Do I need to drain my battery before recharging?

I don't know how many charges over the lifespan, but I've had mine for 2 years and charge it at least every second day. And, no, no need to wait - I charge it when it goes down to 50 - 60% usually (unless I forget).

Please see this User Tip by my colleague for details on how to charge your battery.

When to charge your iPhone or iPad

That is an excellent one!

I diagree with some of those tips, from Mr. Finch.

So, I feel his info is, now, somewhat suspect.

Without knowing what info is exactly correct or not, I am stating what I know from working with various battery technologies over many years and my own knowledge of current Lithium-ion battery technology.

First, Lithium only batteries ARE different from the now current Lithium-ion type.

These are Lithium-ion batteries, NOT plain lithium batteries, that all moible eletronics devices have used for years and lithium-ion batteries will NOT go flat and die if they are drained fully and not recharged right away.

I just, recharged my 2nd generation iPod Touch after almost a year of the Lithium-ion battery being drained and it charged right up. and has held the charge at nearly 100% for the last 2-3 days it has been in sleep/standby mode.

So, Mr. Finch's info about this fact, in my mind, is already suspect as incorrect.

Lithium-ion batteries NEED to be drained down from to when the device shuts down from time to time.

The frequency of how many times that draining the Lithium-ion battery to this drained, shut down state is the major bone of contention for other users that, also, think they know better how to keep a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery "healthy" and to get the longest life out of it.

Like any rechargeable battery, any rechargeable, including Lithium-ion batteries, really do not like being drained completely down constantly or consistently.

That fact stated, Lithium-ion batteries need to "exercised" every so often, so as to maintain both the number and length of the charging cycles.

That above statement has nothing to do with keeping a battery from having a "memory", but to keep the Lithium-ion battery functioning the best it is supposed to for as long as it has been rated to function.

I am of the mindset that in order to maintain the health of a lithium ion battery and "excercise" to maintain its lifespan, it is best to only let the battery drain down to zero either once a month OR if you use use your mobile devices everyday for long stretches at a time (I use my iPads as laptop replacements, so I use my iPads quite a bit) my advice would be to drain them down to device shutdown and recharge sooner, like every two or three weeks instead of once a month.

Again, keeping the number a drain down cycles to a few as possible.

Completely draining down a Lithium-ion battery every couple of days or once a week, I believe to be way too many drain down cycles over the life of the device and its battery.

Another piece of info I have discovered about Lithium-Ion batteries is do not leave a mobile device constantly plugged into power, keeping the Lithium-ion battery charge continuously at 100% for prolonged, extended periods of time.

This act WILL prevent the Lithium-ion battery from working or, again, "exercising" its proper charging cycles and intervals.

I have first hand knowledge and experience with this issue

My Wife and I have the same cell phones. She using hers everyday day and keeps it charged up only draining/discharging the battery every other week or so.

I do not use my cell phone as much (I FaceTime, Skype, IM email more) and my cell phone is/was constantly connected up to mains power and on a charge.

Her phone lasts 2-3 days on a charge and would be around 10-25 % left of a full charge.

If I took my phone off the charger (usually when I am out of the house) I was lucky if my phone lasted 12 hours (sometimes it would last only 8hours on a charge) and would drain completely down in that time.

I have since started leaving my cell phone off of the charger and recharge it when it gets to half or three quarters discharged and now I am getting, at least,ma full day or so out of a charge cycle and I have about 10 percent left and I connected it back up for a full charging cycle.

I am not sure if I did permanent damage to the Lithium-ion battery by constantly leaving it in a constant full charged state, but will be monitoring this to see if the normal charging cycle times and intervals between charging return.

As of now, I, at least, get a full day of use out of my phone before it needs a charging cycle.

MichelPM wrote:

First, Lithium only batteries ARE different from the now current Lithium-ion type.

These are Lithium-ion batteries, NOT plain lithium batteries, that all moible eletronics devices have used for years and lithium-ion batteries will NOT go flat and die if they are drained fully and not recharged right away.

