Database Users

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

I just found this very interesting article, maybe you'll like it too:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Short summary:
1. "A partial discharge reduces stress and prolongs battery life. Elevated temperature and high currents also affect cycle life."
2. "Higher charge voltages boost capacity but lower cycle life and compromise safety."

its also suggested that you let your phone go through one complete discharge from 100 - 0% at least once a month.
- also on the heat front mentioned in the OP, i take it that means its best to remove your cover when charging your phone to stop a build up of heat?

You mean taking of the case, like Otterbox?
No, I wouldn't do so because my battery never gets warmer than 26-29 degrees.
Bad would be everything above 30°.

scaryshark said:
its also suggested that you let your phone go through one complete discharge from 100 - 0% at least once a month.
- also on the heat front mentioned in the OP, i take it that means its best to remove your cover when charging your phone to stop a build up of heat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our electronic profs at uni (who actually know what they are talking about) told us to keep the charge between 80% and 30%. Discharging to 0% only harms the battery.
So i'd really like to know where it's suggested that you should discharge to 0% once a month.
btw: This is a quote from the link from the op:
"The smaller the depth of discharge, the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid frequent full discharges and charge more often between uses."
So i'd say that discharging to 0% once a month is nonsense and only harms your battery

I read that a while ago on the iPhone support website and did that for my old 3g, I just kept the practice running when I got my DHD. I guess either Apple is wrong or its only usefull for non-removable batterirs.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA

That's probably why their batteries died so fast.

gotta voice in here. i've also heard that its optimal to keep your battery in the 80%-30% range. and that its only damaging to fully drain your battery.
but on the flip side, its kinda needed to do a wipe battery stats once in a while, so i can get a better reading of my battery.... was a time when i hadn't done it for ages, and i was at 1% battery while watching a movie for 30 minutes..
so, I recommend at least, to DONT drain your battery.. but if you are getting really off readings on your battery. do the wipe battery stats thing

My DHD battery seems to be getting worse and not holding its charge. as it's almost been 18 months I decided to buy a new OEM battery and I was jus wondering how should I run the 1st few cycles? And how long will it take to reach its optimum capacity? Also will I need to wipe battery stats and calibrate it?
Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using xda premium

AllEyezOnMe said:
My DHD battery seems to be getting worse and not holding its charge. as it's almost been 18 months I decided to buy a new OEM battery and I was jus wondering how should I run the 1st few cycles? And how long will it take to reach its optimum capacity? Also will I need to wipe battery stats and calibrate it?
Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Calibration is a hoax, and battery stats are wiped whenever DHD is unplugged with nearly full charge (link to follow from one of the Android devs, don't have it to hand whilst mobile)
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

I used to worry about battery, then i purchased two of the cheap Ebay ones for like $3 they each hold about a day worth of juice. let the haters hate on the cheap batteries but it's $3! If they are of lower capacity (which must be miniscule because i can't tell) or they die early who cares. Buy a few of them and be done with it.
Sent from my Desire HD

brad808 said:
Buy a few of them and be done with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why buy many batteries, when you can have 1 quality item?
Cheap batteries can also be a security risk (exploding cell phones e.g.)

scaryshark said:
its also suggested that you let your phone go through one complete discharge from 100 - 0% at least once a month.
- also on the heat front mentioned in the OP, i take it that means its best to remove your cover when charging your phone to stop a build up of heat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how should we go about that? play heaps of games? increase brightness? or do you mean drain it slowly like over a day?

rootingdestroyer said:
how should we go about that? play heaps of games? increase brightness? or do you mean drain it slowly like over a day?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't, draining batteries fully is no longer recommended practice
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

how to charge a new battery?
I still haven't received an answer to my past post. I've just got a new OEM battery and i wanted to know how should i run the first few cycles? is there a certain amount of time i should charge before i unplug it or do i just treat it as i would with a normal used battery?

AllEyezOnMe said:
I still haven't received an answer to my past post. I've just got a new OEM battery and i wanted to know how should i run the first few cycles? is there a certain amount of time i should charge before i unplug it or do i just treat it as i would with a normal used battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suggested initial full charging/discharging cycles are ONLY made to train your phone and NOT your battery and in most cases aren't even intended for current android phones.
Those mythical suggestions are often based on facts for non-lithium rechargable batteries.
Nowadays rechargable lithium batteries are often shipped at least half full. So what you can and should do is just use the battery and try keeping it between 30% and 80%. That's all you have to do.

