The kind of apps running in our smartphones, our charging habits sometimes contribute to a quicker drop in the performance of these batteries. Here are some common charging habits to avoid for improves battery performance.
1. Charging and Gaming
Well, I must confess, I do this often. We all love to play games on our smartphones and sometimes, they can be addictive and are really hard to resist. But what you should understand is that, because games now come with advanced graphics and special effects, they demand more energy and put pressure on your smartphone battery. When you charge and game at the same time, you put extra pressure on your battery. Additionally, the short recharge and discharge cycles cause it to overheat. Overheating can cause the battery to explode or negatively affect the batteries life span. Related Article: Is It Safe to Use Your Phone While it’s Charging?
2. Charging with a Protective Case on
While charging your smartphone, it gets a little warmer and this is because batteries typically emit heat while charging. So it is advised that you remove the phone’s case before charging it so that the heat emitted from your phone while charging can be dissipated into the atmosphere (at a faster rate). Heat is the number one battery enemy and it is important to avoid exposing your smartphone battery to temperatures higher than 95° F (35° C). Anything higher puts your smartphone’s battery is at risk. Related Article: This is what you should do if your smartphone heats up when charging
3. Charging Overnight
Every phone battery has a specific charging limit and period according to its OEM. We are usually used to leaving our phone batteries to charge overnight and this can damage our phone battery. (Over)charging your phone overnight constantly stresses your phone battery and weakens it over time. Also, the temperature rises when the battery is overcharged. This threatens user’s safety as excess heat can cause the battery/phone to explode. Related Article: Should you leave your phone charging while you sleep?
4. Using Counterfeit Charging Accessories
Always charge your phone with its own charger and avoid using unofficial/counterfeit accessories to charge your phone. This is because voltage and current requirements differ from battery to battery and using a charger that supplies a higher voltage could stress your battery. For instance, chargers that support fast-charge supply high voltage to smartphone batteries, using it to charge a smartphone without the fast-charge feature could be harmful to the battery.
5. Avoid Constant Recharge
It is common to see smartphone users constantly charge their phone battery even though they still have enough power. This is common in areas without constant power supply and people need their smartphones to retain as much energy as possible when there is a shortage in power supply — this is totally understandable. However, you should know that constant recharging reduces the lifespan of the battery. The typical estimated life of a Lithium-Ion battery is about two to three years or 300 to 500 charge cycles — whichever occurs first. Constant recharging, even when there’s no need for it will only mean your battery will complete its life cycle quicker.
Charge the Right Way
The above-mentioned habits should be avoided if you don’t want a sharp depreciation in your smartphone’s battery life. Also, there’s the risk of explosion — you could damage your battery and ultimately, your smartphone from overcharging. Stay safe!
