Develop Bugs

Cheap eBay extended battery question..

So I just got this battery hm around Wednesday or Thursday, and I have let it die down to around 10% or less and recharged it overnight several times and I still only see a slight difference in battery life. I am (I would say) a moderate user and I know some people say they get around 2 days on heavy use so I wonder what I'm doing wrong..? I ran the SU command to delete the battery.bin file to wipe the stats while it was fully charged, then let it run the whole day again only getting around 12 hrs (probably would have been shorter, but I have juicedefender running, and I was at work for 5 1/2 hrs of those 12) and then I stuck it on the charger at about 7:45 and then around 12 it was fully charged and I of course turned it off, then back on and it said it was around 80% so I let it charged to full, reset it again then when I turned it back on it said it was full. I took it off the charger and within minutes it dropped 1% every minute or 2 and now around 15 minutes later it's at 86% and I'm not even doing anything, just sitting here with the screen on and Skype is running. I've only drained it/fully charged it a few times maybe 3 or 4 should I just keep doing that or did I just get a crappy battery? It's better life than the stock, so I can't help but think that it's not crappy just not fully calibrated or "worn in" yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I too have a cheapo extended battery from eBay, for the first week I hated it, but finally I actually just let the thing completely die to wear the phone shut down and wouldn't turn back on, then I recharged the battery completely in a standalone charger(also ebay), then put it back in the phone and used normally, charging and discharging and now I can't even dream of going back to the OEM battery, my battery life has much more than doubled. I use my phone like most here with CM7 up to date on nightlys and I'm happy as can be. I also like the ext back on the cheapos much better than the seidio flavor.

So you use the wall charger from eBay to charge it? I don't want to take my battery out to charge it though every night, let alone turn it off because I use it as an alarm clock :X. I've read a whole bunch of different ways of how to charge it in your phone and most people even one of the legitimate companies (Seido) who sells it, says that if you let it go an hr or 2 after the light turns green its good to go, but I don't believe it charges after the light turns green hence why the charging icon on the battery goes away. people may "think" it does but I honestly don't think it does and if anybody can prove otherwise I might have to buy the external charger :/

Yes get an external charger, Preferably 2 batteries and 1 external charger.

I just ordered a wall charger for like $15 I hope this works. I'll just charge my extended battery at night and use my other battery when the extended is charging
Sent from my Evo!

I used the external charger just once to "calibrate" the battery it seemed? Since then I've not taken the battery from the phone and just charged it with the phone charger(plugging it in) and I have noticed a huge change in run time.

How do you charge it though now that its calibrated? Do you just leave it on the charger for a few hrs after it hits green or do you have to turn the phone off and back on then stick it on the charger
Sent from my Evo!

Well my cheap battery has not blown up with sbc kernels

Yeah, its been about a week and my battery still can't even hold a charge, even if it isn't fully charging. It dies quicker than my stock battery. I told the guy I bought it from, and he said he'd send me a new one so I'm back to the stock battery for now until I get this one next week :/

Hey guys, i know it's a tiny bit off topic, but what about a battery pack??
http://www.amazon.com/XtremeMac-IPU-ICP-11-InCharge-Portable-US/dp/B003FVRYBE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1294354173&sr=8-1
i have two of those things and they work perfectly. plus, i don't have to kill the phone, open her up and swap batteries. additionally, it'll charge two devices at a time. bonus!

Hmm see that's what I'm trying to get rid of lol having to plug it in all the time. Plus I actually like the bigger back, I personally don't like the thin size of the evo I feel like I could drop it at any time.
Sent from my Evo!

How are you guys getting so many hours? I only get like 8 Hours on my heavy use and i bought a 3500mah extended battery wtf? I'm also using the net Netarchy sbc 3.2 more havs and mym rom with setcpu running profiles. What am I doing wrong? I even have juice defender running aswell.

I had my 3500 extended battery and at first it wasnt too good. But after switching to an external charger for all charges and completely letting the battery die out im getting a whole days worth of heavy use with no worries.
No rooting or any battery controls.

