please, please, please, do not discharge your battery and consecutively recharge it again. I love my epic and I hate to see other epics abused like that.
If you want to prolong your battery life follow these short and simple steps:
1. The closer you keep your phone to 100% the longer it will live.
2. Avoid unnecessary discharges to 0%.
3. Charge your phone when it is off, not in standby. - Charging in standby causes unwanted heat.
4. Unplug your battery when it's fully charged. - Sure, that "Battery 100% Full" message is annoying, but maybe it was put there for a reason? Hmm.
5. Wipe your battery stats weekly, only after a full power off charge, or Rom Change
6. Avoid doing anything that heats up your phone. - Sure WiFi Tethering and BlueTooth Tethering is awesome, but it heats up the phone in most cases, this will destroy your battery.
I can't post the link because I don't have enough posts. But go to google , search "battery university" and then look for lithium ion batteries.
I am a computer science / electrical engineer and I have done extensive research in batteries and mobile devices.
Please save those batteries!
-George
Interesting post. Thanks!
Sent from my Emotionlessly Bonsai'd Epic 4g.
A cycle is a cycle friend, whether dropping to 50% twice or dropping to 0% once ... it is still a registered cycle. Below is the best write up I have came across concerning battery care. Still trying to figure out the purpose of this thread however, if you are insinuating that a batt stat reset and full charge to discharge is not helpfull after a kernel change (voltage change) then you are sorely mistaken, it WILL, I repeat WILL cause your device to not register the true charge state of your battery unless you do so. And if your phone is not monitoring your battery correctly it could negate symbiance between your batt and your device.
Wiping your stats without a full discharge is useless btw. In the fact that one of the few things your post was accurate on is that the only two way communications between battery and device happen at full and empty. Would probably do a lot of good if this thread wrought with misinformation was deleted. Just in case it is not a really good caresheet is as follows.
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Lithium Ion Battery Care
Batteries are made to be used, so use them.
Just like couch potatoes, batteries need exercise. The chemicals in Lithium-Ion batteries respond best to regular recharging. So if you have a laptop, don’t keep it plugged in all the time; go ahead and let it drain to about 40 or 50 percent of capacity, and then recharge your computer.
The life of a Lithium-Ion battery can be measured in charge cycles. A charge cycle occurs when 100% of a battery’s capacity is used. Let’s say you use 50% of your laptop’s battery one day, charge it overnight, and then you use 50% of the battery again the next day. Even after charging it back up again, you’ll have only had one charge cycle occur. Most laptop batteries are rated for a useful life of at least 300-500 charge cycles, but high-quality, properly maintained batteries can retain up to 80% of their original life, even after 300 cycles.
Periodically calibrate your battery.
Most batteries that have a “fuel gauge”, like those in laptops, should be periodically discharged to zero. This can be accomplished simply by letting your computer run until it reports a low-battery state and suspends itself. (Do not let your computer deep discharge, as I’ll explain in the next item.)
The gauge that measures the remaining power in your laptop is based on circuitry integrated into the battery that approximates the effectiveness of the battery’s chemical compounds. Over time, a discrepancy can develop between the capacity that the internal circuitry expects the battery to have and what the battery can actually provide. Letting your computer run down to zero every month or so can recalibrate the battery’s circuitry, and keep your computer’s estimates of its remaining life accurate.
Don’t practice so-called deep discharges.
Most laptops will suspend operation if the battery drains too low. Even if your computer goes to sleep, though, most batteries that are in good working order will still have a reserve charge available. This reserve will hold the computer’s working memory in state for a little while. A deep discharge has occurred when even that percentage of reserve power is used up. The computer will have turned off completely, and sometimes you’ll notice that it will have lost track of the correct date and time. Deep discharges will strain your batteries, so try to charge them frequently.
Avoid exposing your battery to heat (when possible).
Heat can overexcite the chemicals in your battery, shortening its overall lifespan. In fact, it’s been speculated that the biggest cause of early battery expiration is the heat that batteries can be exposed to when they’re stored in computers that are running off AC power. Laptops — especially modern multi-core machines — can get very hot when they’re plugged in, easily over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s hot enough that extended exposure will negatively affect your battery. If you want to be really protective, there’s nothing saying that you can’t pop the battery out of your laptop if you’re going to be within reach of a power outlet for a while.
There may be times that you can’t help but expose your laptop battery to heat; you may live in a warm climate, for instance. You can, however, try and avoid exacerbating the issue. Make sure your laptop is well ventilated and that you’re not operating it on a surface that retains heat, even when you’re not plugged into mains power.
Store your batteries properly.
If your laptop or portable device isn’t going to be used for a while, you should remove its Lithium-Ion battery, if possible. Even if the battery can’t be separated from the device, it should be stored in a cool environment at about one-half charge. Cool temperature is recommended by experts because that can slow the natural discharge that batteries will undergo even when they’re disconnected from their device.
I’ve seen some people go even further and recommend that spare batteries be stored in the refrigerator. I don’t think this is a very good idea; I’m concerned about condensation that might build up. Don’t put your batteries on ice, but keep them out of the sun.
Ultimately, I believe that buying spare Li-Ion batteries is a losing game, because the batteries start degrading as soon as they’re manufactured. Usually those spare batteries spend most of their time sitting in a charger, losing useful life. If you need to be really mobile, you’re better off purchasing an adapter cable you can use with the power sources available in planes, trains, or autos. And, of course, by taking good care of the battery you already have."
