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11 Mistakes We Make When Charging Our Phones

11 Mistakes We Make When Charging Our Phones

With various essential applications that Smartphone’s come with, they have become a basic part of our lives in this digital era. The greatest set back in this advancement in technology is the batteries that can’t maintain the charge for long.

For this reason, we try our level best to maintain them online through charging. But how do you charge your device? Connect the charging plug at your phone bottom? Very wrong! It’s fascinating how many individuals suffer from slow phone charging and batteries dying off due to mild mistakes.

Some people have taken a further step in trying to find measures that will increase the life of their battery. I am sure you’ve noticed that a year after buying your phone the battery drains quicker than before. Two years later, it begins to strain running the whole day on a single charging.

Deterioration is a guaranteed end for your phone battery, but do you know this end can be extended further. Yes, it’s possible but only after following certain procedures that will care for the battery life.

In addition, there are certain misconceptions and wrong measures on caring for your phone that should be avoided. Such methods contribute to the early damage of your battery. Below are some of the mistakes that when you avoid, longer life for your battery is a guarantee.

Overcharging

Due to over reliance on our phones, we often keep them within our eyesight throughout the day. And at night, most people charge them as they sleep. This often results in overcharging of the phone. And this is something that should not happen in the fast place.

 Overcharging the device or leaving it in the charger for long hours after attaining full charge destroys the battery. So, how does this happen? When the battery charge is full (100%), charging gets cut off by a mechanism within your phone.

But the cut off is not for long since charging resumes when the battery charge drops to 99%. As a result, there is a constant discharging and recharging over and over which affects your battery life in the following ways:

  • Ongoing distortion in the charging cycle affects battery stability and this can create reboots or malfunctions on your device. And this is because of the metallic lithium plating.
  • Overcharging your phone creates extreme voltage stress on your battery. This occurs due to the continuous charging and discharging cycles after attaining a full charge.
  • Creation of excess heat from the exceeding charge undergoing dissipation.
  • Lastly, parasitic load from charging and discharging of the phone battery can affect charging cycles. This is where the mini-cycles result from charging cycle distortion resulting in a fast deterioration of a section on the cell than the rest of the battery. What causes this damage is the drastic draining of the battery as it is on charging. It may be due to gaming or watching a clip while charging.

Opting for cheaper non-certified charging cables

Cell phone charging cables comes with a specific rating that dictates a specific voltage that they can support. It’s, therefore, crucial to use a charging cable that came with your phone. But in case you don’t have, opt for a certified cable that has a power rating compatible with your device.

Thus, if you use non-certified cables with no specific power rating, problems are bound to occur. The cable rating may be incompatible with your device battery. As a result, the transfer of the wrong voltage may damage your battery, charging system or even the entire phone.

Therefore, try your level best to avoid non-certified cables for the safety of your device. It’s definitely not worth a risk. The price for replacing a battery with that of the cable is not comparative.

Relying on Wireless Charging

Wireless charging is just a fancy venture but not ideal for fast charging. When compared to cable charging, it’s much slower. It’s only the best method when you want to make your living space look fancy.

Opting for this method comes with some limitations which can become an annoyance in the long run. For instance, you cannot use your device once it’s on charging. Using thick phone casing slows the charging rate and even worst not charging while you’ve wasted hours thinking it is.

Sure, it’s a great charger for boosting your device charge in a coffee shop, but for day to day applications, not reliable.

Constant charging

If you are the kind of person that chargers their phone constantly throughout the day, you are killing the battery. For instance charging the phone while in house, unplugs, then charges in car unplug, and then charges in the office and other places they visit.

During charging, your phone’s battery generates heat. And with continuous charging, the heat is maintained or increase with each charging session. As you well know, heat or extreme temperature reduces the life span of the battery. As a result, you will be constantly destroying your phone while trying to maintain a charge on your phone.

In addition, the constant charging of the phone forces the battery to maintain high voltage which is not healthy. And when you compare the voltage that applies when charging below 50% battery and over 50 % battery, you will realize that there is more power need for above 50%. And this is one thing that does not blend well with the life of your battery.

Therefore, to care for your phone and ensure the battery life lasts longer, wait until the charge is below 50% to recharge. At this amount, less voltage is required to charge the battery and also their less heat production. Last but not least, charge your device once or twice a day.

Charging with phone case on

When charging, heat is bound to be produced by the battery. This is as a result of the voltage that works against that of the battery in order to charge it. As a result of the resistance and work-done to charge the battery, heat is produced as the end product.