Dlog said:
Suggested initial full charging/discharging cycles are ONLY made to train your phone and NOT your battery and in most cases aren't even intended for current android phones.
Those mythical suggestions are often based on facts for non-lithium rechargable batteries.
Nowadays rechargable lithium batteries are often shipped at least half full. So what you can and should do is just use the battery and try keeping it between 30% and 80%. That's all you have to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So are you saying i shouldn't even charge it to 100% and what about the recommended monthly full charge to complete discharge to calibrate the battery?

Well you can charge it to 100% if you want. That will reset the battery log of your phone, so it can't hurt that much.
But charging it for an extensive amount of time will bring you no good. The charging circuit in your phone and in general the charging circuit used to charge lithium-ion batteries will stop charging once the battery is full. That way it prevents the battery from overcharging. But it also means that charging your phone for any more time than it needs to won't make it run any longer.
The monthly complete discharge is not to calibrate your battery as i've allready stated. It is used by the phone to better estimate how much power your battery can currently hold. So in a sense it's used to calibrate but not the battery itself but the battery statistics in your phone.
The phone knows how much energy the wall-charger provides and can thus determin huch much power is stored in the battery once it hits 100% (or better: reaches it's maximum voltage). If you have a charge from 1% to 100% then the phone can obviously determin the battery's capacity more accurately than if you charge it from 50% to 100%.
/edit:
And yes. If you really want to prolong your batteries life then keep it's charge between 80% and 30%.
But just see to it that the charge is above 30% and you're good.

Dlog said:
Well you can charge it to 100% if you want. That will reset the battery log of your phone, so it can't hurt that much.
But charging it for an extensive amount of time will bring you no good. The charging circuit in your phone and in general the charging circuit used to charge lithium-ion batteries will stop charging once the battery is full. That way it prevents the battery from overcharging. But it also means that charging your phone for any more time than it needs to won't make it run any longer.
The monthly complete discharge is not to calibrate your battery as i've allready stated. It is used by the phone to better estimate how much power your battery can currently hold. So in a sense it's used to calibrate but not the battery itself but the battery statistics in your phone.
The phone knows how much energy the wall-charger provides and can thus determin huch much power is stored in the battery once it hits 100% (or better: reaches it's maximum voltage). If you have a charge from 1% to 100% then the phone can obviously determin the battery's capacity more accurately than if you charge it from 50% to 100%.
/edit:
And yes. If you really want to prolong your batteries life then keep it's charge between 80% and 30%.
But just see to it that the charge is above 30% and you're good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks for all the information your help is much appreciated

Dlog said:
The monthly complete discharge is not to calibrate your battery as i've allready stated. It is used by the phone to better estimate how much power your battery can currently hold. So in a sense it's used to calibrate but not the battery itself but the battery statistics in your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How so? Battery stats is wiped when you unplug the nearly charged phone, so where is this historical data found?
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

ghostofcain said:
How so? Battery stats is wiped when you unplug the nearly charged phone, so where is this historical data found?
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
beats me^^
My point was that the calibration is done for the accuracy of the percentage displayed and not to make your battery hold more energy, regardless of what phone/device you use.
And i'm using Battery Monitor Widget so i tend to mean that when i talk about the "historical data". Because BMW really does tell you to run larger charge cycles to increase accuracy. It however doesn't tell you that constantly running your battery down to 0% will only shorten it's lifetime.

How do you first charge the Nexus 4 for the best battery life?

I remember as a kid, when getting new hardware, you need to charge it to the maximum and leave it in for a few hours to kinda work the battery and get the most optimal battery life. So for this phone, what would you need to do when you first get it to get the battery to be the best it can be?
Do we cycle it from 0 to 100, or just charge it to 100 and leave it?
Or does it not matter?

qwahchees said:
I remember as a kid, when getting new hardware, you need to charge it to the maximum and leave it in for a few hours to kinda work the battery and get the most optimal battery life. So for this phone, what would you need to do when you first get it to get the battery to be the best it can be?
Do we cycle it from 0 to 100, or just charge it to 100 and leave it?
Or does it not matter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't matter. While older nickel-cadmium batteries could have issues with charge memory, lithium ion batteries are not affected. Just charge and use your phone as normal. If you want to maximize battery life make sure not to place your phone in extreme heat (eg. inside a locked car in summer time) and avoid leaving your phone at 0% charge for any length of time.

firstness said:
It doesn't matter. While older nickel-cadmium batteries could have issues with charge memory, lithium ion batteries are not affected. Just charge and use your phone as normal. If you want to maximize battery life make sure not to place your phone in extreme heat (eg. inside a locked car in summer time) and avoid leaving your phone at 0% charge for any length of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the phone is using Lithium Polymer...

qwahchees said:
But the phone is using Lithium Polymer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the purposes of this discussion it is identical.

