Do you feel safe only when your phone is charged to 100%? These improper operations will damage the battery life

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Ever since the concept of "battery health" became well known to everyone a few years ago, people's anxiety about mobile phones has extended from "battery anxiety" to "battery health anxiety". The sense of security comes not only from the 100% battery level displayed in the upper right corner of the phone, but also from the 100% capacity in the battery health.

Photo/The author's iPhone 8p battery is about to die

As a consumable, the lifespan of a mobile phone battery is related to its "chemical age". Improper charging posture and usage environment will shorten the life of your battery.

Battery Health and Charge Cycles

Know yourself and know your enemy. If you want to know how to best combat battery aging, you must first understand the operating principles of batteries.

A lithium battery is composed of a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a conductive electrolyte, a separator and lithium ions. When charging, lithium ions flow from the positive electrode to the negative electrode through the electrolyte and separator. When discharging, the direction of the charge is reversed. The use of the battery itself is a process in which lithium ions jump back and forth between the positive and negative electrodes.

Figure: Inside a lithium-ion battery during charging and discharging

Rechargeable lithium batteries are consumables. As their chemical age increases, the battery materials will corrode or oxidize internally, lithium ions will become inactivated, the ion conductivity will decrease, and the battery resistance will increase. This is mainly manifested in that the amount of electricity that the "old" battery can store will decrease. It takes a long time to charge once, but the battery will drain quickly when used. This is what we often complain about: the battery is not durable.

For example, a new battery with a capacity of 1400mAh (100%) and an old battery with a capacity of only 1150mAh (82%) both take the same time to fully charge, which is 150 minutes. Since the old battery has a smaller capacity, the usage time after a single charge is relatively short.

Figure/Old batteries have small capacity and charge slowly

In addition, old batteries may cause mobile phone applications to take longer to start up, frame rates to drop, the phone to freeze, or shut down unexpectedly.

Take the iPhone as an example. When a normal battery operates under normal conditions and the number of charging cycles reaches 500, the maximum capacity of the battery may drop to about 80% of the initial capacity.

The charging cycle is the most important indicator of battery life. Many people think that the charging cycle is equal to the number of charging times, which is a misunderstanding. In fact, the charging cycle refers to the complete charging and discharging process of the lithium battery. It can be understood that when the mobile phone uses 100% of its power, it has completed a cycle.

Figure/Charging cycle on Apple's official website

A 1400mAh lithium battery is fully charged when 700mAh is left, and the same operation is repeated the next time. Two charging cycles can only be counted as one charging cycle. Studies have shown that the less electricity is used every day and the more frequent the charging times, the more cycles the battery can be used for.

These charging errors

Let's see if it's you

We use mobile phones every day, but most people charge them whenever they want. The following are some incorrect charging postures. You are welcome to check which ones apply to you (wrong).

Wrong posture 1: Charging after the battery is low or automatically shuts down

As mentioned above, the charging cycle is an important indicator of battery life. The most correct way to use lithium batteries is to charge them and use them immediately. Don’t wait until the phone prompts “low battery” or automatically shuts down before you remember to charge them.

Wrong posture 2: Put your phone under your pillow to charge when you sleep at night

The poor heat dissipation environment under the pillow is harmful to the health of the battery. 16℃~22℃ is the most ideal temperature range for battery use. If the phone is in an environment with a temperature exceeding 35℃, it may cause permanent damage to the battery capacity. Charging the phone in a high temperature environment will further damage the battery.

Figure/Suitable temperature zone for electronic devices, taking Apple products as an example

Similar incorrect operations include: keeping the phone under extreme temperatures for a long time, exposing it to the sun for a long time; using a phone case that is not good at dissipating heat; playing with the phone while charging, etc.

Wrong posture 3: Charging must be 100% full or charging overnight

Is this kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder you?

In theory, keeping the battery charge in the middle range (30%~80%) is more helpful to extend the battery life. If the battery is fully charged or in a high charge state for a long time, it will accelerate the aging of the battery. In order to avoid charging all night, many mobile phones have developed smart charging modes, such as automatically cutting off the power after charging to about 80% at night, and resuming charging when you are about to get up.

Figure/Huawei Smart Charging Mode

Wrong posture 4: Buying chargers and charging cables at roadside stalls

Many people think twice before buying a mobile phone, but are very casual when buying a power adapter.

Using unqualified products to charge your phone may result in poor charging results, or even damage or even explosion of the battery. Therefore, when buying power adapters, especially the popular fast charging ones, you must choose official or certified products.

Wrong behavior 5: Do not charge a mobile phone that has been idle for a long time.

If the phone is not used for a long time, do not fully charge or fully discharge it. The phone should be turned off and charged from time to time to keep the power at about 50%. If the phone is not used or charged for a long time, the battery may trigger the over-discharge protection, resulting in abnormal charging or failure to charge. Conversely, if a fully charged phone is stored for a long time, it may lose some battery capacity.

Of course, there is no need to be too hasty in using mobile phone batteries. Minimizing unintentional damage to the battery while ensuring convenient use is also a way to save money.

After all, mobile phones are consumables, and you may fall in love with other new mobile phones before the battery of your mobile phone retires.