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At what %age do you plug in your iPhone ?

M5RahuL

M5RahuL

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Aug 1, 2009
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I recently got a new 4S for Sprint. For the past 3 cycles, [ the first 3 cycles ] I've been plugging it in when the battery %age drops to around 5% [ the very first time I let it die completely then plugged it in ]

I'm wondering at what percentage do you guys plug it in or do you just top-up whenever you get a chance ?

Thanks!
 
M5RahuL said:
I recently got a new 4S for Sprint. For the past 3 cycles, [ the first 3 cycles ] I've been plugging it in when the battery %age drops to around 5% [ the very first time I let it die completely then plugged it in ]

I'm wondering at what percentage do you guys plug it in or do you just top-up whenever you get a chance ?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


I let it die, then I plug it in.
 
If it get's to 20%, it gets plugged in. Usually this doesn't happen before going to bed. Mine gets plugged in before going to bed every night.
 
I don't think letting your iPhone die before would charge it is such a smart idea. What I usually do is use it till about 5-10 percent to charge it. Only about once a month do I condition my battery and let it completely drain.
 
Is there any harm to top-up whenever I get a chance ?

I've been reading on Lithium Ion batteries and it's really confusing. Some say one should let it die all the way and then charge to condition the battery, while others are of the opinion that these batteries have no memory so it doesn't matter when you charge. Also, the latter believe that letting these batteries die all the way harms the overall life of the battery!

I'm not sure whether to let it drop real low or top up as desired ?
 
Have you seen any of the reports on Tesla car battery packs being bricked? They are electric cars powered by lots of laptop type batteries. If they get completely discharged, the chemical composition gets changed and they are damaged beyond repair.

Phones and laptops have failsafes to protect themselves from being completely discharged, but they do degrade faster when they have low charge.

It is better to keep your battery at more than 50% charge, only occasionally letting it get low (once a month or so) for battery management calibration. And fully charge it each time, not a bit each time.
 
I plug it in when it gets low, and every time I'm in my car since I have a dock there that charges it. Basically, I don't worry about charging at a particular % at all, and just make sure it has enough juice to get me by while out and about.

Sometimes that means it drains all the way to zero, other times I plug it in when it's probably at 95% charge. It's relieving not to have to worry about these things!
 
Every night (I use it as a bedside clock), whenever I get in my car and at 20% during the day if I've been using it heavily and it needs a top-up
 
euphrus said:
I don't think letting your iPhone die before would charge it is such a smart idea. What I usually do is use it till about 5-10 percent to charge it. Only about once a month do I condition my battery and let it completely drain.
Click to expand...

Well my iPhone 4,4S, iPad 2, and new iPad all have had no problems with battery and I always let it die before charging. I used to have an iPod touch that I charged whenever and it got to the point that it would hit 20% and then drop to 0 in about an hour of usage.

I've seen no ill effects from charging fully and letting it die. To be clear, I don't calibrate each time...I just let it die then charge it all the way to 100%
 
M5RahuL said:
I recently got a new 4S for Sprint. For the past 3 cycles, [ the first 3 cycles ] I've been plugging it in when the battery %age drops to around 5% [ the very first time I let it die completely then plugged it in ]

I'm wondering at what percentage do you guys plug it in or do you just top-up whenever you get a chance ?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I plug mine in when i go to bed or when I am in the car. As far as the %, I don't use that at all, I use the standard icon without any numbers.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4s)

I plug it in whenever I like makes no difference! It's a phone I've never had battery issues.
 
Depends but the lowest I plug it in at is 25%. However, once every ~30 charges, it's good to let the battery fall below 20% so that the reading on your iPhone stays accurate. I usually don't let it die and then charge it.

If you're looking for more information about lith-ion batteries, I suggest reading GJStudio's guide on this site (search battery guide or something...) and taking a look at batteryuniversity.com
 
My phone gets plugged in every night when I'm going to bed, every time I'm in my car, and on and off during my eight hour work day.
 
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