Well technically it's Lithium-ion Polymer

Same thing. Either way they don't have the memory issues that old rechargeable batteries had..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Nope.
These new Lithium batteries aren't subject to any of these myths.
Same with the "Take off your device from the charger once it has been fully 100% charged or the battery will stuff up." Nope. The battery just cuts the charge and just runs down. That's why if you look at your charging history, it might go to 99%, 98 or even 97, and go back up to 100% because that's when the phone decides, "Yep, I'll take a bit more charge."

Alright. Thanks to everyone!
I'm getting mine tomorrow ;D
(Aw, outta thanks to give :'( )

It is good with these batteries to run then down to almost empty every week or so, right?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Richieboy67 said:
It is good with these batteries to run then down to almost empty every week or so, right?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another myth. Not true for Lithium batteries

Really? I read this in a battery forum years ago. This was for laptop batteries though..
Not meaning to sound sarcastic, how do you know this? Are you an electronics engineer or something? Just wondering.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Lithium-ion/lithium-polymer batteries don't have the "memory effect" that older nickel-cadmium and nickel-metalhydride batteries did. So there's no point trying to run your battery down low every now and again to help its life. In fact, it seems that charging it more often is the most helpful thing, i.e. lots of small charges rather than big charges all the time.
Just use it normally and charge it when you need, it'll be fine.
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

How about leaving the phone charging after it is fully charged? Like when you charge it overnight.

arcwindz said:
How about leaving the phone charging after it is fully charged? Like when you charge it overnight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone and charger electronics will lower the rate of charging as it reaches 100% and turn it off when it's done. You don't need to worry about unplugging it right away.
In longer term storage situations where you aren't using the device (i.e. weeks or months) it's optimal to store the battery at a charge level of 60-70% to reduce battery degradation over time. When the Mars rover \Curiosity was en route to mars the batteries were at 60% and were charged upon approaching the planet.

Richieboy67 said:
Really? I read this in a battery forum years ago. This was for laptop batteries though..
Not meaning to sound sarcastic, how do you know this? Are you an electronics engineer or something? Just wondering.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am an electrical engineer actually. Li-Ion or Li-Po batteries do not need to be treated any special way. The only thing that degrades them is use and time. And it does not matter how deeply you discharge them (discharging to 50% twice is about the same wear on the battery as discharging to 0% once, within a reasonable degree of error).
What you may have been reading was with regards to calibrating your laptop's battery meter. There is some truth to that, and allowing even your phone to discharge completely (down to 5% or so) once can help make sure your battery percentage is accurate. But it does not affect your battery life at all.

qwahchees said:
I remember as a kid...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember as a kid that all the phones had a cable attached and no battery whatsoever...
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

I'm following what the manual said!
I was going th carge wherever and start using it, beut then i got the phone and read that it would be good to charge it full first.
i.imgur.com/0PP3v.jpg
I prefer to follow what google says thank you very much

Actually...
raziel.beoulve said:
I was going th carge wherever and start using it, beut then i got the phone and read that it would be good to charge it full first.
i.imgur.com/0PP3v.jpg
I prefer to follow what google says thank you very much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it doesn't say to do it "first". It says "its a good idea to fully charge *as soon as you get a chance*."
The wording in the quick start guide you provided doesn't seem to imply that its a critical thing. It seems to me that they are putting that there in case someone takes it out the box, starts playing with/using it, then wonders why the phone is already dead. Then they post to XDA about how the battery life sucks. (Just kidding! )

Not discharging fully...reason for bad battery life?

