Iphone Battery recharging

[Tom Foolery]

i am pretty paranoid about battery life in all my fancy electronics. with many devices you must wait until the charge is relativly empty until you can recharge it. first is this the case with the 3g or can i charge it any time without worrying that it's depleting battery life.

i want to get one of those bose sound systems for my iphone or something that resembles it. whenever you plug your iphone in though it charges if the iphone should only be charged once the battery is dead how do i use the sound system without killing the batter life.

 

[SFStateStudent]

how do i use the sound system without killing the batter life.

I've never been concerned about my battery life on my iPhone, since I keep it in the charging dock whenever I'm home. I've had it get into the red on two occasions, after loaning it out to my nieces and nephews to watch movies. The battery seems to be the same since day one when I brought it home. This is my 2nd replacement iPhone; replaced in October '07. Plus you have a one-year warranty should anything happen to the battery.

 

[lavrishevo]

Just keep you iPhone plugged in as much as possible. Less charge cycles means much longer battery life. My 23 month old MBP still has 93% health on the original battery after 203 cycles. Pretty good in my opinion.

Now the sad thing is how in the world am I going to get my new iPhone? I don't have a business trip back to the continental U.S. till September This will not due. Darn AT&T PR malaka...

 

[bstpierre]

Once a month

Apple used to have charging suggestions on their iPhone page (I found helpful hints here: http://www.apple.com/batteries/).

Upon reading it before I distilled down to "discharge the battery once a month" which is supported by a side bar on the above linked page:

"Exercise Your Machine
Lithium-ion batteries need to be used for maximum performance. If you don’t use your device often, be sure to complete a charge cycle at least once a month. Click the links below to add regular reminders to your iCal calendar."

Specific iPhone information is available here: http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

 

[lavrishevo]

The complete drain and recharge is appropriate for the computers with "fuel gages" which become less accurate over charge cycles. This does not apply to the iPhone. There is no battery calibration for the iPhone. Again, the calibration is not for the battery since lithium ion batteries have no memory. It's a calibration for the computers "fuel gage".

 

[Tom Foolery]

so it really doesn't matter when i charge the battery because it won't count as a full charge cycle til i have used %100, or the sum of %100 with numerous charges.

 

[Natesac]

the worst thing for it are heat and letting the battery go completly flat dead. some phones are able to power up for a few seconds after the battery is empty, dont do this. Keeping it charged keeps it happy. Its cool to leave it on the charger cause it stops it from using charge cycles.

 

[bacaramac]

This is the way I understand it for Li-Ion batteries:

100% Battery --> Use 20%/Recharge -->Use 70%/Recharge --> Use 10%/Recharge.

The above scenario equals 1 cycle. Li-Ion batteries in iPhone charge to 80% capacity if about 1 hours and trickle charge to 100%.

Recap - it is better to charge when you get a chance vs. waiting until battery is completely dead.

 

[lavrishevo]

This is the way I understand it for Li-Ion batteries:

100% Battery --> Use 20%/Recharge -->Use 70%/Recharge --> Use 10%/Recharge.

The above scenario equals 1 cycle. Li-Ion batteries in iPhone charge to 80% capacity if about 1 hours and trickle charge to 100%.

Recap - it is better to charge when you get a chance vs. waiting until battery is completely dead.

You are correct my friend. Deep cycle charges like 10% or so to full are stressful on the battery.

 

[firewood]

Li-Ion batteries last longer with more shallow discharge/charge cycles than with fewer deep ones: e.g. 90 shallow 10% discharge cycles will cause less wear than 10 90% deep discharge cycles. Li-Ion chargers have to be smart enough that they won't overcharge the battery. So keep the charge topped off. Deep cycling to recalibrate the battery gauge is only useful if the battery discharge curve changes; once a year is probably plenty until you notice a repeatable change in the battery gauges accuracy.

 

[Tom Foolery]

Li-Ion chargers have to be smart enough that they won't overcharge the battery

i was satisfied with the answers to my question until you said this. what is over charging, if the batery is at 100 it stops charging and relying on external power. Right?

 

[pkwon]

i am pretty paranoid about battery life in all my fancy electronics. with many devices you must wait until the charge is relativly empty until you can recharge it. first is this the case with the 3g or can i charge it any time without worrying that it's depleting battery life.

i want to get one of those bose sound systems for my iphone or something that resembles it. whenever you plug your iphone in though it charges if the iphone should only be charged once the battery is dead how do i use the sound system without killing the batter life.

iphone does not use the battery that requires a full drain all the time. iphone uses the li-ion battery which has no memory effect so you can charge it whenever, regardless of where the battery is at.

However, the li-ion battery does have a 300-500 full cycle charges and after that you will only get the capacity of 80%. Which you can then decide to replace the battery.

100% = 1 cycle. using 40% of the battery only uses 40% of that 1 cycle charge. next day you use it 50% of 1 cycle. but you have to add the 40% from the previous day, so therefore you used 90% of 1 cycle. The next day you use 60% of cycle 1, then you have to add the 60% to the previous, 90% + 60% = 150% so therefore you used 1 cycle 50%.

Also when the battery is fully charged, the charging stops and remains on the A/C power so it is safe to leave it on the power over night.