Why you should never charge a battery to 100%

Should we Always charge our Battery from 0-100% to avoid the memory effect? Even though mostly discarded, Many still believe in the battery memory effect. like most others in this list, it’s not entirely false, but no longer relevant. older Nickel-cadmium batteries and other similar technologies showed memory effect but it is no longer the case with newer lithium-ion batteries, which are used in most electronics, rather, charging it from 0-100, we are ruining the battery. and accelerating the battery degradation let us look deeper.

What is the Battery memory effect?

In older batteries, if the battery is not fully charged or discharged, it tends to lose its capacity when not charged fully for an extended period of time. for example, if we charge our batteries from 20-80 for an extended period of time, then the battery ‘forgets that there is a 40% unused’ and becomes unusable subsequently. This is called the memory effect.

Is it still relevant?

We moved to lithium-ion technology, which offered faster charging, more capacity and higher quality than the older technologies. And These cells no longer show any memory effect. But the ‘Fact’ or tip got passed over, gradually becoming irrelevant and false. Moreover, charging the battery to its full capacity takes a toll on the lifespan of batteries( battery wearing).

so charging any modern battery from 0 to 100 on a regular basis will have a negative impact on the battery, rather than expanding its capacity and lifespan. But it is still shared as valuable tips by many when it is actually the opposite.

how to actually extend the battery health?

The one issue that haunts lithium-ion batteries is Their wearing. We know that battery works by a reversible reaction. but it is not perfectly reversible, and every time we charge out the battery or discharge, a few products permanently stops participating in the reaction cycles, reducing its capacity.

This wearing is not linear and charging from 30-70 barely damages the battery(0.1 cycles) while charging from 70-30 or using from 30-0 uses up to .4 cycles each. charging the battery at higher watts or heating also causes batteries to degrade faster, and should be avoided.[one cycle is charging from 0 to 100, and each battery can have from 300-800 charge cycles before it loses 20% of its performance]

• Charge from 20-80 when possible
• use conservation mode in laptops
• stop charging when overheating is present
• never fully drain the battery
• buy phone/laptops with good quality batteries
• never leave your phone in hot weather
• don’t charge the battery frequently
• turn off battery of laptops when it is not needed

Is fast-charging bad?

Another notion we have is that since charging faster tends to degrade the battery faster, it will lead to less battery life as time goes on. this too is not true, at least in the case of higher-end phones. they take a number of measures, including splitting the battery into 3 or more parts, including graphene strips inside the battery to spread out the heat, slowing down charging speed after 80 etc. for example, the MI 11 ultra, has a charging speed of 67W, has about the same wear as charging an iPhone 12pro max with a 20W brick, but with less than half an hour to fully charge.

Check out the best gaming laptops in India right now.

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