Firstly, I get better battery life from my nexus 4 than I did from my HTC one X (4hours screen on at FULL brightness, same usage on the htc with autobrigtness would have given me no more than 3) so I am very pleased with battery performance which I was a bit worried about after the reviews!
One of the times the N4 ran out of juice I turned it on again and checked the battery voltage which was 3442mV at 1%. Now I'm sure the HTC when flat read around 2900mV... And the batteries I use in various devices which are li-pol and li-ion discharge to under 3000mV, usually to around 2750mV.
Has Google put a very high 'empty voltage barrier' on the N4? Hmmmmmmmmm...

Not allowing it to discharge fully is a very safe and standard practice. If Google implemented this people will be thanking them a year or two down the road when the battery hasn't deteriorated as much.

c0LdFire said:
Not allowing it to discharge fully is a very safe and standard practice. If Google implemented this people will be thanking them a year or two down the road when the battery hasn't deteriorated as much.
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Click to collapse
Yeah but 2.8 ish volts is considered a safe discharge voltage....3.5 is just silly

tommmtom said:
Yeah but 2.8 ish volts is considered a safe discharge voltage....3.5 is just silly
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Click to collapse
i wish i remembered physics

I am not sure if it make a difference, but the battery in N4 is new tech with different chemical and output.

BruceCLin said:
I am not sure if it make a difference, but the battery in N4 is new tech with different chemical and output.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still lithium polymer though...
Does anyone know if the voltage upper and lower limits can be changed in custom kernels?

Doors anyone have real world standard phone usage battery reports? I mean most people that use the phone are saying battery is decent. At least that is what I am seeing from people who have had the phone for a few days.
sent via xda premium with nexus 7-Xbox live-loneleppard add me

fully charged a li-po battery is at 4.2v, if you discharge a li-po battery to far it can be damaged. Generally you don't want to let the voltage drop below 3.0v. However if the nexus says the battery is empty at 3.45v that is a bit high, the voltage could go down 200mv without harming the life of the battery.

LiPo cells are 3.7v. Going down to 3.45v sounds plentiful to me.

I own dozens of LiPo battery packs for RC planes. Letting a LiPo cell drop below 3.0v will damage the cell. Letting it drop below 3.2v frequently will damage the cell over time.
Most RC people don't let their batteries drop below 3.6v per cell; mind you the useful power is already gone from the cell at that point too. A cut off @ 3.45V seems like a great idea to me.

tommmtom said:
Yeah but 2.8 ish volts is considered a safe discharge voltage....3.5 is just silly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think 2.85V only applies to Lithium-Ion.
Once Lipos are below a certain voltage, the voltage drops quickly when further discharging so discharging up until 3.0V or something would only give you a few more minutes of usage.

You'll get less than ~10 min of extra juice if you change it to 3 V as LiPoly's voltage starts to drop very quickly after ~3.6V.
3.3 V cycles can also shorten the life cycle significantly if done offten

Thread moved to Q&A
Sent from my Nocturnalized One XL using Forum Runner

Battery Chemistry

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
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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.
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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.
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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%...
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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.
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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.

