Shulou(Shulou.com)05/31 Report--

The battery life of mobile phones is becoming the focus of attention. As we do more things with our phones over a longer period of time, the importance of round-the-clock charging has become one of our main functions after pursuing screen size. The service life of the battery is the same throughout the service life of the equipment. In addition, at least in high-end devices, packaging fast charging adapters in new phone booths has become more and more common. Samsung did it, Huawei, Google, Vampula and even Apple did it.

The increasing emphasis on battery life is one of the reasons why fast chargers are so popular today. If the battery is likely to run out by the end of the day, fast charging is the next good thing. Charge for 10 minutes, then enter the power-saving mode, and then completely cut off the power supply.

But now that the phone can be charged quickly, we have a question: what is the impact of large-capacity chargers on mobile phone batteries? Over time, is it possible for fast charging to reduce the storage capacity of mobile phones?

While asking questions, we also want to know what will cause unnecessary wear and tear of mobile phone batteries over time.

To find out, we talked to several battery researchers and engineers about the impact of fast charging on the battery life of mobile phones. That's what we learned.

Your mobile phone battery will not be replaced soon.

All mobile phones and most personal electronics and electric cars use lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Making batteries with longer life is a difficult slogan because battery technology has not changed for decades. Instead, most of the latest developments in battery life come from the device's built-in energy-saving features and software that manages charging and discharging more effectively, allowing you to consume power without effort.

Unfortunately, for mobile phones, the focus on extending battery life is usually cars, satellites and your power system, while industrial batteries need to work in an area that far exceeds our expectations for mobile devices, which takes two or three years.

Another factor that affects our mobile phones is the battery capacity. Compared with the battery of an electric car, the power supply of the phone is very small. For example, Tesla 3's rechargeable battery has more than 4000 times the capacity of iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Because mobile phone batteries are measured in milliampere hours and mobile phone batteries in watt-hours, mathematics becomes a little complicated. But you can draw an equivalent. For example, Pixel 4 has a battery capacity of 2800 mAh (10.6 Wh), while iPhone 11 Pro Max has a reported battery capacity of 3969 mAh (15.04 Wh). At the same time, the Chevrolet Volt uses 18400 Wh batteries, and the mid-range Tesla Model 3 uses 62000 Wh batteries.

This is important because the larger the battery, the more tips for saving the battery, which can extend battery life. For example, when you charge a battery, the voltage rises, putting it under pressure, especially during the last 20% of the charging process. To avoid this pressure, electric carmakers can charge new batteries to 80%. Because of the large battery capacity, electric vehicles can still travel an acceptable distance to avoid higher voltage pressure. This can double the total life of car batteries.

Larger mobile phone batteries can provide you with a full day of charging time, but usually only fully charged. Although this allows the battery to last for an acceptable period of time between charges, it also puts the battery in the highest charging state, thus withstanding more pressure.

In addition to major breakthroughs in battery technology, the improvement in mobile phone batteries will also come from making the entire device more energy-efficient. (here are more details about stopping the battery revolution.)

Fast charging will not damage the battery.

The output power of the traditional charger is 5 to 10 watts. A faster charger can increase it eightfold. For example, the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max have an 18 watt quick charger, and the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Plus have a 25 watt charger. Samsung will sell you an ultra-high speed 45W charger for $50.

Unless there is a technical defect in the battery or electronic equipment of the charger, the use of the fast charger will not cause any long-term damage to the mobile phone battery.

That's why. Fast rechargeable batteries are divided into two stages. In the first stage, a pulse voltage is applied to an empty or near-empty battery. This allows you to get 50% to 70% ultra-high power in the first 10, 15, or 30 minutes. This is because, in the first stage of charging, the battery can absorb the charge quickly without having a significant adverse impact on its long-term health.

Samsung, for example, promises to charge its 45-watt charger from zero to 70% in half an hour. Apple says the quick charger that comes with the iPhone 11 Pro can reach a 50 per cent charge rate in 30 minutes.

Did you know that charging the last 20% or 30% of the battery seems to require charging the first 70% or 80% of the battery? The last part is the second charging stage. Mobile phone manufacturers must slow down and carefully manage the charging speed, otherwise the charging process may actually damage the battery.

Think of the battery as a sponge, advises Arthur Shi, a disassembly engineer at DIY maintenance site iFixit. When water is poured on a dry sponge, it absorbs liquid quickly. For batteries, this is a fast charging phase.