One question in regards to your post. I currently use the desk top cradle to plug in when I get home, will this mess with the battery too? It was made by Samsung I am confused as to why they would make something to use with your epic if it will hurt the battery.
HeisRisen said:
A cycle is a cycle friend, whether dropping to 50% twice or dropping to 0% once ... it is still a registered cycle. Below is the best write up I have came across concerning battery care. Still trying to figure out the purpose of this thread however, if you are insinuating that a batt stat reset and full charge to discharge is not helpfull after a kernel change (voltage change) then you are sorely mistaken, it WILL, I repeat WILL cause your device to not register the true charge state of your battery unless you do so. And if your phone is not monitoring your battery correctly it could negate symbiance between your batt and your device.
Wiping your stats without a full discharge is useless btw. In the fact that one of the few things your post was accurate on is that the only two way communications between battery and device happen at full and empty. Would probably do a lot of good if this thread wrought with misinformation was deleted. Just in case it is not a really good caresheet is as follows."
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Don't quite know if you're trying to "one-up" me on battery life, but this post is not misinformation, I am trying to explain in layman's terms on how a battery communicates with the phone. I don't need to cite my academic pedigree and be all "scientific" about saving battery life.
The point of this thread is an answer to all the threats I've seen on improving battery life and the countless posts I've seen on fully discharging a Lithium Ion Battery to "calibrate it"
The point I don't quite understand about your reply to this thread is that it just restates what I already pointed out only it's longer. Maybe if you have more words than me it makes you smarter...
but I stand corrected, I did mean a wipe of battery stats after a Rom Change and Only after a full power off charge, not intermittently.
but...
"one of the few things my post was accurate on" - Hmm, if it's an inaccurate post to you, just report it. - I assure you these are not claims and theories but pure fact.
I'm not here to get into a pissing contest about battery life, I'm just posting here to help people...
emalia said:
One question in regards to your post. I currently use the desk top cradle to plug in when I get home, will this mess with the battery too? It was made by Samsung I am confused as to why they would make something to use with your epic if it will hurt the battery.
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I would advise that as long as you are charging your Epic in the cradle while it is not powered on, then you'll be perfectly fine. Charging it while it is powered on will cause unnecessary heat.
And I finally accumulated enough posts to cite my sources:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
I have to say that Laptop batteries are a lot different than cellphone batteries, the "do a full discharge after a few weeks" works great for a laptop battery but I would not do this with a cell phone battery. They just aren't the same internally. Laptop batteries are a bit more sophisticated.
actually, lithium ion batteries are best kept at about 50%, not 100
This thread is simply a point of ignorance about what is being described when people talk about "calibrating a battery" on an android phone. The process is not actually about calibrating the battery. It actually calibrates how the software reads battery information. You do see better battery life after going through it, but nothing has changed about the battery.
If you've ever flashed a ROM and suddenly found the battery to significantly higher or lower percentage displayed in the software meter, or if you found the battery seems to drain more quickly than previous(it doesn't, the phone just shows higher than actual charge to start), those are symptoms of poorly or not-at-all calibrated situations. The "battery calibration" process is a fix for that.
And OP, I'd say your understanding is rudimentary at best. While its true that Li-ion batteries don't "have a memory" (no batteries "have a memory", the memory effect was a result of the chemical process used by some batteries), li-ion batteries do show better usable lifetimes when charged according to certain standards. Again, its a matter of how the chemical process works and what wear the battery's internals develop depending on it is used.
akijikan said:
This thread is simply a point of ignorance about what is being described when people talk about "calibrating a battery" on an android phone. The process is not actually about calibrating the battery. It actually calibrates how the software reads battery information. You do see better battery life after going through it, but nothing has changed about the battery.
If you've ever flashed a ROM and suddenly found the battery to significantly higher or lower percentage displayed in the software meter, or if you found the battery seems to drain more quickly than previous(it doesn't, the phone just shows higher than actual charge to start), those are symptoms of poorly or not-at-all calibrated situations. The "battery calibration" process is a fix for that.
And OP, I'd say your understanding is rudimentary at best. While its true that Li-ion batteries don't "have a memory" (no batteries "have a memory", the memory effect was a result of the chemical process used by some batteries), li-ion batteries do show better usable lifetimes when charged according to certain standards. Again, its a matter of how the chemical process works and what wear the battery's internals develop depending on it is used.
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Once again, I'm not in here to get into a specifics and scientific pissing contest on how batteries work, I just put a guide on how to improve your battery longevity.
Not everyone in here is an electro-chemical engineer with a concentration in battery physics. Or whatever. So, stop ripping apart my post with your blabbering physics. Just because I have a low amount of posts makes me inferior to you?
I'm sorry you sensed hostility in my post. But don't ignore what I'm saying about battery calibration.
I think Aki is right, we aren't calibrating our battery, we are resetting battery stats the software keeps. The reason we recommend this is b/c when folks change ROM's some can get miserable battery life in practice until they reset the stats. An experienced dev can tell you why, but it is a common enough fact to warrant wiping battery stats when switching ROM's.
Sent from my Epic 4G on XDA App
akijikan said:
I'm sorry you sensed hostility in my post. But don't ignore what I'm saying about battery calibration.
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It was a bit hostile... I enjoy a good debate and rational thought though, I understand what you're saying, I'm not trying to get into the specifics, but it seems a lot of users are doing this "process" too much, and personally I don't think you should do it at all. I think you should do a full recharge (powered off, not discharge) then wipe battery stats. Period. No need for a discharge to 0.