[TIPS] How To Maintain Your Lithium-Ion Battery/Applications To Save Battery

Good day,
For the new battery owners and frequent questions of charging and prolonging/maintaining your battery.
Here are some information from other websites. Just for the sake of laziness and Google-ing :highfive:
I know most of you guys already knows this. Yes, I know. These are reminders that you should.
Please do not flame or criticize my thread. I am just here to help. Thank you!
1.) It's not necessary to charge over 12 hours when first used. When a device powered by batteries is purchased, sellers will usually tell us the batteries must first be charged 12 hours before using. Actually, this is unnecessary. Unlike common Ni-CD or Ni-MH batteries, most lithium ion batteries have been activated before leaving the factory. Due to its low self-discharge, it’s unnecessary to charge lithium ion battery for such a long time when new. Lithium ion batteries are ready for use after the charger indicates so, and it will reach its best capacity after 3 or 5 cycles
2.) Don’t use an inappropriate charger. Many people care greatly about their electronic gadgets, but often neglect the consequences of bad chargers on their lithium ion batteries. When choosing a charger, the original charger is the best choice. If that's unavailable, a high quality charger that has an over charge protection function, or a brand name charger will do. A low quality battery charger can lead to shorter run times, premature battery failure, or even cause a fire or explosion.
3.) Avoid touching metal contacts. All batteries' contacts need to be kept clean for best performance. Do not let battery contacts touch metal objects such as keys when carrying them around, it can cause a short circuit, damaging the battery or potentially resulting in a fire or an explosion.
4.) Avoid often use in high or low temperature environment. Lithium ion batteries have an optimal working and storage temperature. If they're continually used an extreme temperature environment, it will negatively affect the lithium ion battery’s use time and useful cycles.
5.) Avoid long time without use or recharge. If you don't need to use your personal electronic gadgets for a long time where the lithium ion battery might be to left unused for 3 months or more, partially recharge the lithium ion battery, then store the device (recharge the battery to around 30-70% of capacity, depending on storage time) to prevent battery damage. You may need to take the device out of storage and charge again after a few months.
6.) Avoid use lithium ion battery which is hot after being fully charged. Temperatures can be very high after the battery is freshly recharged. If you use it immediately, the electronic gadget’s internal temperature will rise, and can negatively affect the device's electronic components.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XDA Users' Recommendation:
@apallohadas
DO NOT turn off your phone to charge the battery. This is completely unnecessary as the protection is built into the battery, not the phone.
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Click to collapse
@adytum
Nice thread, and thank god you didn't mention anything about wiping battery stats
To prevent confusion, I suggest you remove the part about overcharging in case of lacking overcharge protection, since practically every phone has it, and thus prevent the type of semantic discussion that was going on here.
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@m4xwellmurd3r
I wanted to add that I think the reason people think they need to charge the phone, then turn it off and charge it more and repeat comes from older android phones. The OG Evo was very bad with its battery stats and even if the phone was discharging it would continue to state 100% when it was plugged in. A bad cable caused my girlfriends phone to drain low enough that it couldnt be charged in the phone because the os never thought it was below 100%.
The old evo would shut off its charge circuit at 100% and kick it back on at 90%, but never show that it had discharged any. This resulted in massive percieved drain after unplugging the phone.
By charging it to 100 while on, unplugging and turning off, then charging back up while off, and repeating the process till the charging to charged indicator had a shortened delay, the battery would last longer because it calibrated not the battery, but androids internal battery states that indicated what its true 100% mark was.
But the systems ability to learn what voltages indicate 100% and 0% have become much better from what I can tell, and using that outdated method to force android to learn the min max points is now pointless.
The other issue was the old evo didnt trickle charge. From 100% it totally kicked the charge circuit off, and at 90% kicked it back on, while never reporting anything below 100% when the cable was plugged in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question:
If I am not going to use my battery for a long period of time, what should I do?
Answer:
Be sure the battery is above 40%
Put the battery in an air sealed zip locked bag and place it inside the refrigerator but not the freezer!
This will slow down the deterioration of the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Credits to:
WikiHow
XDA-Developers
CandlePowerForums
Google

Applications To Give You Better Battery Life
Greenify
Greenify helps you identify and put the bad behaving apps into hibernation when you are not using them, to stop them from lagging your device and leeching the battery, in an unique way! They can do nothing without explicit launch by you or other apps, while still preserving full functionality when running in foreground, similar to iOS apps!
DisableService
Disable Service helps you to disable services running in the background such as "push service" ,"upload service" or "pull ad service" and so on.
Wakelock Detector
”Wakelock Detector” helps you to detect battery consuming applications in your Android device by checking wakelock usage history. Now you can find out which applications drain your battery in a simple way by using this app!
SystemCleanup
*best system / cache cleaner in market ;o) hold your system clean and free of bloatware. disable autostart / autorun of apps and services. Also tells what applications are safe to freeze with descriptions.
Applications suggested by @Memphis_
Autorun Manager
Autorun Manager (formerly Autorun Killer) is an ultimate tool that lets you disable all the autostarting apps you don't need. Unfortunately this app is misunderstood many times so please read help carefully and/or mail the developer if you have questions.
Autostarts
Keep control over your phone: See what applications do behind your back.
Shows you what apps run on phone startup, and what other events trigger in the background. Root users can disable unwanted autostarts and speed up their phone boot.
​

I would add:
DO NOT turn off your phone to charge the battery. This is completely unnecessary as the protection is built into the battery, not the phone.

apallohadas said:
I would add:
DO NOT turn off your phone to charge the battery. This is completely unnecessary as the protection is built into the battery, not the phone.
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Click to collapse
Thanks. Added to the OP.

