Technology is constantly improving the way we communicate and making it easier to manage our lives. You have a laptop to do projects. Your surfing tablet and your smartphone to stay connected.
While it provides many options for managing your life, it also has some disadvantages. One example is low battery life. Everyone comes face to face with a dead or dying device, and that’s annoying to say the least. However, for those who rely on these devices to work, it is excruciatingly painful (and expensive) to deal with.
What if there was a way to prevent this (or at least prolong the inevitable
How does lithium battery drain happen
The two most common types of batteries used in modern electronics are lithium-ion (found in laptops and mobile devices) and lithium-polymer (found in some laptops). Although they are two different technologies, they work the same way.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are powered by lithium ions traveling back and forth through electrolytes that act as a transport medium.
During this passage, lithium ions move from a positively charged electrode to a negatively charged one. This process leads to sludge formation and slowly destroys the electrodes with each transfer back and forth. This is what causes the battery to drain over time.
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What does this mean for your laptop or smartphone battery? Well, most lithium batteries have 300 to 500 charge cycles. There are laptops with batteries that can handle 1000 charge cycles.
One charge cycle is when you let your device die and then charge it to 100%. Typically, you can do this up to 500 times before the battery runs out. Once this happens, you will notice that the battery does not charge to full capacity and discharges faster between charges.
Optimize your mobile device settings
Some smartphones are equipped with optimization features to extend battery life. However, if you don’t have one, you can do the following:
- Reduce the screen timeout (preferably less than 30 seconds).
- Use Wi-Fi instead of mobile data.
- Turn off GPS and Bluetooth
- Do not turn off your tablet, but leave it in rest mode.
- Check which of your applications are using the most power (and turn them off).
- Remove or disable any applications you no longer use.
- Turn on airplane mode when you work (or you don’t need it).
- Turn off mobile internet and Wi-Fi when you are not using.
- Change your email settings to sync less often.
- Decrease the screen brightness.
- Disable push notifications and location tracking.
- Disable auto-sync for apps you are not using.
- Block ads while browsing the web.
Be sure to check your device’s optimization settings to find out how you can minimize power consumption.
Give your mobile device an extreme care of affection
There are now several ways to extend battery life. All you need is to know how to care for your battery.
Here’s what you can do:
- Store your device in moderate temperatures (42 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Do not let your device get to 0% and if so, do not keep it there for long.
- Maintain a proper charge level – somewhere between 40% and 80% (never let it go below 20%).
- Turn off the device at least once a week.
- Connect the device to a suitable charger (avoid third party chargers).
- Discharging the laptop regularly (always plugged in) will kill the battery faster)
If you have a Mac laptop, you can use this resource to find out the number of battery charge cycles.
Is removing the battery a good idea?
Let’s say you’re going to leave the device in a hot car. Should you remove the battery? Or what about your laptop – can it be connected 24/7 without a battery?
Great questions, and they seem to make sense when you’re trying to extend battery life. This may work depending on your device.
For example, some laptops, smartphones and tablets have sealed batteries. So it makes deletion impossible. Brands like Acer say you don’t need to remove the battery when it’s plugged in to AC power, but you should remove it if you don’t plan on using the device for several days.
Apple, on the other hand, tells its customers that they should never take out their batteries. Dell claims you can keep your laptop plugged in at all times with the battery connected. Asus claims that you should let your battery drain to at least 50% twice a month.
So it depends on which device you are using.
Just be sure to consider the power management of the device in question. Some laptops reduce power consumption when you have AC power without a battery. This can lead to poor performance.
If you decide to remove the battery, store it properly. Charge it somewhere between 40% and 80% and store it somewhere at room temperature.
Should you trust wireless and fast charging methods?
The future is ours – we can generate energy, it would seem, out of thin air. At least that’s how it seems when you’re using wireless charging methods.
While this method may sound cool, it is not at all. In fact, it is overheating your battery (which we know can drain your battery). Plus the charge is much slower.
If you have an iPhone 8, iPhone 8+, or iPhone X, you can choose fast charging. This allows you to charge your device from 0% to 50% in half an hour. However, you’ll need a powerful USB-C charger for this.
The problem is that it frees up extra energy to charge your phone faster. Unfortunately, this will drain the battery faster.
Therefore, in this case, in order to extend the battery life, it is best to stick to the outdated slow wired charging methods.
Saving a Life – Your Battery Life
Let’s face it, your smart device is your life. So why not show your love and appreciation by extending the lifespan of your gadget by years?
This saves you the hassle of buying a new battery (and asking someone to insert it for you if it’s sealed). Plus, you’ll enjoy your device for longer – who likes to transfer all those files to a new computer or smartphone?
Now you don’t have to – just follow these tips and you will give your device the “nine lives†it deserves.
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