People, this guy is just trying to help. There is no need to be rude. We are all on this form trying help each other. This whole idea is hurt when someone posts something and gets attacked. There is no need to call someone ignorant if you don't agree
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
codest3r said:
I think Aki is right, we aren't calibrating our battery, we are resetting battery stats the software keeps. The reason we recommend this is b/c when folks change ROM's some can get miserable battery life in practice until they reset the stats. An experienced dev can tell you why, but it is a common enough fact to warrant wiping battery stats when switching ROM's.
Sent from my Epic 4G on XDA App
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Personally, I've gotten the best battery life when I do what I just posted above. Which is a powered off charge to 100% then a battery stats wipe. Viola, no need to discharge all the way to 0 and back to 100. It just tears up your battery in my experience.
tatoniss said:
People, this guy is just trying to help. There is no need to be rude. We are all on this form trying help each other. This whole idea is hurt when someone posts something and gets attacked. There is no need to call someone ignorant if you don't agree
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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I appreciate the support. If you think I'm dead wrong let me know. But the intent is far more important that the means of which I describe how the battery communicates with the phone.
I just want Epic Users to get the best out of their Epic.
I think a lot of people think they are calibrating their battery, but in all actuallity it's the information in the phone about the battery that needs to be callibrated.
gwcarpenter said:
I appreciate the support. If you think I'm dead wrong let me know. But the intent is far more important that the means of which I describe how the battery communicates with the phone.
I just want Epic Users to get the best out of their Epic.
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You have to understand that the battery percentage is calculated by the phone. If the phone has no way of knowing the actual battery percentage accept with an indication that the battery is full or an indication that the battery is dead, then logic serves that one would have to perform a complete cycle to get accurate statistics. Let's say you have an electric car that's 'fuel' gauge is based solely on an indicator from the battery when it is full and when it is empty. It was initially calibrated to go ~300 miles on a full charge. Now say you get a new engine that might use energy at a different rate than the previous engine (analogous to say a kernel update). You don't really know the percentage of the battery until you record how many miles you've driven before the battery becomes empty. For the statistics to be accurate you must record the statistics over the entire battery discharge cycle. If the only indicator the software has is full and empty, the only thing you can gather from the statistics without a full cycle is the amount of energy that wasn't a full cycle.
Another analogy would be being blindfolded and sipping water through a straw. If you are told that it is full when you start and you drink 25% of it and then we fill it up again. Now you drink the same amount, how much is left (keeping in mind you are still blindfolded.) You have no idea, because you haven't done a whole cycle. You have no idea if you just drank 25% or 50% or 75% because you have never finished it.
My point is, is that you can't record the full capacity of batteries without doing a full charge, discharge cycle.
gwcarpenter said:
Lithium Ion batteries DO NOT NEED TO BE CALIBRATED.
Heat is the biggest enemy of Lithium Ion Batteries, if they get too hot, from forced discharges they actually develop tiny crystals on the inside of the cells that prevent it from being truly 100% charged.
So, in reality your phone is telling you your battery is 100% charged when it is only 85% fully charged inside the battery.
If you want to prolong your battery life follow these short and simple steps:
1. The closer you keep your phone to 100% the longer it will live.
4. Unplug your battery when it's fully charged. - Sure, that "Battery 100% Full" message is annoying, but maybe it was put there for a reason? Hmm.
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Above are some things you said, and below I'm going to copy and paste some stuff from the article.
Although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". Here is the reason: Short discharges with subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. A deliberate full discharge and recharge every 30 charges corrects this problem. Letting the battery run down to the cut-off point in the equipment will do this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate.
The worst condition is keeping a FULLY CHARGED battery at elevated temperatures
If possible, store the battery in a cool place at about a 40% state-of-charge.
Avoid keeping the battery at full charge and high temperature.
While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45°C (113°F).
Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.
gwcarpenter said:
Personally, I've gotten the best battery life when I do what I just posted above. Which is a powered off charge to 100% then a battery stats wipe. Viola, no need to discharge all the way to 0 and back to 100. It just tears up your battery in my experience.
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That is correct. Discharging to 0% does nothing. The most important thing is getting the battery as full as possible, and then reset the fuel gauge(wipe battery stats.) Personally, I use the external Samsung spare battery charger to charge the battery to full, then insert it in the phone, and boot into recovery and wipe batterystats.
What many don't understand is that wiping batterystats in CWM deletes the batterstats.bin file in data/system. So when you do a data wipe, you are wiping batterystats also. This is why it is important to have a full battery when flashing a new ROM. Something else to remember is that restoring data from a Nandroid backup will also restore an old batterystats.bin file, which is fine if the new ROM has a kernal that is the same or similar to the previous one, but it will negate any batterystats wipe you did before restoring data.
Should I charge my phone when it has like 0.5% battery left always, or can I charge whenever it gets a little low, like 30-40%?
Also, can I leave my phone plugged into the charger overnight? Will that drain the battery?
I leave mine in the charger every night. And I'll put it in charge at work, too, or whenever a charging opportunity arises. With this kind of battery, it really doesn't matter.
Here is a very good article that discusses Lithium Ion batteries:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries
I don't get the article.
Does 4.2V mean 100% battery life?
If you want to charge it to 4.0 V, does that mean its like 90% battery life?
convolution said:
I don't get the article.
Does 4.2V mean 100% battery life?
If you want to charge it to 4.0 V, does that mean its like 90% battery life?
