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What does the little plug in the battery-symbol exactly mean?

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utopia699

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2008
20
0
I know it means the battery is fully charged.

But does it also mean the Iphone is running on mains power supply?

Does it use up “charing-cycles” when i use my fully charged Iphone plugged in, or does it preserve battery life?


Or think of it like this:
If you leave your brandnew iphone plugged into a charging station all the time, and only drain the battery once a month, will the battery be almost like new after one year? Or will this hurt your battery life?

Or does it get all its energy directly from the mains power supply when plugged into a charging station?
 
P

poolish

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2007
139
0
south coast, uk
i read somewhere else on this forum that it uses the battery still, and the mains just replenishes the battery. so i think it still uses the same number of cycles than if you unplugged it and then charged it when it ran out.
 
U

utopia699

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2008
20
0
poolish said:
i read somewhere else on this forum that it uses the battery still, and the mains just replenishes the battery. so i think it still uses the same number of cycles than if you unplugged it and then charged it when it ran out.
Click to expand...

thankx! do you have a link?

cause i couldnt find anything offical from apple on this subject!
is there no email-adress or telephone-number for this kind of specific questions???
 
B

bluenoise

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2008
756
0
I don't know how it is on the iPhone but two of my PowerBooks lost battery life after staying plugged in most of the time. Both of them were used mainly as desktop computers so they were almost always plugged in. Within a year, both had dramatically shortened battery life and no attempts at reconditioning their batteries helped.
 
Warbrain

Warbrain

macrumors 603
Jun 28, 2004
5,702
293
Chicago, IL
bluenoise said:
I don't know how it is on the iPhone but two of my PowerBooks lost battery life after staying plugged in most of the time. Both of them were used mainly as desktop computers so they were almost always plugged in. Within a year, both had dramatically shortened battery life and no attempts at reconditioning their batteries helped.
Click to expand...

Different type of battery. Those older batteries in a PowerBook - outside of the last 15-inch model - needed use to be healthy. The current batteries in the laptops prefer to be plugged in when possible.

And it has no connection to the iPhone.
 
M

macdim

macrumors 6502
Oct 16, 2007
355
0
Canada
bluenoise said:
I don't know how it is on the iPhone but two of my PowerBooks lost battery life after staying plugged in most of the time. Both of them were used mainly as desktop computers so they were almost always plugged in. Within a year, both had dramatically shortened battery life and no attempts at reconditioning their batteries helped.
Click to expand...

Hence why Apple's battery guide suggests discharging the battery completely at least once a month to condition the battery...

Notebook Battery Guide

iPhone Battery Guide
 
A

allurbase

macrumors member
Jul 24, 2008
44
0
iPhone Battery Guide said:
For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).
Click to expand...

Once the battery is fully charged the phone will run off the power supply. Leaving it on a charger for a month will hurt your battery life as Li-ion batteries need use to stay in good shape. You shouldn't store Li-ion batteries at full charge, so think of keeping your phone on a charger for a month as storing it with a full charge.
 
U

utopia699

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2008
20
0
allurbase said:
Once the battery is fully charged the phone will run off the power supply. Leaving it on a charger for a month will hurt your battery life as Li-ion batteries need use to stay in good shape. You shouldn't store Li-ion batteries at full charge, so think of keeping your phone on a charger for a month as storing it with a full charge.
Click to expand...

But is it good for for the battery if you keep it plugged in as often as possible?

Or does this method use battery-cycles like normal battery-use, so it would be indifferent and wouldnt matter?
 
B

bluenoise

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2008
756
0
Warbrain said:
Different type of battery. Those older batteries in a PowerBook - outside of the last 15-inch model - needed use to be healthy. The current batteries in the laptops prefer to be plugged in when possible.

And it has no connection to the iPhone.
Click to expand...

What is the difference? I thought they both used Lithium-Ion batteries. Are you saying the battery's controller is different? :confused:
 
M

macdim

macrumors 6502
Oct 16, 2007
355
0
Canada
utopia699 said:
But is it good for for the battery if you keep it plugged in as often as possible?

Or does this method use battery-cycles like normal battery-use, so it would be indifferent and wouldnt matter?
Click to expand...

I am fairly certain that keeping it plugged in constantly does not use battery cycles. It does not on my MacBook. The power unit just bypasses the battery once it's fully charged. I'm not sure how much of an issue this is seeing that this is a cell phone. The nature of cell phones is that you carry them around with you, and hence do not have them plugged in.

Bottom line is you can have it plugged in constantly if you really want to, but make sure you discharge it fully once a month to exercise the battery.
 
U

utopia699

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2008
20
0
macdim said:
I am fairly certain that keeping it plugged in constantly does not use battery cycles. It does not on my MacBook. The power unit just bypasses the battery once it's fully charged. .
Click to expand...

thankx! thats what i wanted to hear!

do you have a link?

i cant find any offical info from apple about "the power unit just bypassing the battery once it's fully charged", like in the macbooks...

which offical apple phone-number or email-adress could you ask such a question?
 
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