SilverStone641 said:
Hey guys, i know it's a tiny bit off topic, but what about a battery pack??
http://www.amazon.com/XtremeMac-IPU...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1294354173&sr=8-1
i have two of those things and they work perfectly. plus, i don't have to kill the phone, open her up and swap batteries. additionally, it'll charge two devices at a time. bonus!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think if I got one it would be the 4400mah gum charger
Sent from my evo 4g

3500mAh Extended Battery From Amazon Question

I just recently bought a 3500mAh extended battery from amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042TY68C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1N1UQZS4G6GV9). I just got done fully charging it, i let it charge fully over night, just unplugged it and boom 10 minutes unplugged with me not even touching it just letting it sit on my desk we are down to 95%. I know you are suppost to cycle these batteries and stuff before u can actually see the fully life of it and i plan to do that. My question is i downloaded battery monitor widget and on the main screen its calling the battery a techno-Li-ion 1425/1500mAh battery. I know this isnt right ive cleared battery stats probably 10 times total now, through recovery and through the battery monitor widget app. Im hopping i didnt get ripped off and it just takes a few discharges for the phone to recognize the new battery? Any help would be appreciated.
I plan on letting the battery get to 15-20% and then charge it all the way up again and do these a few times, as well as clear the battery stats. This is what i read to do with new batteries? Please correct me if im wrong..

When using an extended battery you are not going to get a full charge unless you condition it or you could use a SBC kernel.

how much will u get out of it then without the sbc?

I bought this exact same battery. I used it at the time on my Evo unrooted. The first one that came to me (2 weeks late) wouldn't even power up. The second one they sent me I ran for about 3 weeks and put the stock battery back in. I was about to get 9 to 12 hours on my stock battery and with this extended I was getting the same. 2 weeks into using it the battery life got crappier everyday. To me it wasn't worth the added bulk for the same or less life. Since then I now run CM7 on the Tiamat sbc kernel with my stock battery that is almost a year old and get close to 18-20 hours out of an almost year old stock battery.

I use the SBC kernel, battery monitor widget, and the 3500mah battery. The thing lasts for days. Literally. When the green light comes on at "100%", that means NOTHING.
I ran it stone cold dead yesterday on purpose. Plugged it in at 10:00pm using my 800mah AC charger.
10:00pm: Plugged in, begins charging at ~700mah (max for my charger)
12:45am: Phone indicates 100% @ 4018mV but keeps charging at 700mah
2:00am: Charge rate ramping down @ 4197Mv
2:45am: Charge rate 100mah
3:00am: Charge rate 50mah
4:00am: Charge rate 15mah
4:30am: Charge rate 10mah which it remains at when fully charged (4198mV)
Stone cold dead to green light was only about 3 hours. BUT, stone cold dead to actually fully charged was really double that.
Obviously if the battery isn't dea, it will take conciderably less time. If you charge it with a PC, limiting the total current to 500mah, it will take conciderably longer.

So battery monitor widget calling it a 1500mAh battery doesn't mean anything? Right?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

beanx said:
I just recently bought a 3500mAh extended battery from amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042TY68C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1N1UQZS4G6GV9). I just got done fully charging it, i let it charge fully over night, just unplugged it and boom 10 minutes unplugged with me not even touching it just letting it sit on my desk we are down to 95%. I know you are suppost to cycle these batteries and stuff before u can actually see the fully life of it and i plan to do that. My question is i downloaded battery monitor widget and on the main screen its calling the battery a techno-Li-ion 1425/1500mAh battery. I know this isnt right ive cleared battery stats probably 10 times total now, through recovery and through the battery monitor widget app. Im hopping i didnt get ripped off and it just takes a few discharges for the phone to recognize the new battery? Any help would be appreciated.
I plan on letting the battery get to 15-20% and then charge it all the way up again and do these a few times, as well as clear the battery stats. This is what i read to do with new batteries? Please correct me if im wrong..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which battery monitor widget did you use?

