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Battery Life - Keep it charged or run it down?

J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
A friend and I were having a discussion about the best way to maintain an iphone's (and other cell phone's) battery life. Her husband suggests that one should always run the battery down until it's almost dead and then charge it; the thought being a battery has just so many charges in it and you want to spread them out. I, on the other hand, am so afraid of running out of battery, I put my phone on the charger whenever I am near one. In fact, it's always charging when I am home. It rarely every goes below 40% unless I'm out the in the wild and most days no less than 80 or 90%. But now that my new iPhone is coming, I thought this was a good time to check it out.

So... Run it down or keep it charged? Which is better to extend the life of one's cell phone battery?
 
I read it's better for your battery life to let it run down at least somewhere under 10% - 20% and fully recharge it.
 
With older battery tech it used to be that you wanted to discharge the battery before charging. It is not true anymore. Apple's site even attests to this. Too lazy to link it, but it's there.
 
just charge the battery when you need to.

running it down completely and charging it is stupid.

these phone batteries arent like the old days, its not a problem to charge them at 50% or whatever
 
It's not necessary to run it down each time. Just use the phone normally as you would and just recharge it anytime regardless. Apple recommends that you do a full discharge and a full recharge once a month.
 
jayes said:
A friend and I were having a discussion about the best way to maintain an iphone's (and other cell phone's) battery life. Her husband suggests that one should always run the battery down until it's almost dead and then charge it; the thought being a battery has just so many charges in it and you want to spread them out. I, on the other hand, am so afraid of running out of battery, I put my phone on the charger whenever I am near one. In fact, it's always charging when I am home. It rarely every goes below 40% unless I'm out the in the wild and most days no less than 80 or 90%. But now that my new iPhone is coming, I thought this was a good time to check it out.

So... Run it down or keep it charged? Which is better to extend the life of one's cell phone battery?
Click to expand...



This following was LITERALLY the first search result when I entered in "Apple," "iPhone," and "battery:" http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html
 
An Apple tech told me to run it completely down once a month, then charge it completely, for about four hours to get the "trickle charge". Then on any other occasion you can charge it as you need to.
 
When they say completely run it down... are you supposed to play a video or something till it dies ?
 
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).

Good find.
 
JLee361 said:
I read it's better for your battery life to let it run down at least somewhere under 10% - 20% and fully recharge it.
Click to expand...

This is false. Lithium ion batteries do not have that memory effect. If anything, you're making the battery less efficient.
 
jayes said:
A friend and I were having a discussion about the best way to maintain an iphone's (and other cell phone's) battery life. Her husband suggests that one should always run the battery down until it's almost dead and then charge it; the thought being a battery has just so many charges in it and you want to spread them out. I, on the other hand, am so afraid of running out of battery, I put my phone on the charger whenever I am near one. In fact, it's always charging when I am home. It rarely every goes below 40% unless I'm out the in the wild and most days no less than 80 or 90%. But now that my new iPhone is coming, I thought this was a good time to check it out.

So... Run it down or keep it charged? Which is better to extend the life of one's cell phone battery?
Click to expand...
Letting your battery get lower than 15 percent more than twice a month is very damaging to the li ons. Don't let it do that. Once a month, let it go to 0 then charge it to 100 overnight. Other than that once a month always charge it when you can, but once it is at 100, unplug it. Leaving it plugged in also damages the battery.
 
Allegrotechie said:
Letting your battery get lower than 15 percent more than twice a month is very damaging to the li ons. Don't let it do that. Once a month, let it go to 0 then charge it to 100 overnight. Other than that once a month always charge it when you can, but once it is at 100, unplug it. Leaving it plugged in also damages the battery.
Click to expand...

True, you shouldn't let your battery charge get too low. But the % you see isn't its true charge and capacity, it's a calculated result. The phone won't actually let the battery charge get so low that it can damage the cells. So when it says 0% it actually still has quie a but if charge. It's just shut off to preserve itself.

Apple don't want you to have to think about these things, they take care of it and want you to just use it. Keep it topped up, use it regularly and all will be fine.
 
Want300 said:
Apple's Recommendation:

"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)."

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html
Click to expand...

So if I don't go through a full charge cycle my electrons in my battery will stop moving? Resulting in the collapse of physics as we know it and the end to our entire universe?! :eek:

Crap, owning an iPhone comes with a lot of responsibility!!
 
DVDxR said:
So if I don't go through a full charge cycle my electrons in my battery will stop moving? Resulting in the collapse of physics as we know it and the end to our entire universe?! :eek:

Crap, owning an iPhone comes with a lot of responsibility!!
Click to expand...

With great power, comes great responsibility... :D
 
Don't let it run down. With most of the lithium ion polymer chemistries, once the voltage decreases below a certain level, the battery permanently becomes damaged and also loses capacity if it still functions.

I also think that for most people who aren't storing their devices, it's not necessary to intentionally cycle through once a month.

It's better to use the device and always charge it when you can. Don't deliberately let it discharge thinking its good for the battery.

Low voltages are the death of lithium ion polymer batteries.
 
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