Is it bad to let the phone charge all night?

[ZDroid1]

It pops a message saying it's full, unplug. So I try doing it every morning before going to work, but that's not enough time to charge it completely. So I end up charging it partially at home and then finish charging it in the car.

So when it's impossible to charge it fully in one charging session (which I assume is the best way to charge for the health of the battery), should I over charge or should I keep interrupting the battery's normal usage with multiple short charges?

 

[MassacrMan]

I think over-charging would be better than multiple short charging sessions, I could be wrong however. Someone please back me up or correct me please.

 

[Simba501]

I, personally, charge my phone overnight daily. I think having more charging sessions is worse than leaving it plugged in overnight. From my understanding, the battery has a number of charging cycles before it degrades, so in theory, fewer times plugged in would be better.

 

[MrCrash]

I'd say charge it overnight fully if possible. Some batteries can develop a memory over time if they are consistently charged and drain to certain levels. I'm not sure if the type of battery in this phone is susceptible to that, but it doesn't hurt to play it safe. Also, it's not technically overcharging the battery to let it stay plugged in. What the charger does is switch over to a trickle charge to keep the battery topped off until unplugged. No harm in doing that.

 

[mi04se1]

I read somewhere once its fully charged, it shuts off the charging to the phone.

 

[Usernamer]

Charge it overnight if you prefer. You cannot "overcharge" it. When that message pops up, the phone has stopped charging, doesn't matter how much longer it remains plugged in.

Incidentally, I find that my phone really only goes to 100% if I charge it while the phone is off. If I charge it while the phone is on, it says 100% ... and I unplug it ... and two minutes later the phone is down to 97% or 98%.

Lithium ion batteries can generally be expected to last somewhere between 300 and 500 cycles before they start to lose capacity. One "cycle" is a full discharge and recharge of its maximum capacity, although not necessarily in one fell swoop. For example, let's say that you discharge your battery from 100 down to 50, then recharge to 100, then discharge back to 50. That is only one complete cycle (50 used the first time, recharged, plus 50 used the second time, recharged, equals 100).

In general, lithium ion batteries are better with multiple short charging sessions than they are with letting them drop to nothing and doing a full recharge; however, that sort of deliberate "full discharge until the phone turns itself off, followed by a full charge" should be done every 30-45 full charging cycles (which is not necessarily every 30-45 days you have it plugged in ... see above paragraph for what comprises a "cycle") in order to ensure the battery remains properly calibrated.

(One more thing ... the "full discharge/recharge every 30-45 cycles" recommendation is because, although lithium ion batteries don't have a "memory" in terms of losing capacity, they sometimes have a "memory" in terms of the power gauge ... thus the need for calibration every once-in-a-while.)

 

[BigCiX]

I run by battery dead before I can recharge again. At least most of the time.

 

[Sharkonwheels]

I run by battery dead before I can recharge again. At least most of the time.

Make sure that if you DO run it dead, start charging it as soon as you possibly can. You do NOT want to keep a LiIon/LiPo battery at a near fully discharged state for too long...

I'd suggest one of the portable power packs, like the APC Mobile Power Pack UPB10 or Xantrx/Duracell PowerSource Mobile Mini. These are little Li packs that recharge from USB on the computer, or USB wall wart. I currently have a 4-5yo APC, still works GREAT! Also have a Xantrex/Duracell PowerSource Mobile 100 - inverter with a built-in Li battery pack, 2 USB ports, plus a US AC power outlet.

T

 

[pmart317]

Hopefully this would be a good time for me to jump in lol. I have had my captivate for a good 2 weeks and I really like it. The thing is i constantly worry about the battery. It's prob just me but i keep doing the task killer and trying to keep the brightness down to a good light screen. I am running launcherpro and have 2 full screens with widgets and 1 screen with apps and the beautiful weather widget. Before i went to be last night at 1 am. I unplugged the phone and then i woke up around 10:30 and it said 71% . Is there that much activity going on while the screen is off and using up my battery life? I also have my task killer set to auto-kill after an hour. Thanks Let me know!