The one by 3c06 white icon with a batteryin the middle and graph going through it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

beanx said:
The one by 3c06 white icon with a batteryin the middle and graph going through it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh... yes. I know now which one

I have the exact same battery and I'm wondering is the percent shown total BS? Mine is showing 87% with 4000mV left after charging overnight with an SBC kernal.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Yea I'm at 8hr40min as of right now @ 17% battery. I've had my display backlight turned down and have been at work the whole day doin nothing with my phone but light texting and posting in this thread. With my stock battery I get around 12 hours before the phone almost dies with regular/mild use.I'm starting to think this battery was a rip off.. hopefully once I charge it back up it will last longer but idk... If anyone has any tips or tricks to make this battery last longer please help me out.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

FYI, after 12hrs, i'm only at 70%. That is with very poor signal at work all day, and playing pandora on the way in.
beanx said:
So battery monitor widget calling it a 1500mAh battery doesn't mean anything? Right?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The newest version allows you to override that. Previously, the phone was telling it the capacity was 1500mah because that what the normal battery is supposed to be. The new version let me change it to 3500. So the % estimation should be accurate now. It is claiming I have 70% remaining or 2450mah. And 70% of 3500 is 2450. Now, where it came up with 2450, I have no idea.

The first time after ur charged the battery when u got it did u let it completely die or plug it in when it hit 10% or so?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

My first full charge on the same battery I got the exact same behavior. I was on the Stock Kernal that came with CM7.
Second charge, after changing to the Tiamat SBC, my battery is screaming... 6+ hours of heavy usage (video, web, lots and lots of text and 30mins of calling) and I am still over 50%. By now, I would have had to charge the regular battery...
Very pleased with this thing...

well im about ready to unplug mine for the day and see how it goes, i fully charged it with the phone off with a wall charger. And have been cycling it witht he phone off by unplugging it when the light turns green, waiting for the light to turn off, then plugging it back in until the light turns from orange to green again. Ive been doing this for the last hour or so because somone in another thread about this battery said it help him out alot, i did unplug it when i first woke up and it dropped from 100 to 92 within 3 minutes so thats when i tried this cycling, i did unplug it in the middle after doing a dozen or more of these cycles and it staid at 100 for quiet a while then dropped to 99 after about 5-6 minutes of being unplugged and me browsing the web and market this being a huge improvement so id have to say the cycling of the battery does help idk how or why but whatever im not complaining ill post back later tonight once i see how the battery acts.

So far I've had terrible luck with this battery can't get more time than stock. Charging it with an SBC kernal and it doesn't help, was avoiding spending 60 bucks on a battery but I think Ive no other choice.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

im at 2 hours with it right now, down to 70% i used it pretty heavily about 30min ago to reflash cm7, savagedzen sbc kernal, download all my apps, setup launcher pro plus, and re confiugre everything. It dropped rather quickly from 100 to where its at now so i guess we will see, BMW is estimating 10hr40min remaining battery life right now which would put it at about where my stock battery would die at around 12-13 hours, so we will see :-\
*edit*
BMW now saying 12hr10min at 70% battery? weirddd...
*edit*
BMW now saying 16hr23min at 65% battery, ive been using it moderately, used 4G for a second and WiFi for a few minutes as well...

Here's why the drop...the Evo along with other phones use bump charging to charge the battery meaning when the light is green you have anywhere between
90 and 100 percent at 89 percent down to zero you should not see such a dramatic drop...its a Evo thing the large drop
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

MCL1981 said:
FYI, after 12hrs, i'm only at 70%. That is with very poor signal at work all day, and playing pandora on the way in.
The newest version allows you to override that. Previously, the phone was telling it the capacity was 1500mah because that what the normal battery is supposed to be. The new version let me change it to 3500. So the % estimation should be accurate now. It is claiming I have 70% remaining or 2450mah. And 70% of 3500 is 2450. Now, where it came up with 2450, I have no idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you override that value? I looked all through the widget settings and I'm not seeing it.

majorkillin said:
How do you override that value? I looked all through the widget settings and I'm not seeing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go into bmw, go to settings, monitoring preferences, second from the bottom battery capacity, just change that value from 1500 to 3500, took me a while to find it as well.

