Question about battery life

[spydergirl]

In the old days we were always told to run the batteries completely dead because it "trained them. " Some VZN reps told us recently that's no longer the case and that the current batteries should never be operated in the red or yellow or it would fry them. So I never let mine run down below a 1/4 battery level. Just like we were told in the old days, do these batteries eventually "learn" or "train" from your regular use and get longer battery life? Hopefully that made sense?

Sent from my GN2

[Caesars]

My basic understanding is that these newer batteries don't need trained, it's it's the phone meter that needs trained. Also I believe that running them into the red results in poorer longterm battery performance.

I could be 100 percent wrong though hehe.

Return of the Android

[spydergirl]

My basic understanding is that these newer batteries don't need trained, it's it's the phone meter that needs trained. Also I believe that running them into the red results in poorer longterm battery performance.

I could be 100 percent wrong though hehe.

Return of the Android

Thank you. Dumb question. .... What's the phone meter and how does that get trained?

Sent from my GN2

[drew96dawg]

Its the battery icon and where it gets it stats from.
It is trained by using the phone until it says low battery (15% on this phone) and then turn it off and fully charge it. When it is charged power it on and use it until it is dead again then power off and charge again.
It is recommended to "train" your battery like this every 3 months.

sent from my vzw galaxy note 2

[toperm]

Just an fyi...47 hours on one charge. ..And it was at 21% when I finally plugged in. . Texts, Web, no movies. I am impressed.

[FoxKat]

My basic understanding is that these newer batteries don't need trained, it's it's the phone meter that needs trained. Also I believe that running them into the red results in poorer longterm battery performance.

I could be 100 percent wrong though hehe.

Return of the Android

Or you could be 100% right~!!

[FoxKat]

Thank you. Dumb question. .... What's the phone meter and how does that get trained?

Sent from my GN2

Its the battery icon and where it gets it stats from.
It is trained by using the phone until it says low battery (15% on this phone) and then turn it off and fully charge it. When it is charged power it on and use it until it is dead again then power off and charge again.
It is recommended to "train" your battery like this every 3 months.

sent from my vzw galaxy note 2

There's no dumb question here...thank you!

drew96dawg is right. The metering system uses the voltage and current value readings of the battery at a full 100% charge and again at the 15% "Low battery" warning to base its estimates for remaining charge. You see, the battery in your phone is not like a gas tank, where with a car when it's full, it will always be the same gallons of gas that it can hold as a maximum, and likewise when it's empty...well you're stranded. Batteries still have power stored when they're "empty", its just that the power still stored is necessary to keep the battery from being permanently unable to be recharged. So the phone decides when the battery has reached this "red line" or minimum charge level before the phone self-powers off. Also these batteries can both hold MORE power than they have when your phone says 100% charged, but by charging beyond certain thresholds, the overall life of the battery begins to suffer dramatically.

Batteries in these phones are designed to last the recommended "usable life" of the phone, which is now about 2 years. This is based on an expected approximately 500 charges over that timeframe. Since batteries will hold less and less charge as time goes on, by the time you've charged it about 500 times it will only hold about 80% of the charge that it could when brand new.

It's the combination of the changing capacity, coupled with how we use and charge the phone over time that we'll say, "confuses" the battery meter and can cause it to indicate levels that are either higher or lower than the actual charge level. In a best case scenario, it may be that the phone doesn't appear to last the full day with a "full" charge. In the worst case scenario, the phone can mistake the battery for having remaining "usable" charge when it's actually below that "red line" we talked about above. This can result in the phone becoming completely unresponsive to the charger and essentially unable to charge.

So as drew96dawg said, it's a good practice to perform a "meter training" about every 2-3 months (every 2 if you use it and it requires recharging every day, 3 if you can get away with charging every 2 days). The process is as follows;

Power off the phone by pressing and holding the power button, then choosing "Power off" from the menu.
Plug your phone into the charge adapter that came with the phone, and allow it to charge to 100% from the wall adapter in the "powered off" Charge Only mode.
Once fully charged, disconnect the charger and power the phone up as you normally would.
Use the phone as you normally do, but don't charge it until the warning pops up that you are now at 15% remaining charge level, and you have a "Low battery".
At that point or as soon as possible thereafter, power off the phone and repeat the same charging to 100% with power off.

Once done, you can use the phone again as normal and simply repeat this 3 step process again in another 2-3 months....

Power off and charge to 100%
Power on and use to 15%
Power off and charge to 100%

Enjoy a long battery life.