When charging a phone wirelessly, there is sometimes significant heat generated. That combined with higher charging rates that are now coming out with the Qi 2 standard make me wonder what the ideal charge for the battery would be.
Most of the time I just toss my phone onto a wireless charger before bed, and don’t really care how quickly it charges. Would it be better to use a 5W brick with a charging pad? Should wireless be avoided and usb used instead?
Plenty of good answers here already. Just want to add a funny anecdote.
I’ve had the same USB charging brick for years, using it for different phones throughout that time. When I check the battery settings when it’s plugged in it “warns” me that I could be charging at a higher rate if I plug into a higher amperage charger. Yeah… I know. I WANT to charge slowly. It’s gonna be plugged in all night, what do I care?
I’ve had my phone for a year, 165 charging cycles, and it says it’s still at 100% health. I do cap charging to 80% and that hasn’t been an issue for my day-to-day usage.
Exactly this. Everyone focuses on how fast you can charge a phone, but 99% of the time I’m charging over night and would prefer a slower charge.
I just capped mine to 90%, if that goes well I might go down to 80.
Wireless charging always generates more heat than wired charging but it’s not always a significant amount.
Wired charging ports get dirty, wear out
Batteries last longer with slower charges.
Batteries last longer with less charges
Batteries last longer If they never leave a moderate temperature.
Batteries last longer if they never drop below 20% and never go above 80%
Batteries last longer when stored if they are stored at 50% charge.
Putting that all in check you can take a couple year old phone to a fix it place and have the battery replaced. And they can also replace your wired charging port if necessary.
The very healthiest way? But maybe you won’t like it :)
Don’t charge above 80%, don’t discharge below 20%, charging current at 1/10 of the capacity, and always keep the thing at average room temperature.
I was actually thinking of using the battery charge limit feature to prevent charging above 90%. Not sure I could do 80 without an charge during the day, lol
Pragmatically speaking, for battery health you should charge only as much as you need the battery, so it sounds to me that in your case that’s 90%. Also, here’s a paper about battery charging:
Strategies to limit degradation and maximize Li-ion battery service lifetime - critical review and guidance for stakeholders https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/154859/Woody_Maxwell_Thesis.pdf
Check ifixit before you buy a phone, to make sure diy battery replacement is not too difficult. Then you don’t have to worry as much. Just figure on a swap or two during the phone’s lifetime.
Other than that, keep charge level between 20% and 80% as someone said. But I think in that range, it’s ok to fast charge within reason.
Supposedly starting in 2027, all phones sold in EU will have user replaceable batteries.
Supposedly starting in 2027, all phones sold in EU will have user replaceable batteries.
Unfortunately, while the law is certainly an improvement, it’s not as good as the headlines have misled people to believe.
Anybody who thinks they’ll be popping the back off their phone and changing the battery like it’s 2006 will be disappointed.
The law stops the most egregious stuff (like glueing the battery down excessively in a way that requires specialised tooling to remove), but that’s about as far as it goes.
A confident tinkerer shouldn’t have an issue. But it’s a far cry from what many seem to think the law is.
There are also exceptions. If you guarantee the capacity being over X (I can’t remember what the law stipulates) after 3 years, the battery doesn’t have to be removable. And IIRC, it’s not a particularly ambitious amount. Like 74% or something.