Do you have a 3500mah battery? What is the best way you have found to charge it?

I bought a 3500mah extended battery about a week ago. When I got it, I turned off the evo, inserted the extended battery, and charged the device while powered off for approximately 8 hours. I did this for the first few days. Each subsequent charge, I plug the phone in, power it on, and leave it plugged in for approximately 8-9 hours with the Savaged Zen 2.2.1 SBC CFS kernel.
During this period, I was able to get about 12-14 hours of battery under heavy, almost constant usage. With light usage (texts/twitter/trillian) I was able to pull about 40 hours.
In the last few days however, my battery life has halved. It is still better than the stock battery, but not by much. I am able to pull in around 6 hours of heavy/constant usage before the battery dies. Has anyone experienced this? I've looked at all the tips and tricks and don't see anything that specifically addresses how to charge the bigger battery. I was under the impression that 8 hours with an SBC kernel would fill the battery completely.
Should I be charging the battery with the phone off?
PS: I have tried wiping the battery stats and that has not seemed to help.

I personally use http://electronics.pickegg.com/Elec...-for-T7373-Touch-Pro2-6341706512982200005.JPG
It's SOOO MUCH BETTER on the battery! Plus there's never a chance you'll pull it off the charger before it is finished. Just swap between your normal battery and the 3500 back and fourth for the best results. But everyone knows that our phones won't charge the batteries correctly.
A simple search for t7373 battery charger will take you to places to buy this at. DO NOT OVERPAY FOR IT! I got mine in a 20 buck package. got 2 batteries, this thing, 2 screen covers, case, and so on. 3 clear cases. lol bunch of stuff. on ebay.

GreenTea420 said:
I bought a 3500mah extended battery about a week ago. When I got it, I turned off the evo, inserted the extended battery, and charged the device while powered off for approximately 8 hours. I did this for the first few days. Each subsequent charge, I plug the phone in, power it on, and leave it plugged in for approximately 8-9 hours with the Savaged Zen 2.2.1 SBC CFS kernel.
During this period, I was able to get about 12-14 hours of battery under heavy, almost constant usage. With light usage (texts/twitter/trillian) I was able to pull about 40 hours.
In the last few days however, my battery life has halved. It is still better than the stock battery, but not by much. I am able to pull in around 6 hours of heavy/constant usage before the battery dies. Has anyone experienced this? I've looked at all the tips and tricks and don't see anything that specifically addresses how to charge the bigger battery. I was under the impression that 8 hours with an SBC kernel would fill the battery completely.
Should I be charging the battery with the phone off?
PS: I have tried wiping the battery stats and that has not seemed to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try reconditioning the battery, charge until full(green light) the unplug and after light goes out plug it in again, repete until you get the orange charging light then let it charge fully(green charged lite). see if that helps

dased14 said:
try reconditioning the battery, charge until full(green light) the unplug and after light goes out plug it in again, repete until you get the orange charging light then let it charge fully(green charged lite). see if that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but all that's doing is overcharging it. The average person doesn't have that much time to waste. lol plus the only way it works is if you do it on a daily basis. However, the funny thing is HTC/Sprint actually posted that as an official fix. HAHAHA! It's really just a trick to get the not so smart people to do it and shut up. lol! It's not conditioning it. wait until battery is almost empty then swap battery and let it charge outside of phone. then put back in. ;-)
edit. just remembered. wasn't people having issues fully charging these 3500s? I'm almost sure they were. yeah. the only way to charge them fully is actually outside the unit! I COMPLETELY forgot about that! Did HTC ever fix that issue? I could be wrong. so need an expert in here to give a second opinion. thanks lol

runcool said:
but all that's doing is overcharging it. The average person doesn't have that much time to waste. lol plus the only way it works is if you do it on a daily basis. However, the funny thing is HTC/Sprint actually posted that as an official fix. HAHAHA! It's really just a trick to get the not so smart people to do it and shut up. lol! It's not conditioning it. wait until battery is almost empty then swap battery and let it charge outside of phone. then put back in. ;-)
edit. just remembered. wasn't people having issues fully charging these 3500s? I'm almost sure they were. yeah. the only way to charge them fully is actually outside the unit! I COMPLETELY forgot about that! Did HTC ever fix that issue? I could be wrong. so need an expert in here to give a second opinion. thanks lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so you think its better to carry and swap out batteries and reboot everytime plus buy an extra charger. no thanks, i'll do the not for smart people every once in awhile.
edit: dont know havent heard about any issues not fully charging 3500, or if it is better to use stand alone battery charger

