The facts and Lies About the Batteries – Clarified

Should you completely discharge your battery before charging? Is it harmful to the battery if you leave the phone on the charging cable all night? We bring you the myths that have accumulated over the time in which battery issues have haunted the minds of smartphone users. There are also some tips on how to properly charge smartphone batteries. Let’s take a look at the biggest battery myths and how to properly charge the cell phone battery

Should You Let the Cell Phone Battery Run Out Completely? – Biggest Battery Myths

Nowadays, only lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion) are used in smartphones. If possible, these should not be fully discharged to zero percent before charging. The reason is that the electrodes of a lithium-ion battery are heavily loaded when fully charged and discharged until they are switched off. As a result, the life of the smartphone battery is significantly reduced.

When Should You Charge The Smartphone Battery?

The cell phone battery should be kept in the range between 30 and 80 percent charge. As a result, you get a larger number of charging cycles. Therefore, it is best to only feed the battery with power when it is between 30-80 percent range.

Also, one should refrain from charging the smartphone battery for a short time when it is low or recharging it when it is almost at full capacity.

How to Charge The Phone Battery Correctly

Many users charge their cell phones overnight, as the device is usually not needed during the night. But what happens when the lithium-ion battery is full and the cell phone remains plugged to the charging cable? After the battery has reached its full capacity, a maintenance current is supplied until the battery capacity drops below the nominal value, from which it actively recharges.

Above all, the discharge by a few percent in the heavily loaded last third of the charging process affects the energy storage. To protect the cell phone battery, it is recommended to remove the cell phone from the charging cable as soon as it is charged. 

Intelligent charging cycles, such as those used by Sony in some of its smartphones as a battery care feature, can help here. The cell phone battery is only charged to a certain safe level overnight and then, depending on the use of the cell phone, only briefly fully charged before activation. The smart device learns during daily use and develops a pattern.

This can take some time and lead to the fact that the cell phone battery does not have its full charge in the early morning at the beginning of the learning phase. Problems can also arise if the user does not have a fixed daily schedule as the smartphone cannot set the time to recharge.

Battery Care and Storage

Even if it often does not appear from the outside but there is more chemistry in a battery than expected. Therefore any contact with water is harmful and can lead to failure. Also, the smartphone battery may inflate, which can be recognized by a dent on the battery. In this case, the battery performance deteriorates rapidly and you should consider switching.

Long usage intervals at temperatures below 10 ° C or above 35-40 ° C should be avoided as far as possible to protect the cell phone battery. The battery should not come into contact with water anyway. When buying a smartphone, attention should be paid to the IP certificate which tells if the cell phone is protected from water and dust and to what extent.

But even if the mobile phone and battery are water-protected, it should be ensured that the charging socket, often an unprotected housing entrance, is free of water.

Suggested Read: Tips And Tricks For Android Smartphones

Quick Charge Functions – How to Properly Charge the Cell Phone Battery

Almost all manufacturers nowadays such as Samsung, MI, or Asus offer quick charging functions in their devices and advertise with phenomenal charging times. Some of the information is exaggerated, but many devices now achieve half a charging capacity in less than 30 minutes, and the latest technology does even more.

It should be noted that the speed of the charging process depends on how much energy is already in the battery. Rough rule, The fuller the smartphone battery, the slower it charges. Of course, the possible capacity of the battery which is measured in milliampere-hours (mAh), plays a role in the charging speed.

Charge the Phone Battery Faster

Especially for smartphones that do not have a quick charge function or if the energy source on which the cell phone battery is charged is quite weak, the charging time can be quite long. Normally, this should not be a problem if the smartphone is charged overnight.

However, if it has to go as quickly as possible, you need to charge the mobile phone battery correctly. This does not refer to battery care, but consumption. The battery is charged on one side, while on the other side, it consumes energy and discharges.

Even when the display is switched off, numerous processes that require electricity run in the background. So that the energy store fills up faster, it must be switched off beforehand. Specifically, it is recommended to activate the energy-saving mode or even the airplane mode.

It is even better to switch off the smartphone completely and only restart it when necessary. In this way, the charging time can be reduced to a minimum.

This Happens to the Cell Phone Battery With Incorrect Charging

To maintain the cell phone battery properly, a basic knowledge of batteries is recommended. A lithium-ion battery generally consists of an electrolyte, two electrodes, each positively and negatively charged, and the lithium-ions. The battery naturally loses capacity, a normal aging process for batteries.

Since lithium and electrolyte react with each other inside the battery, the lithium ions decompose and the battery capacity reduces. If the battery is charged incorrectly, the aging process will accelerate. If the cell phone stays on the power all night, it puts stress on the electrodes and the lithium ions in the battery.

The aging of lithium-ion batteries is mainly caused by the oxidation of the electrodes. They lose the ability to store the lithium ions that are important for current flow. The main reasons for increased cell oxidation are the current temperature and the state of charge of the battery. When the temperature is high and the battery is fully charged, cell oxidation is particularly rapid.

Suggested Read: How to Properly Clean your Smartphone?

Tips to Charge the Battery Correctly – How to Properly Charge the Cell Phone Battery

– Do not fully discharge and charge cell phone batteries I.e. not less than 10 and over 90 percent.

– Charge the mobile phone correctly. Switch off the device to quickly recharge the battery.

– If it is not to be used for a long time, remove the battery from the device

– Do not completely charge and operate the cell phone battery in a cold environment (below 10 ° C)

– Don’t completely charge and operate the mobile phone battery in a hot environment (above 35 ° C)

– Don’t use inferior cell phone batteries, charging cables, or chargers.