phone plugged in overnight

It is an age old question! We don’t have time to charge our mobile phone, because it takes hours usually unless you have quick-charge feature. Is it bad to leave the phone in charging mode at night? It is a good question, Lets talk about that!

Let me come to the conclusion at the beginning of this article. YES, you can keep the phone in charging mode overnight. Now here is why – first we have to understand the difference between the Lithium and Nickel-base batteries. You may already know that the majority of today’s gadgets run on the Lithium ion batteries. Some years ago batteries used in these gadgets were primarily made of nickel which is now used in Duracell and similar batteries. Nickel based batteries have a tendency to have “cyclic memory”. That means if they weren’t given full charge in between cycles they might forget their full capacity, and instead it will remember the point to which they were last charged as being their maximum charge capacity. Many of us didn’t had Nickel base batteries in our mobile devices because the transition to Lithium ion batteries began in the early two thousand. Fortunately, lithium based batteries didn’t suffer from the memory cycle phenomenon often exhibited in Nickel-based batteries.

Lithium batteries played a major role in the mobile revolution.  Lithium batteries are able to hold a lot more power while remaining fairly compact. Which allowed mobile phones to become small and slimmer. Lithium ion batteries also have a much better life span and can be charged fairly quickly.

The major threat to Lithium ion or Lithium Polymer batteries is heat. Batteries dislike being too cool or too hot. But your Lithium batteries wont heat up too much if you keep your phones plugged in overnight. The temperature in which the Lithium battery can receive charging is from 0 degree to 45 degrees Celsius. Also Lithium based batteries can discharge even at -20 degree Celsius. Fast charging technologies work well in between 5 degrees to 45 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is less than 0 degree, the battery wont charge.

A Lithium ion battery will get warm when it is in charging mode, as it gets warmer it charges faster. All batteries have a limit of power it can hold. While charging continuously, after reaching the max capacity of charging, power will be wasted as heat. Batteries have no feature to reroute the incoming current after reaching its full capacity. Sounds bad for your gadget? Well we already have a solution to this problem. And all the mobile phones out there in the market comes with this technology.

Our mobile devices are getting a lot smarter in these years. They can actually stop charging when the battery reaches it full capacity and start using it connected charger as its primary power source. So that you can wake up from the bad and see the fully charged battery when the phone being powered through the night.

The charging habit you have can affect the life span of the battery. If you really want to extend the life of your phone and its battery keep your charge in between 10% and 90%. Not letting your phone fully drain to zero percent or fully charge to a hundred percent will extend the life of the battery.

One Plus 3 Dash Charger

Smartphone battery charging best practices

  1. Every Lithium based battery has a finite number of charge and discharge cycles. With each cycle, the capacity of the battery will be slightly reduced. So we should avoid as many complete cycles as we can. To do this keep your battery’s charge level between 40% and 80%. It may not be always possible, but at least try to keep the charge above 40% most time.
  2. New Smartphones like Oneplus 3 comes with fast charging, try to avoid fast charging whenever you can. Fast charging method uses more current than usual to charge the battery. It causes to produce more heat, which will reduce the lifespan of the battery.
  3. There is an internal power meter in your phone. Sometime it will malfunction and won’t allow the battery to charge to an expected level. You can recalibrate by doing a full discharge-and-charge cycle: Use your phone until its charge goes to zero, and the phone will turn off. Once it’s dead, charge it to full capacity while leaving its power off. Finally, power your phone back on and make sure it reads as fully charged; if it doesn’t, power off and continue charging. Repeat this process at least once per month, so that we can make sure battery is functioning optimally.

There are still some who believe overnight charging will damage your phone. But believe us, unless your phone gets excessively hot after 100% charge, it is fine. Charging the phone overnight will start your day with a full charged smartphone in your hand.