charge it however you like.. I see no difference in results no matter how you do it.. the results in life completely depends on use and how much stuff you have on.. Getting in the habit of turning data off and sync, bluetooth, gps etc is the best way to extend battery life. Charging it full is full.. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever to "recondition" it.. when you fill something up.. how does it get "more full" than full.. logic tells you it's complete bs.. unless you want to believe it then I'm not here to convince you of what is and isn't.. Use the system settings toggles to turn your stuff off.. data and sync are the biggest killers.. You'll still get calls and messages.. just turn it on when you actually want to use your browser.. sittin in your pocket is just wasting precious battery..

Thanks for the input. I'm going to hold off on buying a charger and attempt to charge it as suggested in a couple of these posts. If that doesn't work, I'll invest in the external charger and report back.

GreenTea, any updates on this? I just bought the 3500 and an external charger (why not for $5 a piece). I'm wondering if there's any issues charging inside the phone and whether or not I need to wipe batt stats.

I know this is an old issue, but maybe I can add some input:
I have a Seidio 3500mAh battery I use for my Evo 4G (used it in the my HTC Hero first, then in my Evo 4G). I can get roughly four to five days with little use out of the battery (I'm using CM7.1 right now)...until I turn on 4G.
Once I turn on 4G, I may get eight to ten hours out of it with light use.
What you may want to do is keep the 4G radio off until you need it...this hopefully will improve battery performance.
GreenTea420 said:
I bought a 3500mah extended battery about a week ago. When I got it, I turned off the evo, inserted the extended battery, and charged the device while powered off for approximately 8 hours. I did this for the first few days. Each subsequent charge, I plug the phone in, power it on, and leave it plugged in for approximately 8-9 hours with the Savaged Zen 2.2.1 SBC CFS kernel.
During this period, I was able to get about 12-14 hours of battery under heavy, almost constant usage. With light usage (texts/twitter/trillian) I was able to pull about 40 hours.
In the last few days however, my battery life has halved. It is still better than the stock battery, but not by much. I am able to pull in around 6 hours of heavy/constant usage before the battery dies. Has anyone experienced this? I've looked at all the tips and tricks and don't see anything that specifically addresses how to charge the bigger battery. I was under the impression that 8 hours with an SBC kernel would fill the battery completely.
Should I be charging the battery with the phone off?
PS: I have tried wiping the battery stats and that has not seemed to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

You need to download BATTERY MONITOR WIDGET. Put the widget on your home screen. Monitor voltage while charging. Full is 4200mV. Anything less is not full. Recently, i can not get it past 4180mV. Sometimes, I charge overnight with phone off, then plug into my car charger going to work with phone on to try and top it off.
Calibration nor conditioning will fix the issue. It is the kernels and they just are not right yet for gingerbread.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

With moderate to heavy use I'll be able to pull in 12-15 hours on a full charge with my 3500 mah non-seido battery. Light usage will net me about 40-48 hours. SBC seems to give a couple more hours if the phone is plugged in and turned on during charging. I live in an area without 4G, so I cannot respond to 4G battery use. I've heard it is a battery killer though.

New battery & how to condition it

I'm ordering a spare battery; what is the best way to give it it's first charge / how should I condition it?

I don't think a lithium ion battery needs to be "conditioned" since it does not have the "memory" effect. It's usually the battery stats on the phone that can mess up the reading.
I would probably just make sure it is fully charged when switching them to be more accurate. But, I'm no expert...
Vangelis13 said:
I'm ordering a spare battery; what is the best way to give it it's first charge / how should I condition it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for the reply.
I'm fairly sure I'd read somewhere that it should be fully charged before turning on the phone for the first time & after that do a couple full cycles (full-empty-full) etc..?

