How to maintain your phone or laptop battery life.
What the battery is
You’ve most likely used a phone that didn’t meet your up-time expectations. If you haven’t, then you’ve been lucky. But it all boils down to how we better prevent such experiences: the “whole power bank is a must-have” condition and the “charger always at your side” issue, how do we get better battery lives? First, let’s take a look at the basics of Battery itself.
A battery is a power source consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices such as flashlights, mobile phones, laptops, electric cars, etc. Its positive terminal is the cathode and its negative terminal is the anode. The terminal marked negative is the source of electrons that will flow through an external electric circuit to the positive terminal.
What do we mean when say Battery Life?
Battery life is a measure of battery performance and longevity, which can be quantified in several ways: as run time on a full charge, as estimated by a manufacturer in Milliampere hours (mAh), or as the number of charge cycles until the end of useful life.
Before we understand the concept of battery life, we need to know the kinds of batteries that exist, batteries are of two types namely,
- Primary Battery (Non rechargeable)
- Secondary Battery (Rechargeable)
Primary Battery
The primary batteries are essentially batteries that cannot be recharged. They irreversibly transform chemical energy to electrical energy. When the chemicals within the battery have all reacted to produce electrical energy and they are exhausted, the battery or cell cannot be readily restored by electrical means. Common examples are Zinc-carbon batteries and Alkaline Battery. They are used in torches, remotes, wall clocks, small portable gadgets, etc.
Secondary Battery
The secondary batteries are different to primary ones in that they can be recharged. The chemical reactions within the cell or battery can be reversed by supplying electrical energy to the cell, restoring their original composition. Common examples are Lead-acid batteries and Lithium batteries. They can be found in Cars, laptops, UPS (Uninterrupted power supply), robotics, heavy machines, etc.
One thing to do is to ensure you get devices with good quality batteries and features that are healthy for the battery, by being familiar with device specifications some of which will be covered in this article. Another thing to do is to know how to maintain batteries to promote more consistent service. Let’s get to know few tips here.
Terms Used In Defining A Battery
1. Power capacity:
It is the energy stored in a battery which is measured in Watt-hour (Wh). Watt-hour = V * I * hours (mAh). We generally see the battery ratings as 2500mAh and above while reading specification of a smart phone.
2. Power capability:
It means the amount of current that the battery can deliver. It is also known as C-rating. Theoretically, it is calculated as A-h divided by 1 hour.
3. Charging current:
It is the maximum current that can be applied to charge the battery i.e., practically maximum of 1A/2A can be applied if a battery protecting circuit is in-built but still 500 mA is the best the range for charging the battery.
4. Charging voltage:
It is the maximum voltage that should be applied to the battery to efficiently charge a battery. Basically 4.2 V is the best/standard charging voltage. Though we apply 5 V to the battery it accepts only 4.2 V.
5. Discharging current:
It is the current that can be drawn from the battery and is delivered to the load.
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN GETTING A BATTERY FOR YOUR GADGET
Having a high-quality battery and charger is one of the most important parts of having a personal gadget.
1. The phone display:
The larger the phone display size, the more energy it takes to light up the whole screen. Under the display we also consider the refreshing rate measured in hertz. It is the number of times the screen is refreshed in a given time. The higher the refreshing rate, the more power it consumes. A standard refresh rate is 60hertz, meaning sixty times per second. Although high end phones have much higher refreshing rates, they make up for the power consumption by providing bigger batteries.
2. The Chipset:
A chipset is a set of electronic components on an Integrated Circuit that manages the transfer of data between the CPU, RAM and storage devices. Newer generations of chips often tend to be faster and more efficient than their predecessors. But same also for chipsets, productivity and efficiency varies with the price. So except if you’re on a strict budget, make your research and go for the best.
3. The nanometer value:
You may not really know the µm(nanometer value) of your phone, but if you’d check for it, you’ll see it. For processes to take place in a device, electrons have to move from one place to another. So the lesser the distance, the lesser the energy required for such displacement. So consequently, the lower your nanometer value, the faster and more efficient microchip you have, consuming lesser energy.
4. Capacity:
Laptop batteries come with different capacities. The capacity refers to the total amount of energy stored within a battery. It is rated by Milliampere hour (mAh) or Watt hour (Whr). We see numbers like 4400mAh, 7800mAh or 5000mAh. Basically the higher the number, the larger the capacity. Higher capacity batteries often look different because more cells are needed to achieve the greater capacity. They will allow you to watch, work and play longer with up to 50% more capacity than original factory battery.
WAYS TO MAINTAIN YOUR GADGET BATTERY LIFE
1. Minimize exposure to high temperatures while in use/storage:
prolonged exposure to temperatures higher than 35°C can permanently damage the battery.
2. Minimize exposure to low temperatures while charging:
extremely cold temperatures can reduce the charge acceptance, hence messing with the technicalities in your device. So, ensure that the battery is charging whilst on a moderate temperature.
3. Minimize time spent at 100% charge and 0% charge:
Did you know: Samsung and LG recommend that their phones should be recharged when they reach a 20% state of charge. Nokia and Sony suggest potential damage if the device is left charging after reaching 100%.
Avoid using fast charging unless needed.
4. Avoid discharging devices more quickly than needed:
Apparently, discharging your battery too quickly can also result in battery degradation. For cellphones and laptops, lowering screen brightness, turning off location services, and quitting high-power-use applications can help slow the discharge rate.
5. Avoid use/storage in high moisture environments:
moisture can really mess up with the technical side of the battery, resulting in poor performance and degrading efficiency.
6. Use airplane mode when necessary, it shuts off functions like GSM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Saves you up to 90% on power.
7. Reduce screen brightness as it limits the amount of power being consumed in conversion to light energy.
8. Turn off cellular network when not in use and as well turn on smart battery modes. GSM is the most dominant energy-consuming component in the mobile phone.
9.Disable location service to disable the activity of the GPS which consumes power.
In this modern age when our gadgets are constantly connected to the internet, when we run multiple apps and processes, it is imperative that we know the battery life of our gadgets for maintenance and improved service time.
We hope you found this very informative, kindly like this article if you enjoyed it. Also, feel free to ask questions, share more facts in the comment section and don’t forget to share.
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