While I know your joking, I still find it amazing how much it costs to charge a phone. Likely around $2 of electricity a year now if what U remember is accurate
Not necessarily. Many phones will charge more slowly during the night if you set a morning alarm. You could be wearing down you battery when you charge at work.
The charger I have there is very slow, so I should be safe (it's a Samsung charger and the only phone it will charge fast is the one it came with, my work phone). Also I try my best to do 30-80% cycles.
I genuinely don't understand how this works for so many people.
When i watch something, I watch it and wont sleep until i make the concious decision to stop paying attention and close my eyes. Same with books or anything really. Maybe music works
Depends on the subject and how much interested you put in it. If the video is just random dumb shit with music, then you fall asleep. If it is a nice interesting movie you may stay awake. Even so, if the movie is boring, you may fall asleep.
ehhhhh, its a heavy sleeper thing for me I think. I usually don't make the conscious decision of falling asleep, I just lay in bed until I just pass out. My brain just gives up and disconnects. I'm a heavy sleeper, and I need like 30 minutes minimum between opening my eyes in the morning and actually getting out of bed.
I'm also watching streaming services too and it happens a lot to me that I'm watching a series in bed, I fall sleep, and wake up to realize I watched many chapters of the series so I gotta watch them again later, this time for real.
Keeping Lithium-ion batteries at 100% charge will reduce their lifespan. They want to live in the 40-80% range. I use an app that notifies me when my phone has charged to 80%, so that I can unplug it. It may be overkill, but I plan to use this phone for 9 more years or so.
9 more years?? I've gotten almost 6 years out of my Oneplus 5T and I've been ecstatic about it. It's literally lasted 3 times longer than any phone I've had before it
Yes, that's correct but with some extra consideration. There's two kinds of wear for Li-Ion batteries, shelf life and cycle life. To maximize shelf life you want to store at 40% to %50% charge in a cool environment. To maximize cycle life you want to avoid charging and discharging fully.
There's two curves where cycle life and shelf life cross for maximum longevity. For example if you shut off your Li-Ion powered device or remove the battery for long periods, shelf life becomes more significant. Storing at 40% charge in a cool environment will maximize battery life. If you discharge frequently, then keeping the charge cycle shallow will maximize longevity since that's going to be most significant.
Honestly it's complicated to deal with and squeezing all the life you can out of a battery is typically not worth the trouble. Though it's definitely nice when chargers give you options, most don't.
In general Li-Ion batteries are highly desirable for their top tier energy density and that's why they're so ubiquitous, but the wear and safety considerations are big disadvantages. The holy grail of battery technology is to eliminate those issues.
I used to never charge my phone at night, because of my battery health pedantry. I the found the AccA app which enables me to limit the maximum charging, so now I sometimes leave it changing during the night.
If you're still convinced you need to run your battery down to zero you're operating on outdated knowledge of NiCad batteries and ruining your lithium ion batteries.
My Android phone has a built in functionality to charge so that it hits 100% when your alarm is rigged to go off. Idk about iphone though.
I was not talking about running the battery down to 0, that's no good for li-ion batteries either. I was talking about the exact, opposite, reaching 100% and staying there for hours on end (which happens during the night). With AccA I can set an upper limit.
I use Samsung built in feature to limit to 85% and I'm so glad they implemented it because I was about to either try to look for an app again or stop charging at night...
I use a chargie. It's a physical Bluetooth connected device that connects between the phone and charger and lets you set your own charge limit. Works great with my wireless charger at night. I also have one for my tablet.
I feel this pain. Wife's battery-powered devices are always in a constant state of dying. Something has convinced her that it's better to let the battery almost! die, then charge it to full, but not leave it plugged in because that will degrade the battery; meaning it never gets charged overnight. I'm sure there's a small kernel of truth in where she learned that, but it's almost a joke at this point when she goes scrambling for her charger when using her phone, tablet, etc. It's painful, but also adorable? I guess. Anyway, it's not a hill I'm willing to die on, so I just let it be and laugh almost everytime it happens.
