Laptop and cell phone battery charging best practice

[gagsoft]

Hi all
Today I was told to unlearn and forget what I was taught some time ago on best practice on how to charge and use my laptop and cellphone battery. My believe was that you should never interrupt charging half way. That it is better where possible to work with the charge plugged in all the time using a laptop. When running on battery, make sure to use it until it is almost totally drained. When charging, make sure to fully charge it before unplugging the charger. I was told today to never fully charge a battery and never let it go flat totally.

I would appreciate it if anybody can tell me which method is better to use and why. In plain English so that someone like me can understand

Thanks
Ignoramus

 

[saor]

I've never really seen anything that shows huge gains in battery life by adhering to certain practices. For a while (with my laptop) I tried a few things, but after a few weeks it just became a nuisance to have to keep constant track of it. Now I just charge whenever the need arises. With modern batteries I can't see there being much benefit to charging in certain ways.

 

[Magnum]

OP times have changed. Technology along with it. Depending on the battery technology it will only last so long. but a little more can be squeezed out of batteries with correct charging. More in debt research needs to be done on the exact battery in question.

You will mostly encounter Li-ION batteries. they are tough as nails providing you don't over drain them. Also BIG fire and explosion hazzard!

 

[sajunky]

Now I just charge whenever the need arises.

^This
Every two/three months you can do full charge (keeping in the charger for additional two hours), then full discharge (till it switches off). It doesn't extend battery life, but charging control will get updated statistics, so battery capacity can be fully utilized during the lifetime.

 

[CataclysmZA]

I let my phone get down to 25-30% and then charge it back up to 95% before taking it off the battery. My laptop gets charged whenever it is convenient to do so, but usually never dips below 20%. After two years of ownership, I still get 4hrs30min out of the battery from a full charge.

 

[Beachless]

Battery tech has most certainly changed but depth of discharge is still very relevant so if you always charge your battery at 50% instead of 10% you will get way more cycles out of it. Storing of the battery for long periods should be done at 50-60% charge and not fully charged. Overcharging / excessive draining an issue on all batteries.

 

[Arthur]

Short answer: It depends.

Go to university.

 

[HavocXphere]

I've never really seen anything that shows huge gains in battery life by adhering to certain practices.

For lithium batteries you can actually get some measurable gains by staying away from fully charged or fully discharged.

Question is whether its worth worrying about...in my experience you can replace a battery (cell / laptop) after 2 - 2.5 years anyway. I saw this with the work laptops...all of them ran into severely reduced battery life / faulty batteries at +- the same time.

 

[sajunky]

Some laptops have an option to not fully charge the battery, unless it it is requested to do so. Using this option laptop stay permanently plugged to the mains keeping constantly 70% maximum charge. It takes 30 minutes to fully charge when you plan to leave the office. Such feature should be implemented in all portable equipment.
Having said so (and explain observation presented by HavocXphere), voltage charge level is not only the factor reducing battery life. Temperature is even more critical and may laptops generate lot of heat.