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After your phone is charged up...

when you charge your phone and its fully charged up, do you unplug it or do you just leave it on there until you leave or something? is it bad for the battery?

i realized that i leave it on the charger and use it and just leave it plugged up as i go through the day, then when i leave work, i take it off and take it with me.

am i messing up the battery?
 
I would have to assume that manufacturers of portable devices like cell phones and laptops are designed to stop charging once the battery is full. When I finally get in bed at night, my battery it usually at 20%, so I place it on the charger and go to bed. I then unplug it when I wake up, or sometimes leave it plugged in until I head out the door in the morning. You would think that when I plug it in at night before bed, I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night once the led is "green" and unplug it so it doesn't get "damaged".
 
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i guess my real question is, does it hurt it using it while its plugged up? because i get a million txts while im at work and i just leave it plugged in while i use it.


I wouldn't think so. Again, you would think the device would have been designed to be used while it was plugged in. The only side effect I could think of is that it maybe take a little longer to fully charge if the device is in use while it is plugged in.
 
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i was thinking the other day..

batteries by nature, can only be recharged a finite number of times. Then they start to loose their ability to keep a charge.

So, batteries that only get charged every other day or less.. will last longer (lifetime) than batteries that have to be charged everyday.

Also, I also charge my phone while I am in the car for say 15 -30mins as I drive to places. Does that affect my battery life? Does it count as 1 full charge cycle or just a partial hit to the lifetime?

hope this make sense.. :p
i know it is a small issue.. but just curious.
 
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i was thinking the other day..

batteries by nature, can only be recharged a finite number of times. Then they start to loose their ability to keep a charge.

So, batteries that only get charged every other day or less.. will last longer (lifetime) than batteries that have to be charged everyday.

Also, I also charge my phone while I am in the car for say 15 -30mins as I drive to places. Does that affect my battery life? Does it count as 1 full charge cycle or just a partial hit to the lifetime?

hope this make sense.. :p
i know it is a small issue.. but just curious.

you see, i do that too. if im at home or at work and my charger is right next to me, i'll go ahead and plug it up just because its right there.
 
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i was thinking the other day..

batteries by nature, can only be recharged a finite number of times. Then they start to loose their ability to keep a charge.

So, batteries that only get charged every other day or less.. will last longer (lifetime) than batteries that have to be charged everyday.

Also, I also charge my phone while I am in the car for say 15 -30mins as I drive to places. Does that affect my battery life? Does it count as 1 full charge cycle or just a partial hit to the lifetime?

hope this make sense.. :p
i know it is a small issue.. but just curious.

yes.. the batteries have a finite number of cycles (charges).. a Li-Ion battery normally has a life cycle in the thousands.. that is more than enough to last you a couple years.

of course, as another poster said, batteries are cheap.. buy one in a year if you feel that your battery is starting show signs of weakness..
 
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The brick on the laptop adapter is not affected by leaving it plugged in. It just idles when plugged in, it only has activity when its actually charging the battery. Once battery hits full charge the adapter goes back to idle. I've had laptops connected 90% of the time for years w/o issue.
 
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I am going to have to strongly DISAGREE with the vast majority of the posts in this thread. There are too many people posting information as fact who don't understand battery technology and charging circuits.

Lithium-Ion batteries do not like to be held at their low or high voltages for an extended period of time. They are happiest in the middle range and at cooler temperatures - my phone is always hot when it is plugged in.

Please read my posts in this thread:
http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/41766-2000mah-andida-battery.html

And I will also say that leaving a laptop plugged in 24/7 will not only kill the battery capacity quicker it will also wear out the charger quicker as well.
 
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I am going to have to strongly DISAGREE with the vast majority of the posts in this thread. There are too many people posting information as fact who don't understand battery technology and charging circuits.

Lithium-Ion batteries do not like to be held at their low or high voltages for an extended period of time. They are happiest in the middle range and at cooler temperatures - my phone is always hot when it is plugged in.

Please read my posts in this thread:
http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/41766-2000mah-andida-battery.html

And I will also say that leaving a laptop plugged in 24/7 will not only kill the battery capacity quicker it will also wear out the charger quicker as well.


... once my phone hits green, there is NO "hotness".
 
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my phone is always hot when it is plugged in.
You should take your phone in to have it checked. It is not normal for the circuit INSIDE the battery to allow the charge to continue after it is fully charged. A lithium battery could explode if the safety circuit is defective and allows the phone to continue charging after it is fully charged. My phone (and wife's, daughter's, son's) is ice cold when I unplug it after charging all night. Something is definitely wrong with your's. Be safe, have it checked.
 
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exactly.. the charge circuit does cut off once teh battery is full.. leaving it plugged in over night while you sleep will NOT cause any damage to the battery. yes a Li-Ion battery is happiest while in use.. and yes discharging to low will damage the battery.. but the LVC (low voltage cutoff) circuit prevents that.. and Li-Ion prefers room temps as opposed to cold or hot..

your battery shouldn't be hot to the touch at any time during a charge.. that indicates either a charger problem or a battery problem..

just be happy we only have to deal with a single cell battery.. otherwise you'd also be concerned about balance charging to ensure the cells have the exact same voltage..
 