When you continue to pour water into the wetting sponge at the same speed, the liquid will seep into the surface because it is difficult for the liquid to penetrate into the saturated sponge. For batteries, this unabsorbed charge can lead to short circuits and other problems that may damage the battery.

If everything inside is managed properly, the loss will be small. The battery management system closely monitors the two charging stages and slows down the charging speed in the second stage, giving the battery time to absorb the charge and avoid problems, which is why it may take 10 minutes.

P > can get the last few percentage points.

In the case of Samsung Galaxy Note 7's tragic battery explosion was due to battery design flaws rather than battery management technology from mobile phone software.

You can't overcharge your cell phone battery.

Excessive charges have caused anxiety among phone owners. The worry is that constantly plugging in the phone may charge the battery beyond its capacity, making the battery unstable, which may reduce the overall life of the battery or accumulate too much internal heat and cause the battery to explode or catch fire.

However, according to the experts we are talking to, the battery management system is designed to turn off the charge before the battery reaches 100%, and then overcharge.

"unless there is something wrong with the battery circuit, you can't overcharge modern phones," said Venkat Srinivasan, a battery researcher at Argonne Lab and director of the Argonne Energy Storage Science Cooperation Center. "they have built-in protection measures that can completely prevent this from happening."

Keep in mind that, as mentioned above, you can put pressure on the battery when charging 100%. (that's why electronic carmakers cut about 80% of their new batteries.)

Apple uses an ingenious way to solve this problem in iPhone's iOS13 software, which can charge your iPhone battery to 100% without causing long-term damage.

If you often keep the iPhone powered on during the day or sleep, you can turn on the iOS 13 battery setting called "optimized battery charging", which will monitor your charging schedule and keep the iPhone battery at 80%, pressure zone. After that, it will charge up to 100% before you regularly unplug your phone. This is most suitable for people with conventional charging methods.

For manual methods, you can also unplug your phone when the phone's battery reaches 80%, but to weigh, you may miss out on the extra time you get from a fully charged phone.

You shouldn't let the battery run out.

Once, you may want to let the phone discharge completely occasionally to help the battery recalibrate its charging status. But this is not a big problem for modern mobile phone batteries.

In fact, completely discharging the battery will lead to a chemical reaction, which will shorten the battery life over time. In order to avoid full discharge, the battery management system includes safety functions, and the phone will lose power when the battery is safer than the empty one. You do not think you have reached zero until you see the last low battery warning.

If you want to be more active in maintaining the health of the battery, plug in the phone when the battery is down by about 30% (much higher than the battery with very low pressure).

High temperatures may damage the battery

Heat is the real enemy of batteries. It is well known that high temperature shortens the service life of the battery with the passage of time.

You need to place the phone in bright light, away from the windowsill, and away from the car's dashboard to prevent the phone from overheating, resulting in a long-term reduction in battery efficiency. In extreme cases, overheated batteries may explode.

Isidor Buchmann, founder and CEO of battery technology company Cadex Electronics and its partner Battery University Education website, says temperatures as high as 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30C) can reduce battery efficiency.

Does this mean that you have to store your phone in the freezer? I can't. But try to avoid high temperatures. If you are out of the sun for a long time, try to cover it with a towel or T-shirt, or put it in a bag with a cold kettle. The idea is to prevent the temperature inside the phone from rising.

Mismatch between charger and cable will not damage the battery

Unless you use fake or damaged chargers and cables, mixing and matching cables and chargers will not damage your battery. However, you may not be able to charge as quickly as the device that came with the device.

Some ​​ phones, such as Huawei and OnePlus phones, use proprietary charging designs-chargers have built-in circuits for fast charging. To take full advantage of the device's proprietary fast charging function, you need to use a compatible charger.

Other phone makers, such as Samsung and Apple, are more compliant with industry-standard fast charging rules and allow you to use a variety of compatible cables and chargers for fast charging.

The safest option is to use the chargers and cables provided in the box, as the device may use the lowest charging speed by default when mixing and matching the charger and cable with the phone.

How else can I save the battery of my phone?

For longer battery life, you can use the usual energy-saving techniques to save battery power, such as dimming the brightness of the display, turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use, limiting the use of background data by setting and focusing on applications that use GPS.

But the truth is, no matter how careful we are, our mobile phone batteries can only last so long. The trick is to get as much time as possible from the battery without constant anxiety about charging.

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