Battery extended life span suggestions

[Mysti-Que2020 20]

Hello everyone.   I was hoping if you guys have some insight are extending the life span of the battery.   I've heard 2 suggestions that are completely different.   1 was letting your phone get down too 5% and then charge it back to 100%. 2nd was only charge to 80% and never let it go down below 20%.  What's your thoughts and suggestions?

Thank you

[EskeRahn 5,459]

One of the most important things is to avoid charging the phone when it is hot.

LiIon battery do not like being charged while above roughly 30°C. They prefer around room temperature.
So better to charge a device before doing some heavy work, than after, when it is still hot.

Moderate charging is best, I would suggest 30-80% BUT you need to occasionally do full charge as well as discharge, to keep the system calibrated.

I have numerous entries on various aspect of the subject in this category on my blog. (the most basic of them at the bottom from ten years ago)

[claude0001 1,340]

Deep-discharging being a good thing is a popular myth from Ni-Cd-battery times. Li-ion batteries do not like that.

@EskeRahn is right in that temperature is a decisive factor. Using QuickCharge (tm)  results in my Pro1(not X) becoming so hot it is uncomfortable to touch. I hence avoid quick-charge by using only my PC USB-ports for charging.

Edited August 23, 2022 by claude0001

[Mysti-Que2020 20]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

One of the most important things is to avoid charging the phone when it is hot.

LiIon battery do not like being charged while above roughly 30°C. They prefer around room temperature.
So better to charge a device before doing some heavy work, than after, when it is still hot.

Moderate charging is best, I would suggest 30-80% BUT you need to occasionally do full charge as well as discharge, to keep the system calibrated.

I have numerous entries on various aspect of the subject in this category on my blog. (the most basic of them at the bottom from ten years ago)

@EskeRahn How often would you say do a full charge and discharge? Discharge meaning completely dead battery correct? 

Edited August 23, 2022 by Mysti-Que2020

[claude0001 1,340]

Sorry, but just use a non-Quick-Charge-enabled power supply. No other action requied.

[Mysti-Que2020 20]

@claude0001 with this having li-on batteries its OK to charge full but avoid quick charge at all cost and letting it completely die I should avoid? Just want to double check because reading how everyone has been waiting months for warranty repairs on their Fx pro1,  I want to try to avoid that at all cost. 

[claude0001 1,340]

Affirmative. Consensus is that deep discharge is bad and high temperatures (as occur during quick-charging) are bad. This is true for any Li-ion battery, nothing Pro1(X) specific here.

[EskeRahn 5,459]

Deep discharge should indeed generally be avoided, though the system should do an auto-shutdown before the voltage drop starts.

The only benefit is calibration, so perhaps once a year.

Similar the system ought to take care of not overcharging too (it charges slower towards the end), and in daily life it is hard to stop the charging below full. Some software exists allowing more control, but AFAIK only for rooted devices.

So my general advise is to use a slow charger, when the device is idle, e.g. at night.

(More hints see e.g. this )

[EskeRahn 5,459]

PS And we NEVER want the battery to go deeper than when the OS do an Auto-shutdown, that is when it detects the voltage drop point is reached.
Trying to charge a phone in this state will likely fail, if people did NOT set

fastboot oem off-mode-charge enable

Apart from the battery health, deep discharge can -if the above is not set- cause the phone to get in a state where you can not charge it. See e.g. the thread by @Spargeltim here.

It is really annoying that phones usually come with this switch set in a way that might render it in need of service, if it depletes.

 

[brunoais 334]

10 hours ago, Mysti-Que2020 said:

How often would you say do a full charge and discharge? Discharge meaning completely dead battery correct? 

From what I gathered, every 70-200 recharges, depending how much you recharge each time. If you are very consistent in the charge/discharge cyles and you generally keep the battery between 10ºC<35ºC cool while (accepting exceptions) not charging above ~80%, 1ce per year should be enough. I've treated laptops like that (previous Li-ion phones too) and batteries last for way beyond the time they are supposed to.

Do keep in mind that lithium batteries are exponentially more resilient to temperatures outside ideal temperature specs when they are in the approximate range of 20%~80% than otherwise.

Edited August 24, 2022 by brunoais

[Mysti-Que2020 20]

Thank you everyone!   I'm deeply in love with my phone and want it to last forever 😄

[EskeRahn 5,459]

3 hours ago, toast said:

Surely you must mean "that fxtec phones usually..."? Im confused, because I have litterally never had another device where the stock rom acts this way. Sure, I have used custom roms where offline charging hasnt been a thing, but stock rom?

I have fiddled with this on other phones, but so long back that I do not recall which ones. But glad to hear if some do not have this silly default. Thank

[Going_Zen 0]

So does that mean stock Pro 1x charger is no good as its QC3?

[Name_not_avail 64]

On 8/24/2022 at 12:57 AM, EskeRahn said:

PS And we NEVER want the battery to go deeper than when the OS do an Auto-shutdown, that is when it detects the voltage drop point is reached.
Trying to charge a phone in this state will likely fail, if people did NOT set

fastboot oem off-mode-charge enable

Apart from the battery health, deep discharge can -if the above is not set- cause the phone to get in a state where you can not charge it. See e.g. the thread by @Spargeltim here.

