Η charging the smartphone you overnight can damage the battery and shorten its life. Here's everything you need to know.
Η Charging the battery is something that resembles the nutritional laws we see from time to time, like salt or oil: one day it does a lot of harm, the next it does good, the next it does bad again, and so on.
Similarly with charging smartphones, you may hear from someone that it is better to always have it fully charged, on the other hand that you should charge it 100% and then discharge it until it closes, another may tell you that you have to leave it plugged in all night, someone else that you should not charge it with high-power chargers; in general, it is certain that everyone has their own theory about optimal charging and battery life. Ultimately, though, what is really going on?
Life in circles
Researchers (and companies) determine the life expectancy of a battery in charge cycles. The definition of a charge cycle is to charge the battery up to 100% of its capacity, starting from zero, and then discharging it to 0%. The number of cycles indicates the life expectancy of the battery, but again, it does not mean that when it reaches this number, the battery is dead; what it means is that then it will have lost a significant percentage of its capacity. For example, a very common Li-Ion battery, codenamed 18650, has a life of between 300 and 500 cycles before falling below 75% of its rated capacity.
Why do batteries break down?
A very simple analogy is that of the pot: think of the battery as a pot, which you fill with water (charge) and then boil it until it evaporates (discharge). At first, the pot has the capacity determined by its internal volume, but after many fillings and boils, salts begin to accumulate inside.
After 500 or 1000 cycles of filling and evaporation, so many salts have accumulated that the internal volume (capacity) has been reduced by 20-25%, while the boiling (discharging) is no longer efficient, because the accumulated salts prevent water from to heat and evaporate.
Something similar happens with batteries: it obviously does not involve anywhere… pot or water, but charging and discharging force the lithium ions to move from the ascent to the cathode and tubalin. After many paths, lithium begins to form structures that scientists call dendrites and which are permanent, meaning that lithium is trapped in the dendrites and can no longer participate in the charging-discharging process.
Therefore, the capacity is reduced, while in extreme cases, the dendrites can reach the anode-cathode separation film (film) and pierce it. Then we have a fire or explosion of batteries, which we all hear.
Maintenance
Batteries work best between 20 and 80% of their rated capacity. If you can keep the battery charged so that it does not exceed 80% on charge and 20% on discharge, you can even triple its life, exceeding 1000 cycles. This practically corresponds to over 3 years of use.
To keep the battery in this area, you need to pay attention to the charging time. On modern smartphones, charging up to 80% takes less than an hour, while on fast charge devices it can take up to a few minutes. If you leave your mobile connected to the charger for the whole night, even for 6,5 hours, it is certain that it will reach 100% in about an hour and will spend the remaining 5,5 hours at 100% with the charger doing the so-called trickle charge.
This means that it does not close completely but continues and gives as much energy as it consumes (approximately) the mobile in stand-by, in fact continuing to push the battery to go over 100%, for hours! At the same time, the charge heats the battery and the trickle charge keeps it (relatively) warm, which further reduces its lifespan.
In general, try to keep the battery at a normal temperature, between 0 ° C and 70 ° C. Therefore, do not leave your mobile phone in the sun or in the car in the summer, while charging in bed is a bad idea, especially under a pillow! All appliances are designed to be sufficiently cooled by normal airflow and air radiation. If you cover the cell phone, you deprive it of its unique cooling passage and, in addition to reducing the battery life, it can even explode!
Actual charge
Everything we said above, obviously, is known to the companies that make smartphones. Therefore, the companies themselves set limits on charging and discharging their devices, trying to keep the battery between this 20 and 80% mentioned above. At the same time, the mobile phone will turn off when it reaches 20% charge and not the real zero! As the battery ages, however, the actual use of available capacity increases, in an effort to keep the length of time the battery can hold the device steady. Therefore, when a mobile phone is new, the charge will reach up to 80% (regardless of what the display says), while as the battery ages, the charge will slowly reach the actual 100%, compensating for the losses due to aging with the hidden capacity that was not initially shown on the display. But after a while, again no matter what the display says, the battery will not be able to charge to 100% of its rated capacity and then you will find that the battery does not last as long.
Laptops and other devices
There are laptops that just stay "parked" in an office and that never work with the battery, except in rare cases of power outages. The battery of these devices, after a year of uninterruptible power supply, will be practically useless, although it may not have been used more than 2-3 times. The best solution is to discharge the battery to about 50% and disconnect it from the laptop. For devices where the battery is not removable… unfortunately, the battery is doomed. The same goes for the devices you just want to store. Avoid continuous charging, in no case leave a device permanently connected to the mains, but try to charge them to 50% and close them before storage.
In simple words, in a nutshell:
- Limit the charge between 20 and 80% of capacity
- Reduce battery life to 100% - do not leave the device connected
- Keep the appliance at normal temperatures - do not cover it
- Reduce consumption by closing apps and services you do not use, so you do not need frequent charging
It may sound tedious, but you will thank us when you have your device running after three years. Of course, if you change your cell phone every year, then you may not be very interested in… long battery life, but for everyone else, this could be a lifesaver!
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