Having difficulties prolonging your cell phone battery life? Stop charging it!
Manufacturers do extensive research whilst designing the charger they ship with the cell phone or laptop - make use of it! PHOTO: http://www.merchantcircle.com/blogs/CA-Grass-Valley-95945
How long do I have to charge my phone or laptop to prolong its battery life?
This is a very pertinent question that continuously persists in boggling the mind.
Charging a battery incorrectly actually reduces the life of the battery by 2-4% of their original capacity every 12 months.
Here are some of my tips and tricks to help you overcome your battle against batteries and increase the battery life of your cell phone and laptops. In order to understand it fully, let us start from the things that can affect the life of a battery the most.
- Temperature conditions
- Changing the voltage at which a battery is charged (charger)
- How frequent a battery is charged.
Charge your battery every time the battery goes below 50%:
Do not wait for the battery to go dead completely. It has been proved that charging the battery after 50% use increases the life of the battery.
The smaller the depth of discharge (storing charge), the longer the battery will last.
Do not charge the battery fully to 100%:
A battery that has been charged to 100% should be removed from its charger immediately. Unfortunately, with the busy lives we lead nowadays, it is close to impossible to sit and make sure that the gadget does not remain on charge after reaching the 100% mark. A good practice is to remove the charger once it reaches around 90%.
Although, new-age chargers have been developed in a manner to automatically disconnect themselves from the charging circuits, it may still be better to be careful than to be sorry later.
Fully discharge the battery once a month:
Why should you do this? New batteries are smart batteries and they tell us exactly how much battery life they have left remaining and how much time they will last. Sometimes, however, with frequent charging/discharging, their intelligence diminishes and they need to be ‘reset’, which is possible only by discharging it completely.
Keep the Battery Cool:
Heat is the biggest enemy of batteries. The cooler the battery the better charging capability it has. For cell phones, keeping them in a pocket for long hours is never recommended. Any temperature higher than 30°C lies in the range of higher temperature. (See table)
| Battery Temperature | Permanent capacity loss when stored at 40% state of charge(Recommend storage charge level) | Permanent capacity loss when stored at 100% state of charge(Typical user charge level) |
| 0oC | 2% loss in 1 year, 98% remaining | 6% loss in 1 year, 94% remaining |
| 25oC | 4% loss in 1 year, 80% remaining | 20% loss in 1 year, 80% remaining |
| 40oC | 15% loss in 1 year, 85% remaining | 35% loss in 1 year, 65% remaining |
| 60oC | 25% loss in 1 year, 75% remaining | 40% loss in 3 months |
Try removing your cell phone from your pocket every once or twice an hour and hold it in your hand to keep it cool.
Similarly, laptops when used in bed are mostly placed over blankets or foam mattresses; this could degrade and shorten the life of your battery much sooner than normal.
Try using the original charger:
Manufacturers do extensive research whilst designing the charger they ship with the cell phone or laptop – make use of it! Using any other charger will definitely produce some voltage differences with the original one. Higher voltage chargers are never recommended for your device. Lower voltage chargers may be recommended as they do not do as much damage as the higher voltage ones.
In conclusion:
- Never discharge Lithium-ion battery completely; try to charge more often up to 90%.
- A random or partial charge is fine. Lithium-ion does not need a full charge.
- Avoid ultra-fast chargers.
- If the charger allows, lower the charge voltage limit to prolong battery life. Keep the charger voltage as low as possible if your charger has this option.
- Keep the battery cool. Avoid hot cars, windowsills, blanket tops.
- High heat exposure and a permanently fully-charged batteries cause short battery life in laptops.
- Remove the battery from a laptop when used on the power grid (though impractical).
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of The Express Tribune.
Guud one… That too when the general people think that draining the whole battery and then recharging it completely and doing the cycle couple of times would prolong the battery. This article provides technically correct information.