Real experience shows otherwise. There are regular posts from users who left their iPhones in a drawer for 6 months, then found that the battery was dead. In fact, this has been reported after only a few weeks without charging. So my advice was based on real life experience, not theory. I was being conservative, but it certainly does no harm to charge when it reaches zero. Apple's own advice is to charge to 50% before putting a device into storage.

Lithium-ion batteries NEED to be drained down from to when the device shuts down from time to time.

Apple disagrees with this recommendation. It was in their battery recommendations initially, but they removed it several years ago. The reason to drain the battery periodically had nothing to do with the battery; it is to recalibrate the battery gauge. And with newer phones and iOS versions even that isn't necessary, because the battery gauge has gotten "smarter."

The Apple battery tip had language in it that it looks like you quoted. What is interesting is that language was in the iPhone battery tip, but not in the iPad. And it has since been removed from the iPhone.

FWIW, I never completely drain my battery, except accidentally on very rare occasion. This is also supported by other Lithium ion technology uses; for example, my plug-in Prius never allows the battery SoC to go below 20%, and Teslas also follow similar guidelines.

I am not sure if I did permanent damage to the Lithium-ion battery by constantly leaving it in a constant full charged state, but will be monitoring this to see if the normal charging cycle times and intervals between charging return.

As of now, I, at least, get a full day of use out of my phone before it needs a charging cycle.

I am sure you did it no harm. For one thing, the phone stops charging when it reaches 100%. Stops completely, not even a trickle charge. I have checked this with a USB ammeter. There are always things going on in the phone that use some energy; that's why it is specified as having a "standby" battery life. These put some drain on the battery, allowing it to discharge a few percent (typically to 95%). The charging circuit does not come on immediately; it waits until roughly 95%, then recharges back to 100%. Thus, the battery is still being exercised. Some users report this in the forum as a defect, that it doesn't stay at 100%. But it's actually the way it was designed.

I have a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro. Both have the same battery technology as iOS devices. The MBP is plugged in 90% of the time, as it is my "desktop" computer. In the 2 years that it has been plugged in, when I unplug it the battery life is just as good as it was when it was new. The MBA is 4 years old; it gets unplugged once or twice a week for a few hours, but otherwise it is also plugged in continuously. It also still has its original battery life.

Finally, battery lifetime is not measured as a function of time; it is by charge-discharge cycles. So by frequently draining and charging it you are reducing its battery longevity, not increasing it. The battery itself actually has a status monitor built in that Apple (and 3rd party battery monitoring apps) can read; it includes the number of full charge-discharge cycles and the battery capacity as compared to its "new" capacity. Apple recommends replacing the battery when the capacity reaches 80% of the "new" capacity.

Hi Lawrence,

Read your responses and while I really do not wish to spar with you on this as there have been plenty of arguments on this very matter over the years.

My basic attitude and contentions come down this ( and I'll try to be as brief as possible.)

The "health" and lifespan of Lithium-ion or Lithium polymer batteries basically comes down to two factors.

The amount of charge/discharge cycles and heat.

The Lithium ion battery will lasts its longest if you do not constantly or very regularly completely discharge from 100% to zero and do not charge from zero to 100%.

This action creates the most heat in a Lithium-ion battery and shortens its life.

Smaller, incrememental charging IS better as it creates less heat, therefore, less stress on the battery, prolonging its life.

However, I do feel it is neccessary to completely discharge the lithium-ion battery, from time to time, as to reset its normal charge/discharge cycle as, over time, lithium batteries can take longer to charge and can discharge faster over a prolnged period of time.

A full discharge of the Lithium-ion battery from time to time resets this behaviour.

I still feel that the fewer full drain cycles, the better it is for the life of the Lithium-ion battery.

There are loose facts on both sides of of our points and I have supplied a link to a website I use quite a lot that is very comprehensive on all the different battery technologies.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batterie s

FYi,

I just charged up my original iPad from 2010 after being in storage for nearly 3 years and it is completely charged up and appears to be working fine

I am amazed that the battery charged and powered up after all this time.

Michel

No, I have not.