She needn't worry about manually optimizing battery wear, and, in fact, the most harmful thing you can do to a battery is to fully deplete it frequently.
Educate her about built-in optimized battery charging. iPhones and some Androids have it.
Something has convinced her that it’s better to let the battery almost! die, then charge it to full, but not leave it plugged in because that will degrade the battery
That was true a long time ago when NiCad batteries were around. But, since they had the problems you described, they're not around any more, and phones generally all use lithium-ion batteries which don't have this issue.
I think that was true like.. 10+ years ago, but battery and power management tech have advanced so that's no longer necessesary.
I think running full cycles on your battery is actually bad for it now, I set mine to stop charging when it hits 85% to preserve battery health.
Sounds stressful constantly worrying about battery life, plopping it on a wireless charger before bed is the way to go.
I would love if iOS had a "stop charging at 85% option" like that. What I currently do is a shortcut routine with a wireless charger connected to a smart plug that turns off the plug when the phone reaches 85%. It works, but I would love to be able to have it work without a smart plug routine.
Haha right? It's not worth it! But yeah, I feel like it's just a stressful way to live when the other option is to just grab a cord and plug in before falling asleep...
Oh I know for sure. I've told her it's perfectly fine to do before; even offered to replace the battery if it degrades faster, but she won't budge. It's not worth making a big deal out of, so I just let it be
I'm lazier than that. I got a 3rd party wireless charger (12watts) when I got my old phone. I still use that with ny Galaxy S9 Plus now. Never have to reach for a cord or worry about it falling behind a nightstand. Just set it down, and pick it up when I want it. I wanted to dremel out the bottom of the nightstand and put the charger there so it wouldnt take up any space and would essentially be spill proof when my phone isnt there... but I got lazy and haven't started that project yet. I'll probably upgrade the charger if I ever do that.
Like, you went through your day exhausted and want to finally make a decision to go to bed for yourself, but no you have to remember to connect the USB cable.
Recent smartphones learn your patterns and don't fill up until the morning. For instance my phone currently is stuck at 80% and says it'll be fully charged at 7AM
I really wish this worked for times other than the mornings. I work in the late evenings most of the time, so thus its pretty normal for me to wake up at 9PM (like today) - however, the only time it ever seems to do the trickle charge is for when I set an alarm for say 10AM and plug my phone in at 3AM.
It's not about the phones learning the patterns, which as you've said recent phones have corrected that, but due to energy sustainability and trickle charging (once it's fully charged, it will keep energy flowing in order to keep itself fully charged, or to keep itself at 85% as other comments have indicated) - you should unplug once it's fully charged in order to conserve electricity. A phone may not seem like much, but every bit counts and it permeates throughout the rest of your personality/devices and adds up, especially when everyone does it.
I charge my phone when it needs it and unplug it when it's done. Sometimes that lasts two days, sometimes it's half a day, sometimes I plug it in first thing in the morning, sometimes I plug it in while I'm driving home at night.
There's actually a safety factor there. When Li-Ion (lithium-ion) batteries fail and suffer thermal runaway (fire), it's most commonly during charging. It's rare, but it does still happen. The rule is to avoid charging Li-Ion powered devices unattended. I do that at times myself, but I realize the risk and actually put things in a "charging pot" if unattended.
You don't need anything fancy to use as a charging pot, a ceramic casserole dish will do. If you're going to charge while asleep or out of the house it's not a bad idea to use some kind of containment.
Don't be scared, it's actually a pretty rare occurrence. Just be aware it can happen. Same thing with driving, accidents are rare, but wear your seatbelt.
I do generally charge my phone at night, but I do it while awake and unplug it before I go to sleep. It's increasingly rare these days, but I just don't want to risk the potential fire hazard of leaving a phone plugged in.
