Battery advice

[Geekyworld]

Hi friends,

My smartphone is 2 yrs old & it's battery is good.

Is it a good idea to buy a new battery now itself & keep aside, so I'll have a spare battery at hand when my battery fails in a few years?

I am thinking of doing this because a good original battery may not be easily available a few years from now. The battery is Li-ion polymer, BN51.

The problem is this, Li-ion batteries are said to become un-rechargable if stored for a long time.
Is this true?

Thanks!

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

If your battery is good then you don't need to change it.
2 years is not a lot for a battery to deplete it's health.
I have had a smartphone of 5 years old and it still gave (gives) good battery backup with retaining capacity upto 94%.
Buying a battery now with the expectations of using it a few years later is just plain wrong, the unused battery stored might discharge to a point that it might die without even being used at all.

 

[Tejas01]

I had already done this when I had Asus Zenfone 2 laser. Since the phone was discontinued, parts were hard to get. The service centre advised me to get another spare battery when I had same concern as yours. I used the spare battery 2 years after original one deteriorated and it has been going strong.

The problem is this, Li-ion batteries are said to become un-rechargable if stored for a long time.

Most phone manufacturers have their batterys stored in for 2+ years when dispatch from factory. If you can "maintain your new battery upto 50% health by occassionally charging itz you won't have much loss in battery life. Never top it to 100% or drain completely to 0%(both affects battery life) when not using an li-ion battery for a long time.

 

[Geekyworld]

Thanks a lot Magnum & Tejas for the good advice.

 

[shirishag75]

I had already done this when I had Asus Zenfone 2 laser. Since the phone was discontinued, parts were hard to get. The service centre advised me to get another spare battery when I had same concern as yours. I used the spare battery 2 years after original one deteriorated and it has been going strong.

Most phone manufacturers have their batterys stored in for 2+ years when dispatch from factory. If you can "maintain your new battery upto 50% health by occassionally charging itz you won't have much loss in battery life. Never top it to 100% or drain completely to 0%(both affects battery life) when not using an li-ion battery for a long time.

For Lithium-polymer the ones which are coming in base models, don't think the above applies.

 

[Tejas01]

Then what applies?

 

[Adithya]

Depends on how long you are planning to keep the phone. The batteries usually come pre-charged to somewhere around 40% though.

 

[shirishag75]

From what little I understand, LiPo4 batteries you can charge to 100% without any issues.

Then what applies?

 

[Adithya]

It's a little misleading. Charging to 100% is indeed bad. But most manufacturers leave a buffer. So the 100% the customer sees is in reality 97, 95 or even 92 in some cases. The 80-20 rule does work to increase battery lifespan but it all depends on how you want to live your life. Batteries are consumables.


Source

 

[Tejas01]

@shirishag75 I beg to differ. I have an Asus zenbook and its battery drops in a month or so even after charging for 100% and not using it for entire month or two.
Also, I recently got a new phone and even its battery was at 58% oob.
If there were no issues, then manufacturers would give new batteries topped up to 100%.
Issue is not if it can be charged to its max capacity. As mentioned above, what you see 100% or 0% is not the true case to ensure battery extremes don't take a toll on the health and capacity.
If there were no issues with Over charging, then OnePlus, Motorola and others wouldn't have provided Overcharge protection.