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Not certain, but it seems the charger and/or battery on the Vision is designed so that it does not keep the voltage at 100% when its charging and full. I've noticed the battery meter periodically drop to 99% when still on the charger, then back up to "F" (full). While I know the battery meter is not really accurate enough to read to 1% increments; what this seems to indicate is that once a full charge is achieved, the system is going to let the charge drop below a certain threshold, then top off again, rather than keep the voltage at 100% constantly.
The table below is a little more easily digestible (not overly technical). It says you can keep the battery on the charger.
It also says not to let the battery discharge below 20%. Overdischarge of Li ion batteries can result in your battery no longer accepting a charge, on the off chance the safety circuit does not trip properly. The safety circuit is designed to prevent over discharge of the battery, but this has been known to fail, at least on other phones. And there is no benefit to letting the battery discharge below 20%.
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/do_and_dont_battery_table
convolution said:
I don't get the article.
Does 4.2V mean 100% battery life?
If you want to charge it to 4.0 V, does that mean its like 90% battery life?
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There are two terms you need to understand when it comes to batteries: volts and amps.
Volts is "static" for a battery, meaning it doesn't change. You have a 1.5V battery, it will always be a 1.5V battery. Now the capacity of the battery is measured in amps. A 1Amp battery has more capacity than a 500mAh battery. At 100% fully charged, you'd have 1000mAh (or 1A). At 90%, you'd have 900mAh.
What that article tells you is that your phone is charged to (or close to) 100% using a specified voltage (probably whatever the battery is rated at...3.7V?). Now batteries and chargers of the past had what's called a "trickle" effect, in which it still chargers the battery when it is (or close to) 100%, but at a much lower voltage. If you phone was to stop charging after it hit 100%, it would start to discharge. When you unplugged it (assuming you charge it over night) in the morning, you would have less than 100%. The trickle is so that your battery will still have 100% when you unplug it.
Think about if you filled up your gas tank and left your car running over night. When you woke up, you wouldn't have a full tank anymore. But if you left the gas nozzle in the tank while it was running, it would continually "top it off". That or gas leak everywhere and your car would burst into flames...therefore canceling the point that you wouldn't a full tank...
Anyways...Li-Ion batteries charge and behave differently that batteries of yore. It's bad to let it go down to almost 0%. It's also bad to let it continually sit on the charger. I personally charge mine every other day but I used to charge my Vibrant and HD2 every night.
The batteries in these phones have protection circuits to prevent over charging as well as over discharge. It is perfectly safe to charge over night as well as discharge until empty. What the display shows as 0% does not mean the battery has actually reached 0%. It is just were the protection circuit deems safe. It is possible to over discharge a Li-ion/LiPo battery which may cause it to no longer charge but there are ways to bring it back for the willing. Our phones, however, will not do this due to the protection circuit unless that fails. If that happens you need a new battery because Li-ion/Lipo batteries are very dangerous if over or under charged.
Also, the voltage is static in theory but in real life the the voltage does drop as the battery is discharged. The drop is not large however. A 3.7v Li-ion/LiPo cell will read around 4.2v at full charge and lowers to just over 3.7v at full SAFE discharge. If the battery falls below 3.7v, you will likely have damaged the cell. Again, our phone batteries have a protection circuit to prevent this.
ihateusernames said:
The batteries in these phones have protection circuits to prevent over charging as well as over discharge. It is perfectly safe to charge over night as well as discharge until empty. What the display shows as 0% does not mean the battery has actually reached 0%. It is just were the protection circuit deems safe. It is possible to over discharge a Li-ion/LiPo battery which may cause it to no longer charge but there are ways to bring it back for the willing.
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It would require a special charger with a "boost" function, which most people do not have access to.
From the previously linked battery University page:
In spite of these preventive measures, over-discharge does occur. Advanced battery analyzers (Cadex C7000 series) feature a 'boost' function that provides a gentle charge current to activate the safety circuit and re-energize the cells if discharged too deeply.
Most of us let our battery drain low on accident from time to time. But it makes not sense to do it intentionally or make a habit of it, as it yields no benefit (some people think they are "conditioning" or "calibrating" the battery, which does not apply to Li ion batteries), and actually hurts battery life. Also from Battery University: "Do charge the battery often. The battery lasts longer with partial rather than full discharges."
There have been pretty occasional cases on the Touch Pro 2 forums of people over-discharging the battery, and rendering it useless. So it does happen. Some have claimed that the Android OS, or the Vision phone itself handles the battery better to avoid over discharge. Maybe so. But do you really want to test that theory, if it can most usually be avoided?
redpoint73 said:
It would require a special charger with a "boost" function, which most people do not have access to.
From the previously linked battery University page:
In spite of these preventive measures, over-discharge does occur. Advanced battery analyzers (Cadex C7000 series) feature a 'boost' function that provides a gentle charge current to activate the safety circuit and re-energize the cells if discharged too deeply.
Most of us let our battery drain low on accident from time to time. But it makes not sense to do it intentionally or make a habit of it, as it yields no benefit (some people think they are "conditioning" or "calibrating" the battery, which does not apply to Li ion batteries), and actually hurts battery life. Also from Battery University: "Do charge the battery often. The battery lasts longer with partial rather than full discharges."
There have been pretty occasional cases on the Touch Pro 2 forums of people over-discharging the battery, and rendering it useless. So it does happen. Some have claimed that the Android OS, or the Vision phone itself handles the battery better to avoid over discharge. Maybe so. But do you really want to test that theory, if it can most usually be avoided?