 

[crupp]

Hopefully this would be a good time for me to jump in lol. I have had my captivate for a good 2 weeks and I really like it. The thing is i constantly worry about the battery. It's prob just me but i keep doing the task killer and trying to keep the brightness down to a good light screen. I am running launcherpro and have 2 full screens with widgets and 1 screen with apps and the beautiful weather widget. Before i went to be last night at 1 am. I unplugged the phone and then i woke up around 10:30 and it said 71% . Is there that much activity going on while the screen is off and using up my battery life? I also have my task killer set to auto-kill after an hour. Thanks Let me know!

That doesn't sound right! My battery useage graph continuosly has the display using the most juice. SO if yours was sitting there for that long without the screen on ?? I use a Setting Profiles and have a profile set to put the phone in Airplane/Silent Mode at 11:30pm and charge everynight.

 

[Simba501]

Hopefully this would be a good time for me to jump in lol. I have had my captivate for a good 2 weeks and I really like it. The thing is i constantly worry about the battery. It's prob just me but i keep doing the task killer and trying to keep the brightness down to a good light screen. I am running launcherpro and have 2 full screens with widgets and 1 screen with apps and the beautiful weather widget. Before i went to be last night at 1 am. I unplugged the phone and then i woke up around 10:30 and it said 71% . Is there that much activity going on while the screen is off and using up my battery life? I also have my task killer set to auto-kill after an hour. Thanks Let me know!

That's definitely not good. How often are your widgets updating? How often are email and other apps automatically updating? In that time period, when you woke up, your battery only should've dropped a few percent, like down to 95%....(or so...)

 

[Sharkonwheels]

I use system panel - Like a $2-3 app, and it tracks usage history of the battery, as well as which services/apps used the most CPU. I'd like them to add an option to history for which apps/services used the most power.

T

 

[pmart317]

Hmm! Well i have sync off, wi-fi off, brighness down to like 60/256, my background data is on, bluetooth is on, and gps off. I have all my emails set to never!

-One of the things i forgot to tell is that we have a At&T Microcell in our house, i did not know if that killed alot of battery. Bc i think my mom said her phone was dying down also. I do not really know how that works but I use to get really good battery life up in MI on the Edge network then I do here at home.

-The main services that are running are swype, batterylifeservice widget, task killer, dictionary widget, yahoo widget, and sportstap.

 

[crupp]

Hmm! Well i have sync off, wi-fi off, brighness down to like 60/256, my background data is on, bluetooth is on, and gps off. I have all my emails set to never!

-One of the things i forgot to tell is that we have a At&T Microcell in our house, i did not know if that killed alot of battery. Bc i think my mom said her phone was dying down also. I do not really know how that works but I use to get really good battery life up in MI on the Edge network then I do here at home.

-The main services that are running are swype, batterylifeservice widget, task killer, dictionary widget, yahoo widget, and sportstap.

Interesting I have a micro cell as well. I will have to keep an eye out for that. If you are getting an erratic or low signal you will use ALOT more battery.

 

[pmart317]

my micro cell puts out full signal and 3g. i feel like its somehow making my phone lose battery. But my phone literally always has stuff off and dim wallpaper. i might have to buy an extra battery to just have. Also will the 2.2 froyo do anything about battery ??

 

[Simba501]

Hmm! Well i have sync off, wi-fi off, brighness down to like 60/256, my background data is on, bluetooth is on, and gps off. I have all my emails set to never!

-One of the things i forgot to tell is that we have a At&T Microcell in our house, i did not know if that killed alot of battery. Bc i think my mom said her phone was dying down also. I do not really know how that works but I use to get really good battery life up in MI on the Edge network then I do here at home.

-The main services that are running are swype, batterylifeservice widget, task killer, dictionary widget, yahoo widget, and sportstap.

Interesting...you definitely shouldn't experience that battery life with your usage. I don't have any experience with microcells, maybe that could be the issue.

Btw, why do you have bluetooth on? Why not leave it off until you use it?

 

[pmart317]

Bluetooth is off sorry! yeah i never use anything really besides wi-fi when i need it. do not know whats going on

 

[ZDroid1]

So the consensus is it doesn't matter and it doesn't hurt the battery whether I charge it fully overnight or partially every few hours?

