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Do we need full battery cycles?

C

ClemTiger0408

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
266
7
My last iPhone started having some battery issues about a year after owning it.

With the iPhone 4, is it safe to charge the phone every night despite how far into draining the battery it is? Or should I always try to run the battery down if possible?
 
ClemTiger0408 said:
My last iPhone started having some battery issues about a year after owning it.

With the iPhone 4, is it safe to charge the phone every night despite how far into draining the battery it is? Or should I always try to run the battery down if possible?
Click to expand...

With these new batteries you should never try and run your battery down with every single charge.

It is true that Apple recommends that you drain it all the way and charge it to 100% once a month.

They do not have a memory but they are good for only so many "complete cycle" charges. Usually about 400. This does not mean you can only charge it 400 times, but only 400 "complete cycles" so if your battery is at 50% and you charge it up to 100% it will only use 0.5 of a cycle. For more info check out this link.

So what do I do? I ALWAYS try to have my phone plugged in if I am in my Car or by my computer. I only let it run on its battery when it needs to, but I do try and let it go down all the way at least once a month like Apple Recommends. Why waste your charge cycles when you can have it plugged in while you are working on your computer. Having it plugged it most of the time will make the battery last a lot longer and since it is a pain in the ARSE to swap batteries, this will go a long way.

Your Results May Vary. ;)
 
livingonvideo13 said:
With these new batteries you should never try and run your battery down with every single charge.

It is true that Apple recommends that you drain it all the way and charge it to 100% once a month.

They do not have a memory but they are good for only so many "complete cycle" charges. Usually about 400. This does not mean you can only charge it 400 times, but only 400 "complete cycles" so if your battery is at 50% and you charge it up to 100% it will only use 0.5 of a cycle. For more info check out this link.

So what do I do? I ALWAYS try to have my phone plugged in if I am in my Car or by my computer. I only let it run on its battery when it needs to, but I do try and let it go down all the way at least once a month like Apple Recommends. Why waste your charge cycles when you can have it plugged in while you are working on your computer. Having it plugged it most of the time will make the battery last a lot longer and since it is a pain in the ARSE to swap batteries, this will go a long way.

Your Results May Vary. ;)
Click to expand...

What your doing is worse for the battery, constantly doing short charges will shorten the life span, full dran and charge cycles are best.
 
Yes, the lithium ion battery used in the iPhone suffers from no "memory effect". This is all a bunch of voodoo. Only NiCd batteries do this, but the idea is left over in people's minds as an urban legend now.

Use the battery however you want, and if you want to go the extra mile, make sure you run it all the way down once a month. That probably doesn't matter much either, but I do it just in case.

Otherwise, enjoy your phone and don't worry about it.
 
The "charge often or not" question is confusion between NiCd batteries and Li-ion (which iPhone uses). The two are almost the opposite. NiCd batteries should be charged only when empty, while Li-ion should be charged as much as you can.
 
I've never had a problem with any of my iPhones losing battery capacity. Although, my 3GS is routinely about 10% at the end of the day now because I use it so much.
 
Kahalu'u Bob said:
@Julien: Nice links. Some of the best battery information I've seen. Thanks!
Click to expand...

If only people would read it and stop posting off the wall theories and asking the same questions over and over. Maybe there should be a sticky link/post to the site on all the iDevice and Mac Book forums.;)
 
I use Battery Magic which reminds you when your monthly full charge is due--and their definition of a full charge is charging from anything below 25 percent. Sounds good to me--a nice little app.
 
For the first two charges I run the battery all the way down. This way I can gauge the full extent of the battery, and it checks to make sure I have a good one. After that I usually charge it when it gets to around 20% for the next few weeks, then I don't think about it anymore. I still get plenty of hours out of my 2 year old 3g iPhone.
I do the same for Lipoly cells I run my rc cars with, and I get long life out of them also and they get stressed way more than the iPhone battery will.
 
Rule of thumb:
<30% is bad
=70% is perfect
>90% is okay

With that in mind running you phone down to 40% and charging back to 100% is probably your best bet without going overboard.
 
My wife and I just upgraded from our original iPhones (3 years ago) and have always put the phones on charge every night no matter what percent it is. Still to this day we can use the phone all day long and still have battery left at the end of the day.
 
Julien said:
Incorrect info. Here is the definitive battery guide and here and here are specifics about charging.
Click to expand...

This.

Don't let a lithium ion battery go kaput.
Don't worry about charging it up w/o draining it first. lithium ion doesn't have this requirement.

Just use it and charge i when it gets low. Don't fry the battery baking in a car in the middle of Arizona or some such thing. Use common sense. It will be okay.
 
Julien said:
If only people would read it and stop posting off the wall theories and asking the same questions over and over. Maybe there should be a sticky link/post to the site on all the iDevice and Mac Book forums.;)
Click to expand...

Even if there were people would not read them. They figure its easier to start a new thread.
 
it doesn't matter, lithium ion batteries are built to control overcharging and overexhausting.. the only thing running your battery dead (dead to where it will stop emitting power, it actually will never fully drain) is reset the circuitry that tells your device how full the battery is
 
Think the only reason you need to drain your battery once a month is to keep your battery icon in sync with your battery. The battery in a iphone has no memory so no matter how much juice your battery has in it you can put it on charge every night, all night.
 
So I am not hurting my battery by charging it every night then leaving it connected to USB all day at work?
 
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