Best would be to state the references from which these points are taken so as to realy establish the authenticity.Recommend
Thank you so much for writing this. Handy tips. I just lost my cell forever because of overcharging. Wish you wrote this earlier.Recommend
Lame.Recommend
Amazing article. I have now started keeping my laptop and phone in the freezer when I am not using them.Recommend
Nice article, information at hand…and a well written and comprehensive information filled writeup…Recommend
Dear Aatif, Can you please like to share the source of this information. I am sure, all you got is not from personal experience.Recommend
Good piece of info. ThanksRecommend
Good one… keep up the good work…!!!!Recommend
@Awais/Aaqib;
Yes! Not all the information is a result of personal experience, the information is actually extracted from various research papers and informative sites and put into plain text, to be easily understood for non-technical audience. I have tried to embed maximum links within the blog, please follow the embedded links within the blog for the references.
Thanks for a thorough read and review.Recommend
@Usman. Try using a large ice filled thermos box to keep your stuff in when you are on the go. Its more practical. You can also look into getting a liquid nitrogen cooling system. That way you’l get the most % out of your batteriesRecommend
Sir atif !!!
you write on tribune…wow!
nice:)
regards
ex-student of yours from SDCRecommend
Guuuuud One,,,,Thank you for distribute such info,,,Recommend
There are gimmicks and misinformation in this article. The fact is rechargeable batteries if used regularly have an average useful life (80%) for one to two years for laptop and even less for phones. There is not much one can do to extend the useful (full) life of the battery. Even a car battery dies after a few years. Heat is worse for the battery than cold in general.
Here is an article from the USA Today which explains the facts from fiction. I do not take any credit and have copied and pasted small part also let us hope it helps some people:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/products/story/2012-05-27/pegoraro-laptop-battery-life/55205544/1
“Dell doesn’t cite a number but predicts a “notable reduction” after 18 to 24 months of average use. Apple is more specific, saying it’s designed the non-accessible batteries on its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops to keep 80 percent of their capacity after 1,000 charge-discharge cycles. (On older laptops with smaller removable batteries, Apple put that 80 percent threshold at just 300 cycles.)
The entire longevity problem gets dramatically worse on phones. First, their smaller batteries can’t take as much repeated use; Apple predicts the iPhone’s sealed battery will drop to 80 percent of its capacity after 400 charge-discharge cycles. Second, their constant use requires more frequent charging. Plugging in once a day is quite possible in routine use, but at social-networking-intensive tech events I’ve found myself looking for a spare outlet by noon.”Recommend
Good article giving a nice information for battry users. Pl. tell us that the same is with other big alkaline battries because the matter is reversed for these batteries. The cooling for these battries is harmful for these. pl. give us the information about also. likeRecommend
Well done. Handy. However, I am not sure I am going to follow all the points but some I can.Recommend
who cares nowadays nobody uses mobile for more then 1 year.
So please go ahead and screw your batteries and save time for work family and frndz…..cheers!!!Recommend
Arey chorro mian!!
400 rupay ki battery milti hai, itni maghaz-khapai ka kya faida???Recommend
@Mirza:
Good oneRecommend
To the author:
Great tips, thank you!!
And the rest of you loosers with the negative comments, learn some much needed manners. If the tips aren’t helpful to you, IGNORE! You come across as nothing less than cheap.Recommend
@ A@tiif
Nice one, the article is well composed and easily comprehensible…
regards,Recommend
Great guidelines for charging batteries. Good researchRecommend
Thanks man. I will follow the instruction to save battaries only if you will vote Imran Khan.Recommend
Mr Aatil Alvi,
What to do when the electricity goes out for one hour after every one hour? :|
Don’t think you wrote this article keeping in mind that most readers are from Pakistan.Recommend
Dear Atif,
Very nice article, thanks for sharing such tips. Please try to find the slution to get rid of battery charging. It will be great help for society.Recommend
how about using ups bijli to charge itRecommend