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I agree that it can happen which is why I stated that the prevention circuit can fail though I do believe it to be a rare case that this happens. I charge when ever I am near a charger as I don't like to run low but I also don't freak out if I am close to dead. I also charge over night every night and have for years. I just don't believe that it is necessary to worry that my phone has been on the charger too long or that I am running close to 0% as there is redundant protection in place and for the most part, this protection works very well. Hell, your phone COULD burst into flames while holding it next to your ear due to the volatility of the Lithium Ion chemistry if exposed to air but that also very rarely happens.
I believe it is probably worse on the battery to watch movies on the phone while overclocked with the battery getting too hot than to discharge to 0% occasionally.
I do agree that it is pointless to try conditioning lithium batteries as they have no memory effect.
Reviving an over discharged Lithium battery should not be attempted by most. I fly RC Helis and my electrics use 3 or 6 cell LiPo's. On the very rare occasion I kill a cell, I isolate the bad cell and trickle charge until it matches the others and then resume balance charging. The batteries in our phones can be revived in the same manner. It requires low current and constant observation and should not be done by the inexperienced.
HELPFUL TIPS FOR YOUR NEW BATTERY!
Initializing your new battery
When you got a new battery, insert it into your electronic device. Turn your device on and drain your battery until your left with 1 bar of power. Then charge your device for a minimum period of 12 hours. Your 1st charge cycle is very important, do not charge it before it's down to 1 bar.
Recharging your new battery
After you have completed the initial charge, your battery should only ever be recharged once you drain if down to 1 bar of power and should be recharged for a minimum period of 6 hours for the battery to reach its full capacity. Ignore the phone telling you that the battery is full - this is normal but is not accurate.
Avoid fully discharging your new battery
Your batteries' life is shortened every time you fully discharge them. Instead, charge them when the battery meter shows one bar left.
Battery care tips
Charge your battery correctly by using appropriate charger and drain your battery up to one bar before charging.
Keep battery contacts clean to effective deliver power in your device and optimize battery life.
Lower screen brightness/backlight and disable custom animations/transitions to lower battery consumption.
Avoid using unnecessary features and close idle applications running in the background as they still consume power.
Use GSM rather than 3G or Dual Mode as being on GSM mode consumes less power.
Turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity when not in use as they consume a lot of power.
Can you site credible sources for those battery charging "tips"? As it sounds like a myth from way back in the NiCAD era, rather than modern LIon batterys with decent charging circuits.
CrazyPeter said:
Can you site credible sources for those battery charging "tips"? As it sounds like a myth from way back in the NiCAD era, rather than modern LIon batterys with decent charging circuits.
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I'm also curious about hard facts.
http://www.androidauthority.com/the-top-3-android-battery-myths-46924/
Devices nowadays have transitioned from using nickel-based batteries, to lithium ion batteries in the past few years. Until now, myths associated with batteries are yet to be disproved however, there are studies and experiments proving that some of them aren’t entirely true. While nickel based batteries indeed have their own problems back then, lithium ion batteries, which is commonly used to power up laptops, cameras, and phones to name a few, are always filled with myths that most techie people still believe in.
Below are the three battery myths that have already been disproved.
MYTH NO. 1: New batteries need an initial overnight charge
This is one of the most untrue myths about lithium ion batteries that a lot of people believe in. When opening a newly purchased device, you DO NOT need to fully charge it initially. Although there are benefits offered by doing so, initial charging or ‘priming’ does not affect the battery life in any way.
Manufacturers strongly suggest users to do this so that the battery will be properly calibrated and the power indicator will display the accurate battery life of the device. However, there is no need to worry about using your gadget fresh out of the box because even if the calibration is incorrect, which rarely happens, it will fix by itself over time.
MYTH NO. 2: Overcharging your lithium ion battery will reduce its battery life
One of the most common myths that we have heard about lithium ion batteries would be the need to plug it from its charger after being fully charged, since overcharging the battery/device will reduce its battery life. The truth is, lithium ion batteries cannot be overcharged or can be reduced of its battery life through overcharging. What’s good about these batteries is that that already have built-in circuits that will cut off the power once it has been fully charged.
However, it is a good idea to unplug or remove the battery once it has done charging because the heat from poor ventilation or from charging will cause it to blow up. Another reason why this is an important note worth remembering is that batteries discharge faster when heated thus, reducing its lifespan.
MYTH NO. 3: You can calibrate your Lithium Ion battery every once in a while
Some of the rechargeable batteries being used today have a battery memory. Some batteries will slowly lose their maximum capacity if you fail to completely discharge it plugging it in. Hence, recharging it while it is still 40% charged will mark it as the new 0%, which gives you lesser capacity for your battery. However, this only applies to technologies applied in older batteries but isn’t applicable to today’s lithium-ion batteries.
What you have read above hopefully in one way or another, eased your worries about decreasing your battery’s lifespan.
---------- Post added at 02:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:45 PM ----------
Further information about battery facts and myths.
http://www.greenbatteries.com/batterymyths.html
Some more (generic) information about lithium-based batteries (sorry, not allowed to post links yet):
batterycare.net/en/guide.html
micro-power.com/userfiles/file/mp_tempcharge-1250026530.pdf
batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
All of these show heat as an important factor in capacity loss. You might be able to reduce heat from external sources, but as the chart in the pdf shows, the battery itself produces heat while discharging. With a constant load, the generated heat goes up rapidly after the battery reaches around 25%. As there is no memory effect in lithium batteries, it seems best to avoid this area altogether.
