Charging question...

[mumfoau]

Just got my Moto X yesterday. I have it plugged in to charge now and it's warming up some. I noticed that the supplied charger is a 1.15A charger and every one of my other chargers if have and have been using are 2.1A. Should I just stick to using the stock 1.15A charger as opposed to ever using the 2.1A? I ask because this battery is non-removable obviously and I don't want to potentially damage it or shorten its life.

 

[Rukbat]

The amperage is the amount the charger CAN supply, not the amount it DOES supply. The phone will draw whatever current is available up to the amount it was designed to draw. (If your phone was designed to draw 1.15A and you plug it into a 2.1A charger, it will draw 1.15A.) A 100 Watt light bulb is designed to draw around 1 AMP, but the socket it's screwed into can supply at least 15A. No problem.

The thing you need to look at is the voltage, Chargers for phones and tablets (not netbooks or notebooks) should put out between 5 and 5.2 volts. Less than that won't work and more will damage the battery.

Charge the battery until the phone tells you it's charged. Then disconnect the charger and use the phone (normally - whatever is "normally" for you) until it tells you to charge it. DON'T charge it before that. Go through 3 cycles like that - 3 charges each followed by a full discharge.

After that, for longest life, charge the phone when the battery is down to 50%. You don't have to be a fanatic about it - 40% to 60% is fine. But charging it every few hours, or letting it run down to 2% before charging it, constantly, will reduce the life of the battery.

As far as charging current, if you use a 0.1A charger (that's what you get when you plug the phone into a computer to charge it), it will still charge, it will just take a lot longer to reach full charge. It won't hurt the battery.

 

[bixler777]

After that, for longest life, charge the phone when the battery is down to 50%. You don't have to be a fanatic about it - 40% to 60% is fine. But charging it every few hours, or letting it run down to 2% before charging it, constantly, will reduce the life of the battery.

This is a new one for me. I hadn't heard of doing it this way. Wondering why the battery life is reduced by letting it run down to 2% each time? Thanks.

 

[doogald]

This is a new one for me. I hadn't heard of doing it this way. Wondering why the battery life is reduced by letting it run down to 2% each time? Thanks.

Lithium Ion battery packs really like running between roughly 40% and 80% charge. They get stressed (mostly from heat) while charging to highest levels, and get stressed when being used to near depletion.

More than you wanted to know about Li-ion batteries: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

However, a key paragraph (IMHO):

 

[bixler777]

That's what i've always kinda been confused with; 'overcharging'....

Whether or not it's ok to leave a phone charging well past the "100% charged" time it normally takes...such as leaving it charging all night, etc.

And over the years i think i've read a bazillion DIFFERENT answers to that...so i really dunno exactly what to believe.

My older company phones, over the years, were Nexus, Motorola, and Blackberrys, and all of them saw heavily reduced batteries by continually charging them...'topping them off'....to the point that they'd be totally drained with just 2-3 hours of usage....so with my personal phones (Razr Maxx, Iphone, Incredible 2, Eris, etc) i've always done the 'charge all the way up, then use all the way back down to about 1%, then recharge all the way back up' thing, and i've had great luck with that. and since my Moto X is only 2 weeks old, i'm still trying to determine what route to take.

 

[mumfoau]

I only charge mine in the AM before I start my day as I don't wish to leave mine plugged in over night!

 

[doogald]

That's what i've always kinda been confused with; 'overcharging'....

Whether or not it's ok to leave a phone charging well past the "100% charged" time it normally takes...such as leaving it charging all night, etc.

And over the years i think i've read a bazillion DIFFERENT answers to that...so i really dunno exactly what to believe.

The battery university guy Isidore Buchman is an engineer with years of industry experience with batteries. He knows a lot more than any of us, or anybody else giving you advice. If he says that modern chargers turn off power at full charge and are safe to be left plugged in - he's the guy I will take advice from.

 

[Thom]

I learned a lot from him.

With the Bionic a problem arose where people were complaining that when they charged overnight the next morning when they took the phone off the charger it was at 95%.

The reason he pointed out was that when it reached 100% the charging stopped and then the battery started to discharge. When it got to about 92% it started to charger again.

The phone was obviously removed while it was discharging.

For the Droid Maxx I turn it off at night and put it on the charger. Every morning it registers 100%.

... Thom

 

[bixler777]

ok...so, lemme ask:

can i 'top it off' literally whenever i want....say, if the battery is at 74 percent (or ANY particular number)...can i just plug it in till it gets to 100%, or am i doing ANY long or short term 'harm' in doing that?

thanks.

 

[mumfoau]

For the Droid Maxx I turn it off at night and put it on the charger. Every morning it registers 100%.

... Thom

When I do charge at night that's the only way I'll do it based on the recommendations I'd read so long ago on the Battery University site.

 

[doogald]

ok...so, lemme ask:

can i 'top it off' literally whenever i want....say, if the battery is at 74 percent (or ANY particular number)...can i just plug it in till it gets to 100%, or am i doing ANY long or short term 'harm' in doing that?

thanks.

Again, read that Battery University article. My analysis is that a battery's long-term health is best with lots of small charges compared with a smaller amount of large charges. And if you are using the stock charger, the phone will cut the flow of electricity to the battery pack when the phone reaches 100%.

For all of that, just using a battery is doing long-term harm. That's just the reality of battery technology right now.