Yes, a full charge before using is recommended (I've also heard to let it sit on the charger for a couple more hours after it is charged helps) and maybe a few full "cycles" after that. But, like I said, I'm no expert and I, personally, have had no issues with my battery
Vangelis13 said:
Thanks for the reply.
I'm fairly sure I'd read somewhere that it should be fully charged before turning on the phone for the first time & after that do a couple full cycles (full-empty-full) etc..?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

live4nyy said:
I don't think a lithium ion battery needs to be "conditioned" since it does not have the "memory" effect. It's usually the battery stats on the phone that can mess up the reading.
I would probably just make sure it is fully charged when switching them to be more accurate. But, I'm no expert...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, it's not for the battery but for the phone stats. Lithium ion batteries are fully conditioned at the factory before being sent out. It's the last step in the actual cell manufacturing process.
Yes, I work for a lithium ion battery manufacturer. We make larger cells (not the tiny ones in a phone battery) but I have contacts and friends that work for other manufacturers that do make the little ones and they're basically all the same.

i ordered too 1800mah batteries cause i couldnt find any 1950s...they both arrived dead i waited 30 mins to charge and turn the phone on, and the other one is extremely dead it shows charging for a few minutes and then the red light turns off
so far the one i charged to 100% isnt working how i would have liked it dropped to 50% within a few hours and i charged it to 100 again and it dropped to 80 very quickly im gonna let it die tonight hopefully i get them to work good

Sorry about your bad experience.
Don't know what you purchased or the vendor, but I purchased a 3200 mAh batt from Siedio and am quite happy with it. I've been using it for over a month and get heavy use of my Atrix. High quality batteries are not cheap. Don't get the $20 dollar specials. (I have no financial interest in Siedio, I'm sure there are other vendors with quality batteries).
Battery calibration has been a challenge but I think I have a solution. I'll know in a few days as I'm presently recalibrating. It would have been so much easier if Moto had added a 5 cent current sensor to the phone.

I wouldn't worry too much about conditioning it. Just use it like you regularly would any other battery. Most horrible battery life comes from the way Android handles the battery stats. In my experience, most Li-ion batteries seem to really get their most effective use cycles after about a week or 2 of consistent usage. If you're experiencing some really drastic battery drops though, that's when it may be time to recalibrate the battery stats or start questioning the rom/radio/kernel that you're using.

k0sun7eash3d said:
I wouldn't worry too much about conditioning it. Just use it like you regularly would any other battery. Most horrible battery life comes from the way Android handles the battery stats. In my experience, most Li-ion batteries seem to really get their most effective use cycles after about a week or 2 of consistent usage. If you're experiencing some really drastic battery drops though, that's when it may be time to recalibrate the battery stats or start questioning the rom/radio/kernel that you're using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. However, unless you're impatient, charging it to full shouldn't do you any harm

For Lithium ion batteries, I've always put them immediately on the charger, let them go to 100%. Then unplug and let it completely die (that is, let it get so low the phone turns itself off) without pluging in. Then charge back to 100%. After that, use as normal. Doing this has gotten me long battery life, both short and long term compared to others I know who dont do that.

When I bought my phone the Bell representative said to fully charge then discharge the battery. I thought that you aren't supposed to do this though because Li-Ion batteries lose some of their maximum life when you do that. Only Ni-Cad batteries needed conditioning like that.
I could be wrong though. Would be nice to know proper procedure for this kind of thing
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

You're right, lithium ion batteries should not be fully discharged but it does help the first time to get the battery reading accurate. After that just charge whenever. It only really becomes a problem if you let it go dead too often.
Sparx10 said:
When I bought my phone the Bell representative said to fully charge then discharge the battery. I thought that you aren't supposed to do this though because Li-Ion batteries lose some of their maximum life when you do that. Only Ni-Cad batteries needed conditioning like that.
I could be wrong though. Would be nice to know proper procedure for this kind of thing
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

live4nyy said:
You're right, lithium ion batteries should not be fully discharged but it does help the first time to get the battery reading accurate. After that just charge whenever. It only really becomes a problem if you let it go dead too often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. There's two reasons store reps tell you to discharge and charge the battery at least one complete cycle before using the phone. The first is that they're stuck in the past and think li-ion tech is the same as NiMH. The second and more sound reason is that it helps to set the battery statistics. If you're one of those people who loves to mod their phones right when they open the box, you could theoretically bypass this step by rooting and charging to 100%, and then just doing a manual battery recalibration by wiping the battery stats.