Simone said:
Thanks. Added to the OP.
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Click to collapse
Define over charging

ksc6000 said:
Define over charging
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Click to collapse
Continuous charging of the battery after it reaches full charge.
Generally, overcharging will have a harmful influence on the performance of the battery which could lead to unsafe conditions.
It should therefore be avoided.

Simone said:
Continuous charging of the battery after it reaches full charge.
Generally, overcharging will have a harmful influence on the performance of the battery which could lead to unsafe conditions.
It should therefore be avoided.
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Click to collapse
Not to belittle the intent of the contribution and all, but you contradict yourself, and the majority of the info provided is completely inapplicable to the application.
It's dismaying to see battery technology reduced to superstitious ritual.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

G.Reaper said:
Not to belittle the intent of the contribution and all, but you contradict yourself, and the majority of the info provided is completely inapplicable to the application.
It's dismaying to see battery technology reduced to superstitious ritual.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually trying to get out of the ritual.

G.Reaper said:
Not to belittle the intent of the contribution and all, but you contradict yourself, and the majority of the info provided is completely inapplicable to the application.
It's dismaying to see battery technology reduced to superstitious ritual.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the majority is pretty spot on and does much to get people away from the rituals of draining batteries unnecessarily and other practices meant for other battery technologies.
You could be helpful by constructively adding, you know.

apallohadas said:
Actually, the majority is pretty spot on and does much to get people away from the rituals of draining batteries unnecessarily and other practices meant for other battery technologies.
You could be helpful by constructively adding, you know.
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Click to collapse
Just because you asked so nicely.
Simone said:
2.) Don’t use an inappropriate charger. Many people care greatly about their electronic gadgets, but often neglect the consequences of bad chargers on their lithium ion batteries. When choosing a charger, the original charger is the best choice. If that's unavailable, a high quality charger that has an over charge protection function, or a brand name charger will do. A low quality battery charger can lead to shorter run times, premature battery failure, or even cause a fire or explosion.
3.) Avoid frequently over charging. Over charging with a low quality charger may let the battery's interior rise to a high temperature, which is bad for the lithium ion battery and charger. Thus, simply fully charging is good enough - overcharging will make your lithium battery into a little bomb if over charge protection function is missing.
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and
Simone said:
Continuous charging of the battery after it reaches full charge.
Generally, overcharging will have a harmful influence on the performance of the battery which could lead to unsafe conditions.
It should therefore be avoided.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are at odds.
I'd be interested to see your source(s) for the charging behavior of the integrated circuitry once the battery is full and the negative impacts thereof. I'm not saying that overcharging a cell isn't bad. But the battery in your phone has ic, regulating the exposure to the cell. Meaning that given that self-discharge is a characteristic of Li ion batteries, overcharge doesn't seem to be a likely concern.
Additionally, if the protection ic is in the battery, why would you need a charger with built in charge protection? This is info from hobby cells, which are bare Li ion cells. You really think the usb wall wart samsung ships you is anything more than an ac to dc, step down voltage converter? I'm open to evidence to the contrary.
The danger in Li ion is typically in in over discharge, and in charging too quickly, resulting in a cycle of increasing uncontrolled internal resistance, potentially causing combustion. The charge rate should be protected by the battery's ic, and as the battery will say it's empty before breaching the threshold of damaging discharge, it just translates to "don't leave the thing alone in a drawer for a long time with no charge", which you effectively covered.
And what's not mentioned, is that no matter what you do, no matter the obsessive charging ritual you observe, current Li ion technologies will see a roughly 10% decrease in performance per year.

Don't worry about your battery and charge it as much as you want over charge it at night. Then buy a new one a year later after that one you will have a new phone. No worries.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app

dazza7111 said:
Don't worry about your battery and charge it as much as you want over charge it at night. Then buy a new one a year later after that one you will have a new phone. No worries.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly!

