Mobile Phone Battery Repair & Replacement

The rule with Li-ion batteries is to keep them 50% or more most of the time. When it drops below 50% top it up a little if you can. A little a few times a day seems to be the optimum to aim for. But don’t charge it all the way to 100%. It won’t be fatal to your battery if you do a full recharge – most of us are forced to do this every now and again in emergencies. But constantly doing a full recharge will shorten the battery’s lifespan. So a good range to aim for when charging a Li-ion battery is from about 40% to 80% in one go. Try not to let the battery drop below 20%.

Experts recommend that you do a full zero to 100% battery recharge (a “charge cycle”) maybe once a month only. This recalibrates the battery – a bit like restarting your computer, or, for humans, going on holiday! The same goes for laptops, by the way.

Some modern smartphones are clever enough to stop charging when full, so there isn’t a great risk in leaving your phone charging overnight. If you are unsure we recommend not to leave your battery over charging for extended periods of time. Remove the phone from a case if charging for a long time, as a case could lead to over heating – which Lithium-ion batteries do not like.

Many Android phones have a feature that allows for fast charging. Samsung even calls its technology “ultra fast charging”. Motorola boasts about its Droid Turbo that promises an 8 hour charge in just 15 minutes! HTC’s Rapid Charger 2.0 charges devices such as the One M8, One E8 and Desire Eye 40 percent faster. These phones have special code usually located in a chip known as the Power Management IC (PMIC) that communicates with the charger you are using and requests that it send power at a higher voltage. Apple’s iPhone 6 doesn’t feature fast charging but its Qualcomm PMIC is smart enough to recognise when you use a higher-amp charger (like the one you get with the iPad), and that’s a good thing because fast charging will heat up that Li-ion battery and cause it increased wear and tear. For the same reason, don’t leave your phone in a hot car, on the beach or next to the oven. A hot battery will suffer long-term effects on its lifespan. And so will a super-cold one, so don’t leave your device in the freezer or out in the snow! So, if you can, switch off fast charging on your Android phone.

Where possible use the charger that came with your phone, as it is sure to have the correct rating. Or make sure that a third-party charger is approved by your phone’s manufacturer. Cheap alternatives from Amazon or eBay may harm your phone, and there have been several reported cases of cheap chargers actually catching on fire!

Don’t leave a Li-ion battery li-ing around too long at 0%. Try to leave it at around 40-50%. These batteries drain at about 5-10% a month when not in use. If you let the battery discharge completely and leave it uncharged for a long period of time it may eventually become incapable of holding a charge at all (that’s properly dead). It’s unlikely you’ll leave your smartphone lying in a drawer for very long, but some people do leave their laptop, battery packs or spare batteries unused for long periods of time. So try to keep them all at least half charged.

A lithium-ion battery or Li-ion battery (abbreviated as LIB) is a type of rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode to the positive electrode during discharge and back when charging. Li-ion batteries use an intercalated lithium compound as one electrode material, compared to the metallic lithium used in a non-rechargeable lithium battery. The electrolyte, which allows for ionic movement, and the two electrodes are the constituent components of a lithium-ion battery cell. Lithium-ion batteries are common in home electronics. They are one of the most popular types of rechargeable batteries for portable electronics, with a high energy density, tiny memory effect and low self-discharge. Beyond consumer electronics, LIBs are also growing in popularity for military, battery electric vehicle and aerospace applications.For example, lithium-ion batteries are becoming a common replacement for the lead–acid batteries that have been used historically for golf carts and utility vehicles. Instead of heavy lead plates and acid electrolyte, the trend is to use lightweight lithium-ion battery packs that can provide the same voltage as lead-acid batteries, so no modification to the vehicle’s drive system is required.

While smartphones, smarthomes and even smart wearables are growing ever more advanced, they’re still limited by power. The battery hasn’t advanced in decades. But we’re on the verge of a power revolution.

Big technology companies, and now car companies that are making electric vehicles, are all too aware of the limitations of lithium-ion batteries. While chips and operating systems are becoming more efficient to save power we’re still only looking at a day or two of use on a smartphone before having to recharge. That’s why universities are getting involved. We’ve seen a plethora of battery discoveries coming out of universities all over the world. Tech companies and car manufacturers are pumping money into battery development, and with races like Formula E adding pressure to improve, that technology is only going to get greater. But while we’ve been writing about these developments for years they still haven’t made it to our phones. This is because everyone is waiting for the perfect replacement before making the jump. That, and commitments to current batteries thanks to manufacturing techniques that cost a lot to change and existing deals for minerals being hard to break. Things are starting to change though, so we’ve collected all the best battery discoveries that could be with us soon. From over the air charging to super-fast 30-second re-charging, you could be seeing this tech in your gadgets sooner than you think.