Of course, the maximum capacity will decrease with time regardless and a calibration cycle (100% to near empty) once in a while can be useful to ensure your battery indicator is reliable.
Thanks
Sent from my LT18i using xda premium
We all know that the One (and many other modern cellphones) have a Lithium Ion battery. While these batteries have no traditional 'memory effect' the way NiMH did, it seems that different chemistries for the electrolyte would suggest different strategies for recharging.
For example, after looking at the Wikipedia entry for Lithium batteries, it would seem that we should be mindful about 'topping off' the battery, because charging deteriorates the lifespan, implying that running down the battery might be a more advisable practice than plugging in to fully charge every night.
Wondering if any of you experts out there can comment and discuss, given that we One users no longer have replacable cells.
Good question, I too would be very interested in hearing from some of the posters that are knowledgeable in this area.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium
This is pretty well established knowledge right now. I'll list everything pertinent about lithium ion batteries and charging smartphones:
Edit: Note that I mention Lithium Ion in this post, but the HTC One uses Lithium Polymer. They are for all intents and purposes equal in terms of their usability, except for slightly less charge cycles
Edit 2: Hello Reddit! No idea this would have taken off. I'm "coolmatty" on reddit. This is an overall generalization, and there are plenty of resources that go into more detail. Places like Battery University are great sites to start.
1. Charging is what reduces the life of a lithium ion battery. Batteries are usually rated between 700-1000 charge cycles while keeping 90% of their capacity.
2. Charging 0-100% counts as one cycle. Charging 80-100% 5 times counts as one cycle.
3. Leaving your phone on the charger after it is charged has the potential to reduce battery life, although this is less of a problem with newer devices as they often disconnect the charging circuit until the battery drops below ~95%. Generally only an issue if you leave it on the charger for 24+ hours.
4. Lithium ion batteries do not require any conditioning.
5. Most lithium ion devices arrive with ~40-50% battery life remaining, because this is the optimal charge level to store a lithium battery for long periods (such as sitting on a store shelf for months).
6. Slower charging maintains the battery's overall lifetime capacity better than fast charging. This is likely why the HTC One does not have Qualcomm's Quick Charge enabled. It's debateable whether you'd notice the effects over the typical lifetime of a smartphone, however (2 years).
7. Not exactly related to lithium but just in general: smartphones (and tablets, etc) have charging circuits that only draw a certain amount of amps regardless of the number of amps the charger provides. Using a 3.1 amp (tablet-level) charger is not going to significantly increase the speed at which your phone charges. Most phones only use between 0.8 - 1.2 amps. Anything over that is overkill.
8. Storing a lithium ion battery at 0% is really bad for its lifetime capacity. Running it to 0% generally isn't recommended all the time, but a few instances won't hurt it.
9. Recharging from 0-100 doesn't make your battery run longer. It can, however, reset Android's battery level stats so that it can more accurately state the battery level.
10. Charging from ~95% to 100% takes a long time because it must do a trickle charge. Maxing out the battery like this can reduce overall lifetime capacity, but generally not enough to matter. You'll see this impact more often in larger applications of lithium batteries (like cars).
You have no idea how many people need this post (on some points, myself included). Thanks.
Vincent Law said:
2. Charging 0-100% counts as one cycle. Charging 80-100% 5 times counts as one cycle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does not seem to be that uniform, according to this:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
From what I understood from the link above in Table 2, you can get the best longevity by charging from 50% (2nd row).
jasahu said:
It does not seem to be that uniform, according to this:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
From what I understood from the link above in Table 2, you can get the best longevity by charging from 50% (2nd row).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But is it practical to charge it at 50% every time?
Doesn't the one infact have a Li-Po battery ? Would these points still apply ?
Nyxagamemnon said:
But is it practical to charge it at 50% every time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is a practical approach for me now, after reading this all, is to charge it every night.
This way
- I have better chances for not running out of battery during the day
- either it was at 75% (3rd row) or 50% (2nd row) I still have better longevity than charging from 0% most of the time.
Battery life will not degrade as long as you donot empty its charge for long time and donot use it while on charge... over heat on battery aged the battery...
Sent from my GT-I9082 using xda premium
Just wanted to add: li-ion and li-po batteries now-a-days have protection circuitry to prevent overcharge and over-discharge. Overcharge protection based on what is stated above, known as trickle charge. Over-discharge protection means that your phone will shut off when your battery is around 3v per cell, whereas you should refrain from force starting the phone. The only benefit you get from fully charging/discharging is battery calibration for cell mismatches. It is also good to know that partial charges are better than full charges when it comes to lithium ion (and lithium polymer) batteries.
The HTC one uses li-poly, not li-ion
Can read all about the advantages and disadvantages of each other here:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/is_lithium_ion_the_ideal_battery
li-poly
Advantages
Very low profile - batteries resembling the profile of a credit card are feasible.
Flexible form factor - manufacturers are not bound by standard cell formats. With high volume, any reasonable size can be produced economically.
Lightweight - gelled electrolytes enable simplified packaging by eliminating the metal shell.
Improved safety - more resistant to overcharge; less chance for electrolyte leakage.
Limitations
Lower energy density and decreased cycle count compared to lithium-ion.
Expensive to manufacture.
No standard sizes. Most cells are produced for high volume consumer markets.
