So I’ve always been in the habit of letting my electronics run down to near empty on the battery before recharging because that’s how I hear you preserve battery life. But then I was thinking, I’m trying to keep the battery life long, but that means I start many days with my electronics only partially charged — i.e., I never get the benefit of the long battery life. Not sure it’s a great trade off.
And then I looked it up and the whole having to let the battery go to empty before recharging is actually an urban legend in regards to modern lithium ion batteries (the memory problem only applied to nickel cadmium and nickel–metal hydride batteries). There are only so many charges a battery has before it loses battery life, but charging from 80% to 100% five times counts the same as charging from 0% to 100% once. In fact, for Apple devices, all Apple recommends you do is let the battery go from 100% to 0% and fully recharge once a month to keep the battery life indicator accurate.
Anyway, just thought I’d share if anyone was torturing themselves with partially charged iPads and iPhones for no reason.
for those of us with non-idevices this is even more of a non-issue since most manufacturers make it possible for you change batteries. So not only can you keep a charged spare ready to go so you don’t have to be tethered while your idevice charges but uf your battery does start to show its age you can just replace it.
I think you are the only one.
I heard an ad for
SmartStupid cars today, you can now lease the batteries. So….you buy the car but you have to rent the gas tank. What a great idea.I see no reason to torture myself with iPads and iPhones, partially charged or not.
I usually let my batteries go to 0%. Then a brief six hour nap and I’m ready to go again for an hour or two.
Mom keeps her phone charged up 24/7. Whenever I pick her up to go shopping, her phone’s battery is dead after about an hour. Same with my work laptop. It sits on a docking station all day. And when I need it at home, it’s dead within an hour and a half. There might be something to that cycling the battery thing.
Wonder if that would also apply to the battery cars
c64wood,
If you leave it plugged in all the time, that will affect it, I believe.
Frank J, I don’t own any apple stuff, but assuming this works for droids as well…I thank you.
Now I no longer have to experience premature plug-in guilt. “)
@8 Flip. That one-eyed sailor wink was supposed to be a normal smile.
But we’ll just roll with it.
Arrrrrrr!!
Anonymiss,
I’m pretty sure every smartphone these days uses lithium ion batteries.
Yay! Clear Conscience Cookies to Frank J!
@11 – For the record, I personally prefer MY cookies chock full of Guilt and other delicious ingredients.
Poor Frank probably hasn’t had a cookie in years. I bet Buttercup steals them right off his plate before he even gets a nibble…
Sexy Sinful Snickerdoodles to Harvey! Like those better?
I’ve never had a sexy cookie before. Do they have green m&ms in them or something?:
http://www.snopes.com/risque/aphrodisiacs/mandms.asp
Oh no…
My cookies don’t need *any* help.