Cellphone Batteries

[Yooper]

How often should one charge their Cellphone?

I recently treated myself to a new-to-me phone. It is a cheap prepaid but it has a NiMH battery (at least that's what the website says) with a fairly long standby time (10 days). I only use the thing for emergency calls and very occasional calls from work.

I also use it for my backup alarm clock.

I read on the web that for longest battery life I should charge it every night; other sites say only when the battery indicator it is going low.

I replaced my old phone as it showing very low battery every 24 hours.

 

[CumAlong]

Rechargeable batteries can only be recharged so much. Eventually they will hold less and less charge. Cell phone batteries are no different. So in order to prevent this inevitable decline in your battery, the less you charge it, the better. Make sure every night that your phone will have more than enough charge to last the entire next day, if not, put it on the charger for the night and take it off in the morning. Since you have a fairly low-tech phone, it could last days without charging, and doing so would be just fine.

I on the other hand have a Droid smart phone, and like all smart phones, if you use it to its potential, you need to charge it all the time lol.

 

[purina]

Here's the info I've found.

Gentlemen Charge Your Batteries!

I've kept an eye on all the threads about battery usage and charging routines and I have some observations!
...
I have run some tests on three N95s all purchased at the same time and all with batteries of approx the same age and they have had approx the same usage. I have charged each of three in different ways-
A. Was charged only every night (approx 6 hours) and nothing during the day, for a week.
B. Was charged when it went flat.
C. Was charged at every opportunity, day and night.
After the week, at the next opportunity when the phones all had an end of charge fall together, they were all unplugged and left without any use at all.
A, lasted for 50.5 hours.
B, lasted for 22 hours.
C, lasted for 58 hours.
That's a huge difference and could go part way to explaining why some people have different experiences with the battery.
All phones are approx 4 months old and all have the same batch no. on the battery.
Something I did notice was that phone B got hotter as it got closer to failing. This could be it's attempt to wring out the last drops, I don't honestly know!
The coolest in operation (subjectively) was phone C.
Also when the phones were next charged (to battery full) the quickest in order were C, A, B. None of the phones were switched off, when on charge
...
please give a step by step guide of exactly what to do when you first get the phone out of the box?
Should you use it right away, then wait till its almost dead, and do a really long charge?

Charge it until full and then at every opportunity.
Keep it topped up as much as possible as this works the battery and the charging circuits. Lithium ion like being used like this.
If you don't charge until full on first charge you will not harm the battery but getting it to full at some early stage maximises your capacity potential for when you need a long period of use.
If you do drain the battery (not recommended) just charge it to full again and keep topped up once more.

Four essential tips for extending the battery life of your computer, cell phone, and every other gadget.

Phones, cameras, and other gadgets: In general, the rules are the same as for laptops: Keep the battery in the 20 percent to 80 percent range, and keep it cool. If you leave your phone on a hot car seat all afternoon, or if you run down your camera at an all-day trip to the zoo and then forget it in a sock drawer for six months—well, somewhere a little battery angel loses its wings.

The best way to store batteries that you won't be using for a long time—as in a camera, though this also applies to laptop batteries—is to charge them to the 40 percent level first, Bachmann says. Batteries "self deplete"—meaning they lose power even if they're not in use. Charging the battery a little bit before you put it away ensures that it doesn't get down to dangerously low levels while in storage.

battery charging query

Modern phones use lithium-based batteries. Once you've gone through the initial "running in" period of 4-5 complete charge/discharge cycles, lithium batteries work completely differently to nickel-based batteries. The old tenet that you have to make the charge cycles complete cycles was true of nickel batteries (NiCd and NiMH) but not of Li-Po and Li-ion batteries. The latter like to be kept charged as much as possible and can in fact be damaged if you deplete them too far too often.

So, don't wait until your battery gauge is near the bottom to top up your battery. If you know you're going to be in one place for any length of time then plug it in. Your battery will thank you and you're less likely to be caught out with a flat battery when you need the phone.
...
It's not the number of charge/discharge cycles that kills a battery, it's the total time spent being charged.

If you charge little but frequently, each charge "cycle" is only going to be short and therefore takes less off the useful life of the battery. In the long run, you're not doing the battery any more damage due to charge time than if you were doing deep cycles. You are, however, avoiding damage due to depletion.

 

[star-warrior]

My mobile's battery runs down so quick that I bought a spare. I only use it occasionally, so if it's on it will need being charged up a day of two later...

 

[chillyboi]

seems like i'm always charging mine, i've only had 3 & it seems like the newer the phone the cheaper the battery?
any1 conquer?

 

[giftart]

I'm always charging mine. Its lasting longer than usual now.

 

[unloadonme]

I charge mine about once a week. It's a few years old now and is doing fine.