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PatrickW98

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 26, 2012
263
0
Subrubs of Chicago, IL
I charge my iPhone every other day. On a new charge in one day I go from 100% to about 55% at the end of the day. The next day I go from 55% to about 5% by the end of the day. Is it better to charge it daily at 55% or every other day at 5%?
 

Tyler23

macrumors 603
Dec 2, 2010
5,664
159
Atlanta, GA
I charge my iPhone every other day. On a new charge in one day I go from 100% to about 55% at the end of the day. The next day I go from 55% to about 5% by the end of the day. Is it better to charge it daily at 55% or every other day at 5%?

Doesn't matter, either way.
 

beMaC

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2011
49
0
I charge my iPhone every other day. On a new charge in one day I go from 100% to about 55% at the end of the day. The next day I go from 55% to about 5% by the end of the day. Is it better to charge it daily at 55% or every other day at 5%?

It doesn't really matter, at least run the battery completely out (the phone dies) and do a complete charge every month.
 

ogs123

macrumors member
Feb 16, 2011
79
13
It doesn't really matter, at least run the battery completely out (the phone dies) and do a complete charge every month.

It does matter. Deep discharges dramatically reduce the life of the battery. You should recharge it as often as possible. Don't ever run the battery completely out unless you want to calibrate the % battery meter, which is kind of useless anyway.
 

maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
I charge my iPhone every other day. On a new charge in one day I go from 100% to about 55% at the end of the day. The next day I go from 55% to about 5% by the end of the day. Is it better to charge it daily at 55% or every other day at 5%?
Go to Apple.com

There you will find all you need to know about battery care. It's a great site designed to keep the customers informed. All you have to do is read.
 

beMaC

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2011
49
0
It doesn't really matter, at least run the battery completely out (the phone dies) and do a complete charge every month.

It does matter. Deep discharges dramatically reduce the life of the battery. You should recharge it as often as possible. Don't ever run the battery completely out unless you want to calibrate the % battery meter, which is kind of useless anyway.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

"Use iPhone Regularly
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)."

Even Apple says so.
 

ogs123

macrumors member
Feb 16, 2011
79
13
http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

"Use iPhone Regularly
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)."

Even Apple says so.

"it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally"??? That sounds written more by a coach than an engineer. Anyway, a 100% discharge cycle every month does nothing to preserve or improve battery life per se, it just recalibrates the meter, which can prevent a premature shutdown when there's still charge in the battery but the meter thinks it's almost empty because is not correctly calibrated. So you could say that there is an apparent increase in capacity because the meter now lets you go deeper in the discharge cycle. On the other hand it's well known that deep discharge cycles reduce the battery capacity faster than shallower cycles, so you might not want to go deeper anyway. So, deep discharge cycles once a month are not going to really damage the battery, but the OP was asking about doing deep discharge cycles every other day, not once a month. And that does matter.
 

beMaC

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2011
49
0
"it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally"??? That sounds written more by a coach than an engineer. Anyway, a 100% discharge cycle every month does nothing to preserve or improve battery life per se, it just recalibrates the meter, which can prevent a premature shutdown when there's still charge in the battery but the meter thinks it's almost empty because is not correctly calibrated. So you could say that there is an apparent increase in capacity because the meter now lets you go deeper in the discharge cycle. On the other hand it's well known that deep discharge cycles reduce the battery capacity faster than shallower cycles, so you might not want to go deeper anyway. So, deep discharge cycles once a month are not going to really damage the battery, but the OP was asking about doing deep discharge cycles every other day, not once a month. And that does matter.

Yes, electrons do move?... Ok, dont listen to Apple, the creators of the phone and listen to this guy.
 

Givmeabrek

macrumors 68040
Apr 20, 2009
3,464
1,161
NY
I would never let my battery go that low on a regular basis. What if you have an emergency when the battery is almost dead? Power failure, accident, etc.....

Paranoid maybe but letting it go that low every day or every other day is too risky.

I don't care if my battery doesn't last a year or whatever. That's what warranties and AppleCare+ is for. :cool:
 

wxman2003

Suspended
Apr 12, 2011
2,580
294
I have never let my battery drop to zero and then recharge. Waste of time and does nothing for the battery. I just recharge every night. My battery last just as long and have never had any problems with batteries in my ios devices over the years. Want to recalibrate your battery, wait until battery is at 100% and with charger still connected to phone, reboot phone.
 

sulpfiction

macrumors 68040
Aug 16, 2011
3,075
603
Philadelphia Area
Just plug ur phone every night when u go to bed. Why the heck would u want to start the day at 50%? It makes no sense. I have never had to worry about my battery because I charge it every night while I sleep. Simple.
 

reppans

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2006
314
187
I'll admit to being a bit anal about Li-ion battery care, especially with non removable batts. Here's a few things I do - I also use it ~ 40% per day.