 

[pmart317]

Another question is when i check the advanced task manager there are like 12 applications running and I never even touched half when my was on standbye charging? Why is their random apps that turn on when you havnt even touched them at all. If that makes sense.

 

[SamsungVibrant]

To put an end to this debate, Samsung has officialy said you can keep the charger in, it will not damage your battery. This was discussed on their twitter site.

here is officially what Leah, who represents SamsungService says:

"@mgiusto Leaving it plugged in will not damage your battery. Once fully charged, charging stops except for small bursts to top off. ^Leah 3:12 PM Aug 2nd via CoTweet in reply to mgiusto"

here is another tweet on the topic from Leah the SamsungService Rep:

"@SamsungMobileUS @mgiusto You can leave it plugged in. There's a chip inside that prevents over-charging. Hope that helps! ^Leah 4:07 PM Jul 30th via CoTweet in reply to SamsungMobileUS"


www.twitter.com/samsungservice

 

[naxir]

I was always told it's bad to leave it charging when it's already fully charged because it will continually charge every time the battery gets a little low. granted this was about laptops that you use as a desktop (as an arguement for removing the battery in those situations of longterm plugged in use) but I believe it can apply to some extent to this situation.

that said, I leave mine charging over night.

 

[EricKit]

Someone beat me to the samsung tweet above. Do not fully discharge it regularly it is bad for these batteries. A full charge can hurt it but the hardware prevents it. I've done research with battery profiling.

 

[rurouni572]

So this phone DOES do the whole trickle mechanic then? I went into the EVO 4G and Incredible threads and those phones completely shut off the charging mechanism if you keep it plugged in. The meter will still say 100% but leaving it on overnight will draw from the battery power. Then when you go to unplug it in the morning you're down an instant 3-5%.

I was wondering if this is why my phone does the same thing. I've recently been dropping an instant 1-2% in the morning. Oddly enough, rebooting the phone puts me back to 100%. It's a little annoying, but as long as I still get through the day without having to charge I'm fine.

 

[Simba501]

So this phone DOES do the whole trickle mechanic then? I went into the EVO 4G and Incredible threads and those phones completely shut off the charging mechanism if you keep it plugged in. The meter will still say 100% but leaving it on overnight will draw from the battery power. Then when you go to unplug it in the morning you're down an instant 3-5%.

I was wondering if this is why my phone does the same thing. I've recently been dropping an instant 1-2% in the morning. Oddly enough, rebooting the phone puts me back to 100%. It's a little annoying, but as long as I still get through the day without having to charge I'm fine.

I believe it turns off the charging mechanism, but not completely. It kicks on every now and then, in an attempt to keep the battery full.

 

[noc]

So this phone DOES do the whole trickle mechanic then? I went into the EVO 4G and Incredible threads and those phones completely shut off the charging mechanism if you keep it plugged in. The meter will still say 100% but leaving it on overnight will draw from the battery power. Then when you go to unplug it in the morning you're down an instant 3-5%.

I was wondering if this is why my phone does the same thing. I've recently been dropping an instant 1-2% in the morning. Oddly enough, rebooting the phone puts me back to 100%. It's a little annoying, but as long as I still get through the day without having to charge I'm fine.

I don't think that's the reason why you've dropped that instant 1-2% after unplugging. Just last night, I was letting my phone charge right next to me while I was on the computer. As soon as it beeped to tell me to unplug cuz it was fully charged, I looked at the battery detail (100%). I unplugged it and it said 97%. I plugged it right back in, and it continued charging again. Maybe this has to do with what people were talking about when they say you need to calibrate the battery.

Personally, I always thought draining the battery was bad for L-ion, and at the same time, keeping it fully charged as long as possible shortens the battery life by 20% or so per year. Cycling over time does indeed shorten battery life (it builds up internal resistance, kind of like residue building up in a water pipe... except there's no fix like Drano). There's also a self-discharge rate proportional to the temperature, so I mean it probably depends where you live. Of course, my memory probably doesn't always serve me right. Please correct me where I'm wrong.