It’s as if we live in a world of fast foods, fast charging, and instant gratification. We are too busy to ‘smell the roses’. Some say this degrades the quality of our life. Our devices also have to be compact and super-efficient to satisfy us. So today we pose a question, is fast-charging smart for our phones?
Why Worry Over Fast-Charging on the Fly?
When we use a phone battery – any battery – negative charges flow across to the positive terminal. When we recharge it again this process reverses, as positive charges prepare the battery for more work.
However, this process becomes less efficient as the battery ‘tops up’. You see, a battery is similar to a sponge in a way, as PC World puts it. It absorbs loads of fresh charge quickly when almost empty. But it struggles to top up the last 20% of its capacity.
We posed the question, is fast-charging smart for a phone at the start of this post. But first we need to get our minds around the relationship between energy and heat. Charging a battery with energy releases some heat, and this heat marginally damages the battery so it begins to wear out.
There’s a Lesson In This for Charging Our Phones
The final 20% of recharging a phone is a struggle for the battery. This generates more heat than when the battery is low, meaning that deep recharging is better than topping up.
Fast-charging a phone battery – any lithium-ion or lithium-polymer battery – pushes more current through than a regular charge. This generates more heat than regular charging, and can even eventually cause the battery to fail.
Smartphone companies know this phenomenon, but they also understand their users want fast charging. They may control the heat with larger, chunkier external adaptors, cooling hardware or parallel charging.
Act Responsibly to Extend Your Battery Life
However, it’s the user who has the final say over the life of a phone battery. Avoid fast charging and top-up charging when practical. Try to keep your battery charge between 20% and 80%, and your battery should last longer.
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