G.Reaper said:
Just because you asked so nicely.
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Click to collapse
I ask because it's easier to be sarcastic on the internet than to be helpful.
I'd be interested to see your source(s) for the charging behavior of the integrated circuitry once the battery is full and the negative impacts thereof. I'm not saying that overcharging a cell isn't bad. But the battery in your phone has ic, regulating the exposure to the cell. Meaning that given that self-discharge is a characteristic of Li ion batteries, overcharge doesn't seem to be a likely concern.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I would agree, but some of the overcharging advice I've seen here includes charging the phone to full, then shutting it off, and letting it charge for hours longer. All in an attempt to circumvent safeguards. Weird yes, ritualistic, sure, will Samsung get blamed if the battery melts? Definitely.
Pretty good article on Lithium based batteries:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
The danger in Li ion is typically in in over discharge, and in charging too quickly, resulting in a cycle of increasing uncontrolled internal resistance, potentially causing combustion. The charge rate should be protected by the battery's ic, and as the battery will say it's empty before breaching the threshold of damaging discharge, it just translates to "don't leave the thing alone in a drawer for a long time with no charge", which you effectively covered.
And what's not mentioned, is that no matter what you do, no matter the obsessive charging ritual you observe, current Li ion technologies will see a roughly 10% decrease in performance per year.
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Click to collapse
And what you said fairly agrees with the article. (Depending on charging habits of course.)

apallohadas said:
Normally I would agree, but some of the overcharging advice I've seen here includes charging the phone to full, then shutting it off, and letting it charge for hours longer. All in an attempt to circumvent safeguards. Weird yes, ritualistic, sure, will Samsung get blamed if the battery melts? Definitely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That won't really do anything. Logically, if the phone's off, there won't be a load on the battery, thus it's free to charge at the maximum rate as controlled by the ic. But, that doesn't mean it'll end up any different at 100% from charging with the phone on.
Again I reference the fact that the battery contains the control circuitry, not the phone.

G.Reaper said:
That won't really do anything. Logically, if the phone's off, there won't be a load on the battery, thus it's free to charge at the maximum rate as controlled by the ic. But, that doesn't mean it'll end up any different at 100% from charging with the phone on.
Again I reference the fact that the battery contains the control circuitry, not the phone.
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Click to collapse
I don't recall saying anything to the contrary.

apallohadas said:
I don't recall saying anything to the contrary.
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Click to collapse
You wrote "DO NOT turn off the phone while charging" - it doesn't matter whether you do or not.
Anyway, my point was just that points 2 and 3 are wrong given the application and should be omitted as they taint the rest of the information.

G.Reaper said:
You wrote "DO NOT turn off the phone while charging" - it doesn't matter whether you do or not.
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Click to collapse
I responded directly to your statement:
you said:
Again I reference the fact that the battery contains the control circuitry, not the phone.
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Click to collapse
At least attempt to not misquote me. It's like you argue just to argue even when in agreement.

If you don't like the thread, rate it 1 star and just keep on moving.
That simple.

G.Reaper said:
I'd be interested to see your source(s) for the charging behavior of the integrated circuitry once the battery is full and the negative impacts thereof. I'm not saying that overcharging a cell isn't bad. But the battery in your phone has ic, regulating the exposure to the cell. Meaning that given that self-discharge is a characteristic of Li ion batteries, overcharge doesn't seem to be a likely concern.
Additionally, if the protection ic is in the battery, why would you need a charger with built in charge protection? This is info from hobby cells, which are bare Li ion cells. You really think the usb wall wart samsung ships you is anything more than an ac to dc, step down voltage converter? I'm open to evidence to the contrary.
The danger in Li ion is typically in in over discharge, and in charging too quickly, resulting in a cycle of increasing uncontrolled internal resistance, potentially causing combustion. The charge rate should be protected by the battery's ic, and as the battery will say it's empty before breaching the threshold of damaging discharge, it just translates to "don't leave the thing alone in a drawer for a long time with no charge", which you effectively covered.
And what's not mentioned, is that no matter what you do, no matter the obsessive charging ritual you observe, current Li ion technologies will see a roughly 10% decrease in performance per year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that. Android devices en mass use integrated chargers and protected batteries. In that case using cheap charger could possibly demage buildin charger rather than battery itself.
And almost all wall chargers for phone and tablets are simple power source. An modern one with ac-dc IC regulators but still act as ordinary power source.
Wysyłane z mojego GT-N7100 za pomocą Tapatalk 2

dazza7111 said:
Don't worry about your battery and charge it as much as you want over charge it at night. Then buy a new one a year later after that one you will have a new phone. No worries.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree 100%.
Although most advices in the OP are correct I don't agree there is a thing like "overcharging" - there is a circuity to prevent charging when the battery is fully charged.
So avoid myths, just use your device, batteries are not that expensive