Smartphone charging issues still cause a lot of controversy and controversy. Some say this, others argue with them, and at the same time, it is not clear who is actually right. Most of the questions are whether it is possible to charge the smartphone when it is charged and whether it is possible to put the smartphone on charge overnight. All these questions are related to the fact that users often simply do not understand how the battery of their device works. And also the “memory effect”, which frightened us so much a few years ago, leaves its mark. And some batteries still have it, but let’s try to figure out whether it is worth being afraid of and how to charge a smartphone in general so that it not only works but also pleases its owner.
Many people still do not know if it is possible to charge a charged phone.
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What is Battery Memory Effect
At one time, when batteries were just beginning to come to mass devices, there was such a thing as a memory effect. This meant that the battery could lose its capacity if it was charged before it was completely discharged.
If it’s rough, then putting it on charge when there is still 50% of the charge in it, you will let the battery know that this is the minimum mark, and the next time it will give out an amount of energy equal to how much it gave out before – from 100% to 50%. It wasn’t so literal, of course, but the battery life did get shorter, and if you constantly charge the battery at half the charge, you could ruin it very quickly.
We will not go into technical details, but note that such batteries are common now. They can really be ruined by improper charging. However, they can be restored, but more on that below.
Do I need to completely discharge my smartphone?
I’ll tell you about batteries in general closer to the end of the article, but for now let’s understand whether it is necessary to completely discharge a smartphone battery, knowing that there is such a thing as a memory effect.
The memory effect is not the same as human memory.
In short, no, you don’t need to. Again, without going into the details of how lithium ions leave the lithium ferrophosphate particles, it’s worth just saying that the Li-ion (lithium-ion) batteries that are installed in the vast majority of smartphones do not suffer from the same effect.
It is correct to say that they do not suffer from it, but it cannot be said that it does not exist. It’s just so insignificant that users simply won’t notice it. This was proved in 2013 at the Paul Scherer Institute (Switzerland).
Moreover, it is believed that full discharge and even more so storage with an empty battery is much more harmful to a smartphone. Various sources state that it is best to keep the battery charge in the 40% to 80% range. So the load on it will be the lowest, but it should be understood that this will not extend its service life for some significant time.
Therefore, you should not worry too much about this. The smartphone can and should be charged when you need it . Even if you have a need for overnight recharging, it’s not as scary as many says. It is better to charge your smartphone during the day, but if necessary, you can sometimes plug it into an outlet at night.
Charging gadgets is the most common procedure.
What batteries have a memory effect
Now let’s talk about the fact that not all batteries are made so that they can be recharged at any time. For example, now such types of batteries as NiCd (nickel-cadmium) and especially Ni-MH (nickel-metal hydride) are still widely used. Here they just have a rather pronounced memory effect.
Such batteries are included in some electronics but are often found in the form of simple rechargeable batteries for household tools, flashlights, or analogs of finger (and other) batteries.
If possible, it is better to discharge them completely. Then they will last longer, and their crystalline formations will not enlarge, which will allow you to maintain long battery life for a long time. But again, you should not worry too much about this, since the effect is reversible, but nothing will be fixed by itself.
How to recover a battery with memory effect
Recovery is possible only after a special procedure. It is sometimes also referred to as “training” the battery.
The bottom line is that the battery must be completely discharged and recharged several times. The discharge should be exactly complete – until the device turns itself off. Only in this way can the maximum battery life be returned to the original or close to this value.
They say that using an external battery is harmful. But how not to use it?
There are even chargers with a discharge function (at least for AA and AAA batteries) that are not hard to find on the Internet. Before charging the battery, they completely discharge it and do that very “workout”.
Does the battery deteriorate during storage
Yes, the battery is deteriorating. In the best case, this amount will be approximately a 2% loss of original capacity per year. In the worst-case scenario, this indicator can reach values of 50% or more in a few months.
The safest way of storage is considered to be the one in which the battery is about 40% charged (therefore, in new gadgets, this is exactly the level of charge out of the box) and lies at a temperature slightly below room temperature. At 100% charge or when stored at higher temperatures, battery performance will begin to deplete significantly faster.
This suggests that you should not take care of the batteries according to the principle “I will not charge again” and you should not buy rechargeable batteries for future use. Use them, but remember a couple of simple rules given in this article, and the batteries will not let you down. And at the same time, you will save a lot of money.