Higher cost-to-energy ratio than lithium-ion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I am concerned, li-poly is overall better for phones where you can't change the battery.
by the looks of that article it was done quite a while ago (for the tech. world) so the disadvantages might not be as much of a problem these days.....
jasahu said:
It does not seem to be that uniform, according to this:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
From what I understood from the link above in Table 2, you can get the best longevity by charging from 50% (2nd row).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was using a simplification. It would be better not to let it go to 0, but most charge cycles are rated on this. I do mention the impact of letting the battery go to 0%.
Miketoberfest said:
Doesn't the one infact have a Li-Po battery ? Would these points still apply ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A flub on my part, you are correct. There are minor differences (the only one that matters to us is slightly shorter lifetime capacity) but otherwise it works the same.
Now that i see a battery 'expert', a quick question.
Back in the dack, if you bought anything with batteries, you would have to charge them for 24h, no matter how much charged they were. But if i were to buy a phone today (Lith-Ion), Do i still have to do that?
I think not, but i'm not quite sure. Lots of people (even smartphone sellers) still recommend charging it 24h, wich i think is bull.
Bartcore3 said:
Now that i see a battery 'expert', a quick question.
Back in the dack, if you bought anything with batteries, you would have to charge them for 24h, no matter how much charged they were. But if i were to buy a phone today (Lith-Ion), Do i still have to do that?
I think not, but i'm not quite sure. Lots of people (even smartphone sellers) still recommend charging it 24h, wich i think is bull.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that was only for the old Ni-MH batteries as they had to be bedded in as such. The newer ones dont need this
Vincent Law said:
This is pretty well established knowledge right now. I'll list everything pertinent about lithium ion batteries and charging smartphones:
1. Charging is what reduces the life of a lithium ion battery. Batteries are usually rated between 700-1000 charge cycles while keeping 90% of their capacity.
2. Charging 0-100% counts as one cycle. Charging 80-100% 5 times counts as one cycle.
3. Leaving your phone on the charger after it is charged has the potential to reduce battery life, although this is less of a problem with newer devices as they often disconnect the charging circuit until the battery drops below ~95%. Generally only an issue if you leave it on the charger for 24+ hours.
4. Lithium ion batteries do not require any conditioning.
5. Most lithium ion devices arrive with ~40-50% battery life remaining, because this is the optimal charge level to store a lithium battery for long periods (such as sitting on a store shelf for months).
6. Slower charging maintains the battery's overall lifetime capacity better than fast charging. This is likely why the HTC One does not have Qualcomm's Quick Charge enabled. It's debateable whether you'd notice the effects over the typical lifetime of a smartphone, however (2 years).
7. Not exactly related to lithium but just in general: smartphones (and tablets, etc) have charging circuits that only draw a certain amount of amps regardless of the number of amps the charger provides. Using a 3.1 amp (tablet-level) charger is not going to significantly increase the speed at which your phone charges. Most phones only use between 0.8 - 1.2 amps. Anything over that is overkill.
8. Storing a lithium ion battery at 0% is really bad for its lifetime capacity. Running it to 0% generally isn't recommended all the time, but a few instances won't hurt it.
9. Recharging from 0-100 doesn't make your battery run longer. It can, however, reset Android's battery level stats so that it can more accurately state the battery level.
10. Charging from ~95% to 100% takes a long time because it must do a trickle charge. Maxing out the battery like this can reduce overall lifetime capacity, but generally not enough to matter. You'll see this impact more often in larger applications of lithium batteries (like cars).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Vincent. Great post will certainly bear it all in mind when charging my phone.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium
ragingredbull said:
Thanks Vincent. Great post will certainly bear it all in mind when charging my phone.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure everyone noticed one of the things he said. I know from my HD2 and Ruby that HTC phones will not continue charging after hitting 100%. The phone will indicate %100, but shortly after you disconnect the charger and start using the phone the indicated power level will drop to what it actually is - and it will be lower depending upon how long it has been sitting at "100%". Their phones have a protection circuit that kicks in. So if you really want 100% in the morning, power the phone down to charge it.
Bartcore3 said:
Now that i see a battery 'expert', a quick question.
Back in the dack, if you bought anything with batteries, you would have to charge them for 24h, no matter how much charged they were. But if i were to buy a phone today (Lith-Ion), Do i still have to do that?
I think not, but i'm not quite sure. Lots of people (even smartphone sellers) still recommend charging it 24h, wich i think is bull.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I mentioned in my first post, Lithium batteries do not require conditioning. The purpose for this on old Ni-Cad batteries was to avoid the memory effect, which could result in a battery appearing to be dead long before it actually was. For instance, if you always charged it from 60%, after many instances of this, the Ni-Cad battery would suffer a voltage drop at that point, which most electronics can't handle (some can, however, and once past the short period of low voltage, they will recover and continue normally).
Charging for 24 hours is most certainly not relevant, as once the battery reaches 100%, charging has ceased anyway. There's no need to charge it to 100% anyway, other than to give you more time to play with your new toy
---------- Post added at 01:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 PM ----------
stevedebi said:
I'm not sure everyone noticed one of the things he said. I know from my HD2 and Ruby that HTC phones will not continue charging after hitting 100%. The phone will indicate %100, but shortly after you disconnect the charger and start using the phone the indicated power level will drop to what it actually is - and it will be lower depending upon how long it has been sitting at "100%". Their phones have a protection circuit that kicks in. So if you really want 100% in the morning, power the phone down to charge it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll see this in most devices nowadays. It's especially noticeable on laptops, which typically won't lie to you about the charge. It depends on the models, but I know Macbooks for instance will happily sit at 95% charge as "fully charged". This is by design and other than turning off the device, you shouldn't try to "top it off". Any other method (such as unplugging and plugging it back in) hurts the overall lifetime of the battery.