Some people are just extremely lazy. I used to be the same, but I decided to spend a few dollars on a wireless charging stand that I can just throw my phone onto while I'm dozing off.
Fast charging decreases the lifetime of your battery compared to traditional charging. It's not a huge difference anymore (maybe 3% or something), but traditional charging isn't that inconvenient considering you're not using your phone while you sleep, anyway.
This mindset is so frustrating. My fiancee and I will have a discussion like do you want to go do _______. We decide to go, and now ensues the I need to let my phone charge some before we go. Waiting ~30 minutes before leaving to go somewhere is very disadvantages.
30 min is not really "fast" charging. Assuming 0%-100% on a 4Ah battery, that's just 30W.
Also, you don't fast charge to 100%. The idea is to get more like +50% in a few minutes. Assuming 4Ah battery again, that's +2Ah which is 7.4 Wh at 3.7V.
You won't charge from 0% though. You're probably still well over 25% before you start charging but let's say you're at 25%. With 60W, you'd be at 75% in 7.5 min.
That's fast charging and why it's useful: Those 75% will last you through the day and it took you <10 minutes to reach it.
What's frustrating is not fast charging, it's that your charging speed simply isn't very fast.
We are the same, I put my phone and charge (set to stop charging at 85%) overnight, my wife does not, and then her phone dies at odd times like when she is out shopping. I suppose it is about having a scheduled routine or not. I have alarms set for 10:30 every evening to check if a charge is needed for my watch that day. Some people just don't like the routine and prefer to live a bit more on the edge.
Same thing with my girlfriend. I even got a charger and a cable just for her exclusive use but she keeps unplugging my phone because "it has more charge than mine". Which, fair, but like??? It didn't have to be this way??
I am too lazy to plug the charger into the wall. It's a sort of thing get it done once, and reap the benefits always, but I have executive function issues, so that could explain it.
I have a wireless charging stand at work, so my phone is nearly 70% charged when I go to bed. No real point to me in having extra clutter on my nightstand.
On the weekends, I’ll charge my phone on the kitchen counter while making breakfast for the kids.
Because my smartphone with Li-Ion 3140 mAh battery lives 48-72 hours. No google apps (LineageOS), LTE is off (I use only WiFi), Bluetooth is off. Well, I use my phone mostly for texting and calling, rarely for surfing the web, showing my PDF tickets and for offline location-guided maps (a.k.a. Trekarta). That's it.
I read to fall asleep, so my phone usually stays with me in bed. Pro-Tip, if she has an iPhone, set the Sleep focus to turn on at a specific time and enable low power mode.
For many years I always did this for my own android phone in Tasker, and more recently Samsung Modes&Routines, but thank you for this as I just realized I never did the same for my wife's iPhone
I suck at sleeping so when I feel like I could conk out I seize the opportunity and go for it. Plugging in my phone is part of my bedtime ritual, so I trick my brain into not going into high gear to resist shutting down by not charging at night. You think I'm kidding, it's a battle every day.
Today's phones don't need to be charged every day because of big battery. For me, that was a problem years ago, but since the last phone I had - the problem doesn't exist. Even if I have 10% battery before sleep, it will still be 8-10% battery when I get up, which is enough for morning walk with dog with music and come back home.
My partner and I both have wireless chargers so we essentially start charging at the same time every night. He has a nicer phone than me even. However he also has Twitter Instagram Facebook etc etc etc on his phone so it lasts about half the time mine does with none of that garbage.
If she carries a purse, or otherwise can carry one extra item, a USB battery (looks like Amazon calls them "portable chargers") might deal with the issue. If the phone's running low in the day, just start it charging off the battery.
I'm a stay at home dad and my phone is on and off the charger all day. I typically won't plug my phone in at night unless I think the battery is too low to make it thru the night. But by the time bedtime rolls around I'm usually good.
I charge my phone during the day while at my desk. The grid mix during the day is mostly solar where I live so it's green, and when I'm not working from home, it's free electricity.