But heat production is normal as long as it’s not too high. But when you charge with the casing on, you will be conserving the heat produced. Since the casing comprises of non-conductor materials, it forms a perfect insulator that prevents heat loss.

The conserved heat is the number one enemy of your battery. In the long run, the head may affect the functionality as well as the life of the battery. Thus, you should clear any casing or covering on your phone while charging to allow for air circulation.

Phone charging next to hot places

Heat is among the major factors that drastically reduce your phone battery life. Therefore, it’s crucial to keep your device away from heat emitting sources. Avoid places such as house or vehicle heater, exposure to sunlight or even covering your phone while charging.

According to Apple, the battery can withstand up to 72oF. Anything above this temperature will damage your battery. Therefore always keep your phone in a shade or cool places either when charging or not.

But it’s not high heat alone that can destroy your device; extreme cold is also a battery killer. Temperature below 35oF is not friendly to your phone battery. Thus, maintain your battery between cool and warm temperatures (Between 35oF and 72oF).

Running the battery flat

Avoid this habit by all means. According to different lithium battery manufacturers, the phone battery performs best at 30 to 80%. Thus any charge lower than 30% damages your battery with time.

Therefore if you are planning to have a phone-free vacation or weekend, ensure the charge is at least 50%. By any chance if your phone charge drops below 30%, it ensures it never occurs again during that month. This habit will lengthen your phone battery life.

100% charging

Although it may seem peculiar, charging your device up to a full charge (100%) is not advisable. If you have observed before, the phone recharges at an exceptional speed due to a fast charging feature. But when it attains a 60% charge, the charging speed reduces, and it even drastically reduces at 100%.

This is due to the fact that higher is necessary to charge your device past 60% and even more voltage to boost it to 100%. As per studies, lithium least requires full charge. At either 60 or 80%, the charge is quite large.

Thus it offers a considerable resistant to an additional charge. As a result, when you try to get it to 100% more heat is generated and with time the battery’s life reduces. Thus, if your charge drops below 30% begin charging your device and quite once it attains 80%.

 NOTE: Despite discouraging 100% charging, it’s imperative to do it once a month for battery recalibration. Let’s say it’s more like restarting a PC.

Using your phone while charging

This habit distorts the charging cycles of your battery. This is because some apps drain excessive charges at once at the same time as the battery gets recharged. I am sure you’ve noticed before that when playing a game or watching clips while charging the phone heats up.

Therefore, heat together with parallel charging and overcharging reduces your battery life. However, you can use your device while charging but only through operating lightweight applications. This is because your device is in constant operation managing background tasks even when not in use. Thus an extra lightweight task won’t be much of a problem.

Use of applications such as task managers and other types which claim to boost charging rate and prolong battery life. But that actually it’s not true. In fact, these apps join the league of other applications draining charge from your phone. The device task management systems including battery charge saving are managed by the inbuilt system.

Thus third party applications can affect your phone performance negatively. And yes it's true they can manage functionality of some applications on your phone. but in the end, they can damage the battery of your phone.

Last but not least, when downloading an application, choose only those that are commended by your device provider. This is to avoid huge strains that some applications may exert on your battery reducing its life.

Many people switch off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth during charging to save power and enable fast charging. But that is just a mere myth. When not in use these two services drain very small amounts of charge which is considerable when compared to other applications.

These services only utilize more charges from your phone when they are in use actively. But, actually, the use of cellular data drains off more power from your phone’s battery than active use of Wi-Fi. According apple, users of their devices should always leave their Wi-Fi service on to save charge of the battery.

Final Remarks

From the above 11 points on mistakes we make when charging our phones, I hope you can identify your flaws. And not just identify them; correct them for a better outcome. Longer life for you’re a battery is always a guarantee the moment you unpackaged it.

It’s only us who unknowingly shorten the battery’s life by simple mistakes that we tend to ignore. Go through the points one more time and implement corrective measures which are also part of it. Always remember the following vital points for a longer battery life One day you would come to appreciate such measures.

  • Avoid phone overcharging
  • Opt for brand chargers or certified third party chargers
  • The wireless chargers are just fancy but ineffective and unreliable
  • Avoid frequent phone charging
  • Always remove the casing before charging your device
  • Keep your device away from extremely high or low temperatures during charging
  • Always remember to charge your device before it completely loses power.
  • It’s not advisable to fully charge your device, 80 % is a great stop point.
  • Avoid charging while using the phone
  • Third-party applications cannot increase the life of your battery or charge
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth do not affect charging on your phone when inactive but on.

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