Overcharging/Undercharging Battery

**tang63** · 06-12-2012, 09:03 AM

Hi,

due to my work environment and lifestyle, I only have two choices, undercharge the battery or overcharge it (charge it overnight when I sleep).

which would be a better choice in order to maintain my battery life?

as far as I have researched, undercharging, which is frequent 'top-up' of the battery is okay. same goes for charging overnight as the battery has a system in place to prevent overcharging.

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**raino** · 06-12-2012, 11:10 AM

Why not do both?

**tang63** · 06-12-2012, 11:38 PM

but will either methods damage my battery life?

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**Tõnis** · 06-12-2012, 11:59 PM

I think either way is fine. Because of your work, it would be desireable, imperative even, to start the day off with a full charge. That's what I do when I have a long day ahead. If I'm in a poor signal area all day or there's especially heavy usage, I'll even charge a bit on the way home, ten hours later. Charge your phone overnight. That's what I have always done.

An additional point of interest:

My ThinkPad has a feature where I can set battery charge thresholds. It says that if you mostly use your laptop while plugged in to AC power, you should set a charge threshold below 100%. For example, set it to start charging when it's below 65% and stop charging at 75%. It's important to note that this is if you use your laptop mostly while connected to AC power, not if you simply charge your laptop to 100%. That's because heat (generated by the laptop in use) is an enemy of the Li-Ion battery.

**TheRealFixxxer** · 06-13-2012, 12:29 AM

From all the research I've done on this topic it seems the general consensus is that with Li-Ion batteries you can't overcharge them. The only thing that will damage the cells is when the battery is discharged completely.

I use the "overcharge" method myself. The phone goes on the charge at bed time, and its usually never below 40%. But if I use 60% battery life during the day, 40% won't cut it for the next day. So far I've had no issues.

**Batter Pudding** · 06-13-2012, 02:04 PM

Abuse it. You will get away with it. As I said in the other thread, I charge mine at 25% or below which is every 2 or 3 days. (To be honest, I don't watch it close enough to really know how long it goes.)

You will soon find out from your usage patterns how often you need to charge. Just find a pattern that is good for you. Don't be scared of the odd flat battery as you cannot empty it 100%. Just try and keep the charge topped up for your usage pattern. And charge it when you can.

Personally I usually charge overnight. Or whack the phone on the charger when I get home in an evening. I do this every two to three days. Not had a problem with my 16 month old battery. It feels the same as the day I bought it.

**tang63** · 06-17-2012, 06:25 AM

Originally Posted by TheRealFixxxer

From all the research I've done on this topic it seems the general consensus is that with Li-Ion batteries you can't overcharge them. The only thing that will damage the cells is when the battery is discharged completely.

I use the "overcharge" method myself. The phone goes on the charge at bed time, and its usually never below 40%. But if I use 60% battery life during the day, 40% won't cut it for the next day. So far I've had no issues.

Same! I usually left about 40 to 50% of the battery left. Not enough for the next day sadly.

As such, I always have to resort to either undercharging it, or overcharging.

**tang63** · 06-17-2012, 06:27 AM

Thanks for all the insightful responses!

I decided to abuse my blackberry and overcharge it overnight. and just buy a new battery when the time comes.

Though its annoying to see my battery life drain so quickly just over surfing the net and stuff. But oh well, whose battery doesn't drain while using 3G?

**Batter Pudding** · 06-17-2012, 06:40 AM

You cannot "overcharge" as the charging will stop once it is full. Phone and charger do talk to each other. So no damage done by leaving it on the charger.

You can always let the phone run down more at the weekend if you want to exercise the battery more.

It's a phone. It is not important. I don't understand these people who stress over exact battery usage and get stressed at discharge rates. IMHO - the most comical people being those who install battery monitoring applications. Really don't understand the logic of installing an application to tell you what you already know while making the issue worse.

Enjoy the phone.