Thursday, June 28, 2018

We've been charging cellphone batteries wrongly all these years

It turns out that we've been changing our cellphones wrongly all these years.
Most people - me included - have always assuned that it is bad for cellphone batteries to charge them in little bursts here and there, and that it is best to completely deplete the battery and charge it up on one fell swoop. In fact, I'm sure I've read that in phone user guides before now. Well, apparently, not so.
Information from a website called Battery University, produced by battery company Cadex, and summarized by Science Alert, suggests that fully charging a battery "stresses" it, and can reduce its potential life. Even worse, if you charge it overnight (and don't we all?), the battery constantly receives "trickle charges" to keep it at 100% while It's plugged in, and this keeps the battery in a stressed state, which breaks down the chemicals in the battery and negatively affects its lifespan.
So, it is actually better for the battery, and will extend its life, if we never charge it right up to 100%, and never leave it plugged in once fully-charged. Instead, we should be charging it in short bursts throughout the day, and keeping it cool (e.g. out of its case) while charging. Our batteries will thank us by lasting longer and performing more optimally.
It's funny how received wisdom takes hold and becomes the unquestioned truth. There again, maybe that perceived wisdom is actually right, and Battery University is just a ploy by Cadex to wreck out batteries and invest in new ones, or a malicious campaign by the Russians or the Chinese to unplug the West?

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