It is really annoying that phones usually come with this switch set in a way that might render it in need of service, if it depletes.

 

Holy cow, this should be a sticky at the top of this forum page!!!

I was surprised that my 1x turned itself on every time I tried to charge it when it was currently switched off, but I just found that quirky without understanding the implications of it. 

If I understand you right, it is not possible to charge the phone when it is switched off, unless this default setting is changed.

And further, if the phone is off and the battery is discharged to the point that the device cannot power up when it's plugged in to charge, then it simply will not charge in the "off" state.

Wow.

[Name_not_avail 64]

NB - I just tried to do this, and the command "fastboot oem off-mode-charge enable" does not work.  It generates "FAILED (remote: Invalid input entered)".

So instead, I tried "fastboot oem off-mode-charge 1", and that worked.

I just switched off the phone and plugged it in, and it did not boot into Android.  It just gave me an image of a battery with percentage of charge in it.

Success!

[Craig 1,435]

How do you avoid charging past 80% - is there an app or something that can make it stop charging?

 

I feel like I looked into this before and all I found was an app that would notify you when it got to 80% (or whatever you said) so you could unplug it yourself.  That's fine for emergency quickcharges I guess, but I typically slow charge (500mA) overnight...

[EskeRahn 5,459]

3 hours ago, Name_not_avail said:

"fastboot oem off-mode-charge 1"

Thanks for sharing. I'm not sure if it is different versions of adb, or different phone versions that reacts differently on various syntax for on/off of the flags

[EskeRahn 5,459]

2 minutes ago, Craig said:

How do you avoid charging past 80% - is there an app or something that can make it stop charging?

 

I feel like I looked into this before and all I found was an app that would notify you when it got to 80% (or whatever you said) so you could unplug it yourself.  That's fine for emergency quickcharges I guess, but I typically slow charge (500mA) overnight...

On unrooted devices I do not know of a solution on the phone. I believe that external electronic circuits exists, but I have not tried them.

Using a slow charger as you do, is a very good start, as this prevent the battery from heating substantially - and that is the most important: Daily charges should start (and stay) at around room temperature, for the batteries to be happy. I use a 500ma or 1A charger, and often I forget to detach it, and just let it charge fully. Yet I see no deterioration in the stamina, after three years of daily usage of the pro1 (nor for the test-devices).

[brunoais 334]

4 hours ago, Craig said:

How do you avoid charging past 80% - is there an app or something that can make it stop charging?

 

I feel like I looked into this before and all I found was an app that would notify you when it got to 80% (or whatever you said) so you could unplug it yourself.  That's fine for emergency quickcharges I guess, but I typically slow charge (500mA) overnight...

For rooted devices, ACC appears to be the most noteworthy and best working means. Either as command line or as an app.

For unrooted devices:
Pester f(x)tec to pester the developer company to add a system app that can do that work.

[foxfreejack 60]

Great information here. I wish I had avoided the quick charge on my Pro1...

I was wondering if anyone confirmed that the battery in the Pro1X is the same as in the Pro1 ?

I wish to order it from IG, if it fits.

I was also wondering if someone has ordered and received it lately ?

[Hook 3,016]

1 hour ago, foxfreejack said:

Great information here. I wish I had avoided the quick charge on my Pro1...

I was wondering if anyone confirmed that the battery in the Pro1X is the same as in the Pro1 ?

I wish to order it from IG, if it fits.

I was also wondering if someone has ordered and received it lately ?

I believe we were told at some point that the battery for the Pro1x was not identical to the Pro1 battery, but I can't find it now.  I'm sure you can order Pro1 batteries direct from FxTec.  @Casey, can you clarify for us.  I dont want to be giving wrong information.

[Rob. S. 1,660]

14 hours ago, EskeRahn said:

14 hours ago, Craig said:

How do you avoid charging past 80% - is there an app or something that can make it stop charging?

On unrooted devices I do not know of a solution on the phone. I believe that external electronic circuits exists, but I have not tried them.

With the unrooted Pro1 X, I went back to use the "Chargie" device, which isn't as perfect as my somewhat euphoric first impression sounded, but it does the job it's supposed to do.

[MonCon 125]

I installed the utility AccA from F-Droid that @brunoais has already commented on in this thread, it seems to work well.  There are settings for limiting charge level, charge rate, high temperature cut off, and low charge level shut down.  As already stated, your Pro1(X) needs to be rooted, so this tool may not be for you,

I took instructions from here: 

Note:  This procedure works on Pro1X, I'm not sure about Pro1 at the moment.  I'll amend if I work it out or somebody with a Pro1 can clarify.

I also took the advice of ensuring 'offline charging' was enabled on my Pro1X, (guidance in this very thread:  @EskeRahn (fastboot oem off-mode-charge enable)), as AccA has the ability to shut down your device if it enters a low charge state.  I also considered the comments on calibration discussed in this thread before I installed AccA.  
It works well for me and my PrawnX.  😃

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by MonCon
Found a more direct link to the rooting procedure in a post by King Prawn in the documentation sub-forum. Also noted rooting procedure is for Pro1X, not sure about Pro1.