jbg1 said:
i ordered too 1800mah batteries cause i couldnt find any 1950s...they both arrived dead i waited 30 mins to charge and turn the phone on, and the other one is extremely dead it shows charging for a few minutes and then the red light turns off
so far the one i charged to 100% isnt working how i would have liked it dropped to 50% within a few hours and i charged it to 100 again and it dropped to 80 very quickly im gonna let it die tonight hopefully i get them to work good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah - if these are the Chinese jobs that came with the charger on Ebay, I got them too. They drop REALLY fast down to 5%, then I get at least another 24 hours out of them. It's crazy. I have tried to recalibrate by removing battery stats, but these haven't gotten any more accurate in several full charge / discharge cycles.
I suppose I will use them as spares, and just understand that the meter is not accurate on them. I still get a minimum two days with these cells. Will see how long they last. With batteries, you do get what you pay for.

Battery life: frequent micro charges vs more spaced charges

What is best in terms of battery longevity?
1 - Wait until battery level fall below a certain level (and which % is ideal to start charging)
or
2- Charge the battery as frequently soon as possible
Thanks for any advice

Lithium batteries last longer if you do not disharge them all the way..
I don't have reference material handy. If you really want some, I will try and find some again..
But basically charge the battery whenever you can or at least do not let it go below say 20 or 25 percent if you are concerned about that. Since our devices have a replaceable battery I do not stress out over it too much. If I cut 6 months off the battery and it only lasts me a year or so, I can always just put in a new one, they are not that expensive..
Now on a device without a replaceable battery is where you really have to be concerned..

Drain till 20% then recharge it. Best way to use lithium battery.

kyokeun1234 said:
Drain till 20% then recharge it. Best way to use lithium battery.
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Thank you gentlement for your advice. So far, I connect the USB cable each time I sit at the desk. Even if battery is 9x% full. I will stop doing this now.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
says it's best to keep the battery charged. best to keep the battery levels at 40-90%

ceejay83 said:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
says it's best to keep the battery charged. best to keep the battery levels at 40-90%
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Huh, I heard it was around 20%~80%...

kyokeun1234 said:
Huh, I heard it was around 20%~80%...
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yea could be, just don't discharge or overcharge the battery :good:

i haven't looked into it lately. but i'm pretty sure our phones don't discharge the battery till it's technically at 0% (~3V)
i'll run my phone down tonight and check it with a mutlimeter to verify...
i wouldn't be surprised to find out the phone stops charging the battery before it's at a true 100% either. so i guess i'll check that too.

crazy talk said:
i wouldn't be surprised to find out the phone stops charging the battery before it's at a true 100% either. so i guess i'll check that too.
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I was also puzzled by the warning of overcharging issue. I read somewhere that the GalNexus has an electronic which prevents overcharging. I am very interested by your verification if that is true. Because frankly, it would be very inconvenient to wake in the middle of every night to disconnect the charger.

2LoT said:
I was also puzzled by the warning of overcharging issue. I read somewhere that the GalNexus has an electronic which prevents overcharging. I am very interested by your verification if that is true. Because frankly, it would be very inconvenient to wake in the middle of every night to disconnect the charger.
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there are wall chargers that have timers on them, they shut off power after a custom time

You can't overcharge a phone by leaving it plugged in all night, the charging circuit only allows it to charge to a certain point. You can overcharge a phone by plugging it in everytime it hits 90% because you're being all OCD about it. Over time that will screw up your battery