- charge daily, as mentioned shallower charges are better
- avoid charging to 100%
- minimize average voltage, but also leave yourself enough emergency capacity. So I charge ~ 80-40-80 or 70-30-70
- to satisfy the last two points, I charge in the morning so the batt sits at a low voltage while idle overnight, and for convenience use a light timer to charge say 6 to 7 am, just before I wake up.
- I also charge bareback on marble to minimize temps, just out of habit, but probably unnecessary - these devices stay pretty cool while charging.

Here's some data to back it up... The chart is a military study on capacity loss from different Li-ion charging habits - it supports the Batt Univ points.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

7511624906_b2829f9c0d.jpg


I realize most people don't care and won't bother, but once your set up, there really is no extra work involved, except 5 secs to adjusting the light timer. It's worth it to me. YMMV
 

Ste Nova

macrumors 6502
Jan 20, 2012
343
1
LL22, UK
i just charge mine at any level any time for any length of time, for the 2 years i'll have the phone it wont suffer
 

Max(IT)

Suspended
Dec 8, 2009
8,551
1,662
Italy
I'll admit to being a bit anal about Li-ion battery care, especially with non removable batts. Here's a few things I do - I also use it ~ 40% per day.

- charge daily, as mentioned shallower charges are better
- avoid charging to 100%
- minimize average voltage, but also leave yourself enough emergency capacity. So I charge ~ 80-40-80 or 70-30-70
- to satisfy the last two points, I charge in the morning so the batt sits at a low voltage while idle overnight, and for convenience use a light timer to charge say 6 to 7 am, just before I wake up.
- I also charge bareback on marble to minimize temps, just out of habit, but probably unnecessary - these devices stay pretty cool while charging.

Here's some data to back it up... The chart is a military study on capacity loss from different Li-ion charging habits - it supports the Batt Univ points.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Image

I realize most people don't care and won't bother, but once your set up, there really is no extra work involved, except 5 secs to adjusting the light timer. It's worth it to me. YMMV

I think you are EXTREMELY anal about batteries :D

Your link is very interesting but in my opinion an user could charge his iPhone to the 100% without any problem, if he's going to use it after that.
It is important not to leave the phone at 100% without use it (switched off or in aero mode) for a long time, but if you're going to use it every day, I think is perfectly safe to charge it to full capacity.
 

chambone

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
969
25
Netherlands
I charge my iPhone every other day. On a new charge in one day I go from 100% to about 55% at the end of the day. The next day I go from 55% to about 5% by the end of the day. Is it better to charge it daily at 55% or every other day at 5%?

daily at 55%
 

reppans

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2006
314
187
I think you are EXTREMELY anal about batteries :D

Your link is very interesting but in my opinion an user could charge his iPhone to the 100% without any problem, if he's going to use it after that.
It is important not to leave the phone at 100% without use it (switched off or in aero mode) for a long time, but if you're going to use it every day, I think is perfectly safe to charge it to full capacity.

Guilty as charged... I'm a flashlight hobbyist and good ones use Li-ion batts. You really have to understand Li-ions for that since the batts can turn the airtight tubes into pipe bombs.

Yeah, no problem topping up to 100%, it's what every manufacturer expects and plans for... the only question is whether you'd like your battery to last longer than average/expected. The military study chart shows a significant difference in capacity loss between 100-50-100 charging and 75-25-75 charging.... for me, that's worth 5 secs of setting a light timer at night.
 

Max(IT)

Suspended
Dec 8, 2009
8,551
1,662
Italy
Guilty as charged... I'm a flashlight hobbyist and good ones use Li-ion batts. You really have to understand Li-ions for that since the batts can turn the airtight tubes into pipe bombs.

Yeah, no problem topping up to 100%, it's what every manufacturer expects and plans for... the only question is whether you'd like your battery to last longer than average/expected. The military study chart shows a significant difference in capacity loss between 100-50-100 charging and 75-25-75 charging.... for me, that's worth 5 secs of setting a light timer at night.

Sure but my concerns aren't for the 5 secs needed to setup the timer. I can't afford to start a work day with only 75% of charge, because I'm not always within a power plug range so I need that 25% more.

----------

Refer this link for getting a detail explanation about charging iPhone. http://techtips.salon.com/proper-way-charge-iphone-10167.html and it is fine to charge it daily but remember one thing, for a longer battery life get a full charge before you unplug it.

That article, without highlighting any technical study, basically says something totally different from what posted by reppans ...
 

reppans

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2006
314
187
Sure but my concerns aren't for the 5 secs needed to setup the timer. I can't afford to start a work day with only 75% of charge, because I'm not always within a power plug range so I need that 25% more...

I agree, I probably wouldn't bother going doing an extra charge in the middle of the day just to be kind to the battery. I just suggest the timer routine and being kind to te batt. for people like the OP and I that use around 40-50% per day.
 
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