Vincent Law said:
...
You'll see this in most devices nowadays. It's especially noticeable on laptops, which typically won't lie to you about the charge. It depends on the models, but I know Macbooks for instance will happily sit at 95% charge as "fully charged". This is by design and other than turning off the device, you shouldn't try to "top it off". Any other method (such as unplugging and plugging it back in) hurts the overall lifetime of the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the modern laptops allow you to turn on or off the battery saving feature. For those who use the laptop while plugged in most of the time, it will stop charging at 80%. For those who will be using it off the plug, the option is there to get it to 100%.
I often see posts from people (in various forums) asking why their laptop will only charge to 80%...
stevedebi said:
Most of the modern laptops allow you to turn on or off the battery saving feature. For those who use the laptop while plugged in most of the time, it will stop charging at 80%. For those who will be using it off the plug, the option is there to get it to 100%.
I often see posts from people (in various forums) asking why their laptop will only charge to 80%...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never heard of this, and I don't recall seeing it on any Windows or Mac laptop I've used recently. Sounds like some proprietary crap one of the manufacturers came up with. Stopping the charge at 80% doesn't make much sense, since you'll still have the issue of constantly recharging the battery (as soon as it drops below 80%).
Edit: I will say that it is marginally better than keeping it at 100%, but that said, there's steps you can take on your own that are much better.
The ideal way to use a laptop that will be plugged in for most of its lifetime is to discharge it to about 45%, and then remove the battery entirely. At that point, the battery can maintain its capacity for months without major issue. Just make sure to recharge it once every 3 months or so, as the battery will discharge (slowly) even while unplugged, but at a far slower rate than it would be inside the laptop.
Vincent Law said:
I've never heard of this, and I don't recall seeing it on any Windows or Mac laptop I've used recently. Sounds like some proprietary crap one of the manufacturers came up with. Stopping the charge at 80% doesn't make much sense, since you'll still have the issue of constantly recharging the battery (as soon as it drops below 80%).
Edit: I will say that it is marginally better than keeping it at 100%, but that said, there's steps you can take on your own that are much better.
The ideal way to use a laptop that will be plugged in for most of its lifetime is to discharge it to about 45%, and then remove the battery entirely. At that point, the battery can maintain its capacity for months without major issue. Just make sure to recharge it once every 3 months or so, as the battery will discharge (slowly) even while unplugged, but at a far slower rate than it would be inside the laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The latest research from the Auto manufacturers is that Li-Ion technology works longest if the battery level is between 50 and 80%.
My Toshiba U925 ultra portable uses the optional 80% max. If you use the laptop almost exclusively while plugged in, it will help provide battery longevity, or so I understand.
Many laptops won't work unless the battery is in place. It depends on how they built the power circuits.
Using always connected to Charger?
For long term battery health I wouldn't recommend keeping it plugged in for long periods of time. People say today's batteries have protective circuits that prevent overcharging, but I don't really trust this. So I simply unplug it as soon as it is fully charged.
As for actual better battery life, turn off everything you don't need - GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Mobile Data etc. This phone should give you an average of 6 hours SOT. To obtain more you will probably need a custom kernel, but even then the results may vary.
Yeah it has protection circuit to protect overcharging. Lithium based batteries can always take charge, and might self-combust. (ok , worst case. basically, lithium can't get in contact with water. RH in air is just enough to start the self combustion reaction). Nowadays, Li-ion or Li-Po are well made, and this is less problematic.
This as been said, it doesn't mean that this circuit won't trigger the battery every 0.XXX% drop, which is not good, so yeah, until someone do electric reading test on the op5, I won't suggest to let the device plugged in when full.
Simple rules for lithuim based batteries :
- time will kill the battery, even if it's brand new sealed. (normal chemical reaction). Nothing we can do here, limit extreme temperatures, not too cold not too hot.
- heat will decrease battery life and capacity. This mean, dash charging will decrease life. So, 1.2A to 2.0 [email protected] charger is more appropriate. Even if dash tech will regulate the charge, you still have a time that it will optimize to max power, so more heat.
- Polarity direction changes will decrease life/capacity. This mean, do not charge it if you don't need to.
- do not wait to drain it at 0%, I don't know what is the security factor from OnePLus. A single lithium based batterie under 2.60-2.75V, will mostlikely be dead , or will loose more than 50% of his capacity.
Some lithium based battery will perform better, but to keep low price, do not worry, oneplus use standard li-po.
More developed info here :
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
When the phone is plugged, it doesn't use the battery anymore, therefore the battery is not drained. Once it reaches 100%, it just stays at 100% until you unplug it.
Some says that leaving the charger plugged is not ecological, because it still uses energy even if it doesn't charge anything, but in reality it hardly use energy. I don't remember the numbers, but it is really insignificant.
In the end, there are a lot of superstitions concerning charging and battery life, most coming from old habits and false/outdated information spreading through the internet. The only things very true is that you should avoid letting your battery going to 0%, and don't let your battery overheat, and that's all. Charge when you please, as long as you please, and avoid using low-cost chargers or batteries as some can be dangerous.
I used my Xiaomi Mi3 for 3 years, letting it plugged every night with a QuickCharge charger, and it could still handle a whole day when I finally sold it.