The main thing you want to avoid is heat, which will seriously degrade the life of the battery. I only charge my phone once a day(before I go to bed). I've been doing this since I got my first Android device(well, my Nexus S had to be charged like 3 times a day :| ) and have never run into any premature battery failures.

speedyink said:
You can't overcharge a phone by leaving it plugged in all night, the charging circuit only allows it to charge to a certain point. You can overcharge a phone by plugging it in everytime it hits 90% because you're being all OCD about it. Over time that will screw up your battery
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Oh that's what overcharging mean? Ok thanks.

speedyink said:
You can't overcharge a phone by leaving it plugged in all night, the charging circuit only allows it to charge to a certain point. You can overcharge a phone by plugging it in everytime it hits 90% because you're being all OCD about it. Over time that will screw up your battery
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Quite the opposite is true, regarding the second part of your reply, actually.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Actually, it's never a bad time to charge a lithium battery because the charge you are using is always the oldest added. Consider it as a bucket with golf balls and a hole at the bottom. You load golf balls from the top and use them one at a time from the hole on the bottom.
All lithium batteries have circuitry built into them to prevent overcharging but at the same time the circuitry needs power to operate. If you drain your battery down to nothing and leave it uncharged for a long time the circuitry will drain the reserve and you will not be able to charge it at all.
Another fact about lithium batteries is that you can charge them more times than their natural life span. So as soon as a battery is manufactured it starts to go bad just sitting on a shelf. So buy them fresh. They have thousands of charge cycles and only about 2-3 years life. So even if you charge all cells inside 2-3 times daily (remember the bucket analogy) that's only about 1,000 charges in a year.
Also, you could plug your phone in and out 100 times during one day and still not complete one full charge cycle.
Conclusion ; charge it whenever you can, whenever you want. You'll need a new battery in about 2-3 years anyway in which time you'll most likely get a new phone.

Thanks obsanity. Oh wow, this is indeed even better. Thank you very much for the technical background explanation.
So as soon as a battery is manufactured it starts to go bad just sitting on a shelf.
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Are those the cheap batteries you find on eBay, the kind of $20 for 3 batteries?

2LoT said:
Thanks obsanity. Oh wow, this is indeed even better. Thank you very much for the technical background explanation.
Are those the cheap batteries you find on eBay, the kind of $20 for 3 batteries?
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the cheap ebay batteries use a cheap/inferior chemistry. they may be capable of the same Mah as stock for example when new, but i wouldn't count on it to age as well compared to OEM.

obsanity said:
Actually, it's never a bad time to charge a lithium battery because the charge you are using is always the oldest added. Consider it as a bucket with golf balls and a hole at the bottom. You load golf balls from the top and use them one at a time from the hole on the bottom.
All lithium batteries have circuitry built into them to prevent overcharging but at the same time the circuitry needs power to operate. If you drain your battery down to nothing and leave it uncharged for a long time the circuitry will drain the reserve and you will not be able to charge it at all.
Another fact about lithium batteries is that you can charge them more times than their natural life span. So as soon as a battery is manufactured it starts to go bad just sitting on a shelf. So buy them fresh. They have thousands of charge cycles and only about 2-3 years life. So even if you charge all cells inside 2-3 times daily (remember the bucket analogy) that's only about 1,000 charges in a year.
Also, you could plug your phone in and out 100 times during one day and still not complete one full charge cycle.
Conclusion ; charge it whenever you can, whenever you want. You'll need a new battery in about 2-3 years anyway in which time you'll most likely get a new phone.
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Thanks for the clarification!

2LoT said:
Are those the cheap batteries you find on eBay, the kind of $20 for 3 batteries?
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I would say they are not only old but also fake claims of capacity. It's actually hard to measure how much a battery can hold so they take advantage of it. Who's going to prove them wrong?

system shutdown occurs on the Galaxy Nexus at 3.39 volts (assumed, measured voltage with no load is 3.42)
in theory you could get a bit better battery life at the cost of cell longevity by running it down to 3.2 volts. assuming the system could continue to function.
EDIT: full system charge is 4.2 volts, as expected. i don't see a practical benefit to modifying the system to run at below 3.4 volts, even if possible.