• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Does Fully Discharging a lithium ion battery shorten its life?

SamsungVibrant

Android Expert
Jul 23, 2010
1,613
165
Hey guys, I'm kinda worried about something.

I don't know if this applies to all lithium ion batteries, but I recently baught a laptop for someone. It came with lithium ion battery care instructions. It basically said never to let the battery get below 10 percent, otherwise the battery may fail to ever hold a full charge again.

There was a similar sticker on the lithium ion battery of a digital cam I baught that basically said never fully discharge battery.

Anyone know if this applies to the Vibrants lithium ion? A quick google search have confirmed that lithium ions should never be fully discharged/drained to zero or deep cycled, so now I'm worried I may have ruined the lifespan of my Vibrants battery.

I didn't even put 2 and 2 together, or think twice about, and I've fully discharged my Vibrants battery on more than one occasion, and now I'm noticing it doesn't hold a full charge like it use to. :(
 
Hey guys, I'm kinda worried about something.

I don't know if this applies to all lithium ion batteries, but I recently baught a laptop for someone. It came with lithium ion battery care instructions. It basically said never to let the battery get below 10 percent, otherwise the battery may fail to ever hold a full charge again.

There was a similar sticker on the lithium ion battery of a digital cam I baught that basically said never fully discharge battery.

Anyone know if this applies to the Vibrants lithium ion? A quick google search have confirmed that lithium ions should never be fully discharged/drained to zero or deep cycled, so now I'm worried I may have ruined the lifespan of my Vibrants battery.


I didn't even put 2 and 2 together, or think twice about, and I've fully discharged my Vibrants battery on more than one occasion, and now I'm noticing it doesn't hold a full charge like it use to. :(

T-Mobile told me to actually let it die completely two times to get its full capacity and he was reading that from instructions. Mine has died twice as well and theres no difference that i can tell. Some have reported better results that ive read in here.
 
Upvote 0
T-Mobile told me to actually let it die completely two times to get its full capacity and he was reading that from instructions. Mine has died twice as well and theres no difference that i can tell. Some have reported better results that ive read in here.

really? okay good, I don't feel as worried. Wonder why some products say don't let the battery discharge all the way.
 
Upvote 0
Hey guys, I'm kinda worried about something.

I don't know if this applies to all lithium ion batteries, but I recently baught a laptop for someone. It came with lithium ion battery care instructions. It basically said never to let the battery get below 10 percent, otherwise the battery may fail to ever hold a full charge again.

There was a similar sticker on the lithium ion battery of a digital cam I baught that basically said never fully discharge battery.

Anyone know if this applies to the Vibrants lithium ion? A quick google search have confirmed that lithium ions should never be fully discharged/drained to zero or deep cycled, so now I'm worried I may have ruined the lifespan of my Vibrants battery.

I didn't even put 2 and 2 together, or think twice about, and I've fully discharged my Vibrants battery on more than one occasion, and now I'm noticing it doesn't hold a full charge like it use to. :(

I've read the same things actually. I also read that even on hybrid cars that use Li-Ion batteries, they never actually let them get below a certain threshold, if I remember right that was around 30-40%. In the article I read it stated that by doing that Toyota was preventing the life of the batteries from being shortened.

My guess is that cell phone manufacturers have built in safeguards to make sure the batteries don't get below a certain threshold as well. I doubt very, very much that they would ever allow the Li-Ion batteries in their phones to actually hit a low enough level that it would damage the battery. I'd bet that when the battery hits 0 on our phones and the phone shuts off, the battery still has a ways to go before actually hitting the real 0. In my experience I've never had problems by letting Li-Ion's get to 0. I have a 6 year old E-Machines laptop that I've let the battery get to 0 dozens of times, and even today it runs almost as long as it did when new.

Another thing I've read in more than one place is that with Li-Ion batteries, if you're going to store them for an extended time it's best to do it when they have around 40% charge left in them. I don't remember the details though as to why this was.

EDIT: I was right about storing for extended periods with a 40% charge. Apparently though it is best not to run these batteries low consistently. The link below has some good info on Li-Ion batteries.

How to prolong lithium-based batteries

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If possible, store the battery in a cool place at about a 40% state-of-charge. Some reserve charge is needed to keep the battery and its protection circuit operational during prolonged storage. Avoid keeping the battery at full charge and high temperature. This is the case when placing a cell phone or spare battery in a hot car. Running a laptop computer on the mains has a similar temperature problem. While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones