Develop Bugs

[Q] Battery Charging Time

Hi all,
I know that on older phones the battery had to be emptied almost to 0% and the charge it to full. This was done for battery health or something?! Is the true for newer batteries?
Anyway I plan on buying a desktop dock, and i was wondering if it would damage my battery if i charge it when ever i can for random periods of time. Would this decrease my battery life time or in anyway damage it?

I think with this type of batteries you don't need to completely discharge and then recharge. In fact, that may harm the battery.
It's better to charge the battery whenever possible

yep ljesh is right
with lithium batteries that is not the case, i forget what the old batteries were called, but i think they began with a N..

You can't completely discharge these with normal usage since they have in-built lower end limits for protection.
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- HTC Desire via XDA App -

You're talking about the memory effect.
The battery used in the Desire (Li-Ion/Li-Poly) does not have such a memory effect. (older did, like Ni-MH, Ni-Cd) So no, you don't have to and you shouldn't deeply discharge this type of battery.
Recharge it as soon as possible, as few as possible and let it charge till it's full without interrupting if possible.
Sometimes you'll read that you have to 'calibrate' the battery. You don't calibrate the battery, rather the charging controller, which estimates the battery capacity. Over the time this estimation can get wrong, thus you have to calibrate the controller by discharging the battery till it's empty and charging it till it's full (some do a few other tricks, too, however, it's only interesting if you have root). If you have issues with your battery (like shut-down at 10% or higher already) then consider such a calibration.

I have noticed that compared to my iPhone 4 charging the desire takes ages. Could it be because I am using a 3rd party wall charger?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

ste1164 said:
I have noticed that compared to my iPhone 4 charging the desire takes ages. Could it be because I am using a 3rd party wall charger?
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Click to collapse
yes!
The Desire can charge in two modes:
USB mode: Low current, can get charged from a normal 500mA USB port. Takes long
AC mode: High current, charges with 1A, only compatible AC adapters should be used.
How can the Desire detect what mode it can use:
If the Data+ and Data- lines in the USB cable are bridged, then it switches to AC mode, else it thinks it's connected to a USB hub or a device with max output of 0.5A.
So either get a AC Adapter which has those pins bridged, or modify a cable, or buy a USB cable which has those pins bridged already (don't know it exactly, but I think I've read that such a cable gets supplied by some HTC car adapter, but I don't know it for sure)
Just search about this topic, you'll find a lot of posts about it.

Thank you I will look for a proper chargeing cable.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Yea this charger only outputs 500 mAh ill need to look for a better one.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Thanks for all your replies

U2 vs U9

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I have to say it anyway.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 (SGH-i777), and I have two charging cables. A U9, and a U2.
When I charge the phone overnight with the U9 cable, I get a 100% rating on the charge, but the battery dies VERY fast. I unplug the phone at 7am, and it's down to 70% by 10am with very little use.
When I charge the phone overnight with the U2 cable, I get a 100% rating on the charge as well, but then the battery dies very slowly, the way I prefer it. I can use the phone moderately all day, and still have a good 30-40% when I get home after 5pm.
Clearly, I use the U2 cable, as this achieves my goal. My question is, why does it work this way? Is there something wrong with the U9 cable? Does it charge the battery differently than the U2?

Check what kind of charging the phone recognize "USB" or "AC". If it is USB the charging is slower (450mA) when AC is faster (650mA).

flash608 said:
Check what kind of charging the phone recognize "USB" or "AC". If it is USB the charging is slower (450mA) when AC is faster (650mA).
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I'm not quite sure what you mean. Is there a place in the menu of the phone to check for this?
I used to use the wall-outlet adapter with the U9 cable. Now I am using the same wall-outlet adapter with the U2 cable.

It`s hidden in Settings -> About Phone -> Status -> Battery Status (AC/USB)

Shibblet said:
I'm not quite sure what you mean. Is there a place in the menu of the phone to check for this?
I used to use the wall-outlet adapter with the U9 cable. Now I am using the same wall-outlet adapter with the U2 cable.
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When you connect the usb cable the phone says that is connected like a media device and a usb symbol appear in status bar and notification area, it means that are charging at 450 mAh (like usb connected to PC), but if only see a charging battery indicator then is charging at 650 mAh (like Power AC Adapter).
But I really dont know if the charge duration is affected, maybe is overcharging your battery. Try this, charge until 100% with both, but disconnect it when the phone says that charge is complete and try. Maybe with the time the battery is overcharged and has more battery with one of the cables.

At a molecular level, the slower charging is more thorough and actually deposits more charge (energy) into the battery, which is why a slow charge rate results in a better performing cell or battery. Remember, batteries (or cells; a battery is just a collection of cells) change energy from chemical to electrical when providing power, and accept energy when being charged by converting electrical energy to chemical energy. That chemical change doesn't happen instantaneously, and is why a slow charge can actually raise a cell or battery's energy level higher.
Generally, the charger measures the charge state of the battery by the voltage of the cell or battery, and charging slowly allows the charge to more thoroughly dissipate through the cell. Rapidly charging, on the other hand, builds potential (voltage) quickly, but the quick charging doesn't allow the chemical change to occur thoroughly throughout the cells, and misleadingly indicates a higher voltage (charge state) than has actually occurred.
Think of the game of Tetris: When the blocks (incoming electrons) are falling slowly, it's easy to pack them tightly and fit more into the play area (battery). When they're coming in quickly, eventually you become unable to fit them all tightly without leaving voids, and the height of the stack (perceived charge level, or voltage) reaches the threshold without being fully packed (charged).
I hope this helps, four years after the question --Mike Jernigan, Greensboro

EightOhMike said:
At a molecular level, the slower charging is more thorough and actually deposits more charge (energy) into the battery, which is why a slow charge rate results in a better performing cell or battery. Remember, batteries (or cells; a battery is just a collection of cells) change energy from chemical to electrical when providing power, and accept energy when being charged by converting electrical energy to chemical energy. That chemical change doesn't happen instantaneously, and is why a slow charge can actually raise a cell or battery's energy level higher.
Generally, the charger measures the charge state of the battery by the voltage of the cell or battery, and charging slowly allows the charge to more thoroughly dissipate through the cell. Rapidly charging, on the other hand, builds potential (voltage) quickly, but the quick charging doesn't allow the chemical change to occur thoroughly throughout the cells, and misleadingly indicates a higher voltage (charge state) than has actually occurred.
Think of the game of Tetris: When the blocks (incoming electrons) are falling slowly, it's easy to pack them tightly and fit more into the play area (battery). When they're coming in quickly, eventually you become unable to fit them all tightly without leaving voids, and the height of the stack (perceived charge level, or voltage) reaches the threshold without being fully packed (charged).
I hope this helps, four years after the question --Mike Jernigan, Greensboro
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4 year? You waited 4 year ???

Looking after battery

Hi all
Is there a definite answer to how you should charge your battery? Is it better to charge it before it gets to 40% like I have read or does it not really matter?
Also does charging it overnight do any damage?
Thanks all
Chris
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

The problem with battery care is that it has been tainted with old information that no longer applies to modern batteries.
The charging and discharging of the battery is tightly controlled by an IC to maximise life regardless of how you use it. All you need to be concerned with is making sure it doesn't sit fully discharged or fully charged for long periods (this is why when you first unbox a device it has about half charge)

Doesn't matter... just charge it when u think it s need to be charged...

High temperature is bad. Full charge is bad (charging 0.1V less than full generally doubles battery life). High temperature + full charge is really bad (negative synergies).
Overdischarge is bad as well, but if you stay above 3.3V or so, there should be no negative effect.
I have hacked my kernel to lower the charge voltage setting from 4.3V to a configurable value between 4V and 4.3V. I will release a kernel patch, once I have done some more testing.
BTW, a lower charge current is better for the battery as well. So if you have time, you can use a standard USB port (only provides 2.5W instead of 6W with the included charger) or add a USB extension cable/use a longer/thinner wire gauge micro USB cable (this will limit the power drawn from the included charger).

Put it this way:
You will have moved on from this device long before you would notice any battery problems caused by "bump charging", charging overnight, or any other normal charging behavior.
Check the Battery University for details about charging Lithium-ion polymer.

tni.andro said:
High temperature is bad. Full charge is bad (charging 0.1V less than full generally doubles battery life). High temperature + full charge is really bad (negative synergies).
Overdischarge is bad as well, but if you stay above 3.3V or so, there should be no negative effect.
I have hacked my kernel to lower the charge voltage setting from 4.3V to a configurable value between 4V and 4.3V. I will release a kernel patch, once I have done some more testing.
BTW, a lower charge current is better for the battery as well. So if you have time, you can use a standard USB port (only provides 2.5W instead of 6W with the included charger) or add a USB extension cable/use a longer/thinner wire gauge micro USB cable (this will limit the power drawn from the included charger).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gulp none of that made sense

chrisnewton said:
Gulp none of that made sense
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you need not worry about it. As I said, the battery is controlled by a fairly sophisticated IC, just charge it whenever you need to.

these batteries love refridgerators. you charge it when it comes to about 20-25%. I'm not compelling anyone, it's just that I've had this type of cycle since three years on my faithful ol' HTC Desire. Now its all burned, but I did have something to compare it with. My czn also got an htc desire a couple of days after i got it, and he is charge-freak. He charges his phone in his home, car, uni, bank, everywhere he can get his hands on a socket. The result: he's run down 4 batteries, and is on the brink of a 5th one. while I had only one throughout my three-year life cycle of my Desire.
So, try not to overheat your battery. Don't use it when charging. Charge it before you sleep at night, and let it rest for overnight. This overnight rest boosts battery life, and your charge will last almost 2 days. this is my personal experience speaking, and with the multitude of custom OC UV kernels out there, you might wanna go Chuck Norris with your battery.

Generally the most common way people damage the batteries is just by heat. Other charging ideals aren't really all that important in the grand scheme of things. The phone and chargers are smart enough to handle the other aspects.
Heat's a problem because the act of charging actually creates heat. So while you think it may not be too hot when it's charging in the mid-day sun in your car, it will be when it warms up from charging. It'll get so hot, in fact, that it may even refuse to charge, although you see this happen more on phones than tablets.
Also, don't leave your tablet dead for a month. That's bad. I don't think anyone does this, though, because what's the point of having a tablet if you leave it dead for a month?

A way to use the Samsung Galaxy S III without a Battery

Mod edit
Content removed at op request

NO, this will not work. It will simply ruin your device. Trust me, I tried to power up a SM-G900F with this 'hack' and i pretty much ruined it. That is not how stuff work with batteries. Even if batteries are DC, they work on a principle kinda like this:
-a full charge outputs 4.something volts and is roughly ~90-94% of the rated battery amperage (2200mAh in this case)
-on the way down, the voltage drops with the drop in amperage
-when the software says that the battery is under 10%, with roughly 3.6 or in that region volts, nearing a certain threshold for the cell to not die, it cuts the supply and then needs to be charged.
See? waaaay under 5 volts, and way too little amperage. At least for the USB port (475-500 mAh) on a computer. If you plug it in a charger (1000-1500-2000 mAh, depending on the charger), then you're pretty much doomed. It doesn't work like that, OK?
Oh, and the other two pins are for the NFC, not battery vcc and battery gnd???????????? battery charging???????? The battery charges through the exact same pins as it discharges.

Howto check Battery Status (replacing or not ?)

Hi Guys,
I am planning to use my Nexus 5X for home use only (without SIM and rooted) and want to check if Battery is good or bad (for replacement).
I dont trust that much Battery apps on play store (I Dont know what theyre doing).
So some experts here who knows when battery is bad or not (maybe voltage or something) ?
Info:
I dont have any professional electric measurement stuff or anything like that
Nexus 5x is on newest Firmware (non rooted / custom)
Battery seems ok from outside - no expanding or anything else negative
Hope, somebody can help.

nobody ?

I agree with you that the battery capacity from an App probably isn't very reliable. What I do to really test the battery is the following. On Ebay I bought this USB tester which not only shows Voltage and Current but it can track the current over time, integrate it and show the total amount of mAhrs drawn.
First, your phone's battery needs to be empty. I just use the phone until it powers itself off. Obviously this goes faster if you keep the phone active. Then when the phone has shut itself down, charge it through the USB tester. There's a button on the tester to reset it to 0000 mAhrs. Then let the phone charge. Since the USB tester is USB and not USB-C you will have to use a USB charger (pick one that can deliver 2 A or more) and a standard USB to USB-C cable. Charging may take a couple of hours. When the current on the tester shows a low value the phone is charged and you can read the capacity that was charged.
It is possible that the actual capacity of the battery is slightly larger than the value measured by the USB tester. That will be the case if the phone's charging circuit uses a switching charging regulator because then it will be able to convert the 5 V charging voltage to the 4.2 V battery voltage almost without losses and that would mean a slightly higher current at the battery. I am unsure if the Nexus 5X has such a switching charging regulator, probably it does as it would get quite hot if it didn't especially while it is fast charging.
The Nexus 5 devices I have access to measure at around 2100 mAh. If your value is close to that then the battery isn't worn out more than average.

Yep you right, didnt think about to "monitor" electrical charge from USB directly... Thanks
I know reading electrical charge out from USB dont show the exact amount of power... I mean you have power loss from the USB resistors (I think)
A friend of mine told me also: I have to test more then one "USB testers" - reason: some (not all) passthrough the quick charge signal properly -> phone charging fall back to USB charge on 500mv -> more tollerance from USB tester (If I dont misunderstood)

The USB method will always have some error. But "some (not all) passthrough the quick charge signal properly" isn't relevant, if that is the case then the phone will simply charge slower. Also the Nexus 5 can only use 5V as the USB voltage, it doesn't support 9 V or 12 V Quickcharging at all.
How accurate the USB method is depends on how the phone is designed and how you charge it. When the phone is active (switched on) it will consume some power which is added to the measurement. So I switch my phone off when testing it. Then always some energy is lost in the charging circuit. It depends on how it is implemented.
To really accurately measure the battery capacity you'd have to disconnect it from the phone and connect it to a charger (or discharger) that can measure battery capacity. But then there's the issue of what voltages to use as "empty" and "full" voltage. If you'd charge the battery to 4.3 V you get a bit more capacity but it stresses the battery more resulting in a shorter lifetime. That's why 4.1 V or 4.2 V are more commonly used as the "full" voltage. It is similar with the "empty" voltage, lower gives more capacity at the cost of stress on the battery.
All in all, battery capacity can only be measured accurately under strict and well defined conditions. But for a rough indication the USB method works well.

OK understand.
Is there any percentage, voltage or other value on liion batterys to identy it as "dead" ? I mean a "common" value to identy dead liion batterys or do they differ ?