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Did anyone read my posts on the other thread?

So you understand my background, I am a practicing engineer with an EE and CS degree and also an Android developer. I have a pretty good grasp on what I am talking about here.

This is the last time I am going to post anything more about batteries - I am just tired of wading through all of the misinformation on these boards. Especially when peoples' biggest complaint about this phone is the battery life.

The charging circuitry of the Hero is a poor design because it does not bypass the battery while plugged in. Don't believe me? Pull the battery out while it is plugged in and see what happens, or run a process that is taxing enough on the processor and radios that it causes the battery to actually lose charge despite being plugged in (wireless tether for instance.) The battery is always hot on a charger, AKA has juice, AND warmer to the touch (even if ever so slightly) than it would be if it were unplugged.

This is not as good for the battery than if you unplugged it when it is fully charged and let it discharge naturally. The longer you keep it at a high voltage or elevated temps the quicker it loses its capacity to hold a charge.

Here are some resources that confirm what I am saying:
How to prolong lithium-based batteries
Tech-no-media: How to extend a lithium ion laptop battery life?

@CHFIELDS
Funny, As I said I have left my laptops plugged in almost all the time for the last 5-6 years with NO battery issues of any kind.....................The technology in the devices "turns off" the charger when its full. It doesn't run all the time, only when needed. That is fact!

You are mistaken. You either have the most special Lithium Ion battery in the world or your laptop operates like most which makes it still not ideal for leaving plugged in all the time for your battery, but still WAY better than the hero... try to pull the battery out of your laptop with the charge cable plugged in. I am willing to bet it stays on. Whether windows admits it to you or not, your battery could be getting as low as 92% - 95% charge while it rests and naturally slowly discharges before the power supply cycles a new charge on it. TOTALLY different than the way the hero operates.
 
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To answer the original question.

when you charge your phone and its fully charged up, do you unplug it or do you just leave it on there until you leave or something?

I unplug mine.

is it bad for the battery?

It is better for the battery long term to unplug it once it is at high voltage. In fact it will last longer if you just give it small spurts of charge and never do long full charges from bottom to top off.

i realized that i leave it on the charger and use it and just leave it plugged up as i go through the day, then when i leave work, i take it off and take it with me.

am i messing up the battery?

Yes, you are diminishing it faster than if you follow my guidelines in the other thread I linked to or what the two links say in my above post.

Rack me, I am done here.
 
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try to pull the battery out of your laptop with the charge cable plugged in. I am willing to bet it stays on.

Of course!!!! If you pull the battery from a laptop that has the a/c adapter plugged in and it doesn't stay on, you have a serious problem....................besides, draining the battery and then recharging it constantly stresses the battery far more than leaving plugged in all the time. Heat kills...............
 
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The concept of making the phone power off when the battery is pulled while on the charger seems reasonable. The phone may detect the lack of a battery and prevent the powering of the phone. Or the phone could incorporate a simplified charging circuit that goes straight to the battery without directly powering the phone, thereby providing power only with a battery present.

The following is a primer for any novices (and experts):
Charging lithium-ion batteries
 
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There is just too much misinformation going on on this board regarding batteries - and battery life is such a detriment to these phones that I can't help responding.

@chfields:

You are not reading what I wrote in the other thread or the links that I posted backing up what I am saying and/or just someone who is too stubborn to give up.

Of course!!!! If you pull the battery from a laptop that has the a/c adapter plugged in and it doesn't stay on, you have a serious problem....................

Other than the reasons I stated why it is worse for the battery, why is that? Do you have some understanding of circuit design that I do not, or are you just trying to be emphatic to sound smart about something?


besides, draining the battery and then recharging it constantly stresses the battery far more than leaving plugged in all the time. Heat kills...............

What you are saying is utter BS. What are you basing this on other than what you have made up in your head? I don't know how to be any clearer in what I am saying in both of these threads and I have posted links to graphs and hard data explaining why.

Charging with the AC charger is harder on your battery than using USB due to the amps supplied. That is why one takes longer than the other.

The best thing you can do for your battery is to Charge small increments at a time with lower amps and try to keep the battery between 40 -60 percent for the duration of its life, the more you do these things the longer it will hold its charge capacity. That is all there is to it. Anything else hurts the capacity to a higher degree. That includes leaving it plugged in and which holds it at high voltage, or letting it drain and then fully recharging it back up to top it off.

Lithium Ion batteries do not have memory, and the only reason to deep cycle it (fully charge and discharge it) is to calibrate your phones ability to meter it.

There are other factors at play that heavily affect battery life on these phones like Androids ability to more efficiently manage info in the RAM registers as uptime increases and the fact that it might be cutting off charging early with AC chargers when a battery is new. It takes longer, but you will get a better charge from charging off USB.

Can someone please compile all this info and make it a sticky, so people will stop pooling their ignorance and causing others to ruin their batteries faster and then come back on here to complain about the phone?
 
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