How Harmful Are Car Chargers On The Battery?

music_man185

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just got my droid x a few days ago. i'm coming from a G'zOne Rock basic phone. i'm already noticing there is a huge difference in battery life (as there should be). i could go several days without a charge using my g'zone for talking and texting. i've had to charge my droid x every night so far. i figured i should go ahead and grab a car charger for when i'm out and my battery gets low. i've always heard car chargers are hard on the battery and will shorten their life. is this still the case with newer phones and chargers? how do you guys use car chargers? and have you noticed a negative impact on your battery life since using one?
 

alienware777

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I've never once heard this. I've used a car charger on my OG droid for a while now and it seems fine, but I guess it might of heard it. Waiting to hear what others say.

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music_man185

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the reason being (from what i've heard), is that a car charger charges the battery too fast. the fast jolt of charge is what is hard on the battery.
 

FernBch

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Battery technology has changed over the years. When it was NiCad, continual charging was bad. NiCad batteries would develop "memory". If they were kept fully charged all the time they would get to a point where they didn't do well if discharged to a certain point. They would also need to be completely discharged about once a month and then fully recharged to fight against memory.
With today's technology that is not such an issue anymore. The biggest thing you need to be careful of is using an improper charger. Too high of a charging rate can heat the battery and shorten it's life. Just make sure you have a charger that is good for your battery. Some of the inexpensive chargers that work on many different phones may need to be looked at a little more closely before they are used.
I have used a car charger with every mobile device I've had over the last few years. I have also always bought the charger for that particular device from the manufacturer, like the one I have for my DX from VZW. I have never had battery issues or had to replace one before the device. My last phone was the HTC Ozone, had the HTC charger and after more than two years still had the same battery in it.
I also don't keep it on the charger at every possible moment or charge it in the car with the sun beating down on it. Temperature is a battery's enemy.

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markwebb

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I have the original battery which came with my OG Droid and I use the official MOTO car charger daily. Still running well with no battery issues for 1.5 years. My battery still maintains a healthy charge over 10+ hours.
 

wcjeep

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I use a micro/bullet style dual charger with 3ft micro usb cord. The dual charger is 1amp per outlet. This always gives me a computer cord wherever I'm at.
 

Arodnum1

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music_man185

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i have another battery question. the older cell phone batteries used to have an approximate "number of charges" in them. like say, 500 charges in the life of the battery. are they still this way?

for example, if they only have certain number of recharges in them, it would be better to let it drain as low as possible each time and recharge to 100%. i usually just charge mine every night, regardless of its current charge.
 

audioman42

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There's no difference. It's not good to completely drain lithium batteries, & the built-in protection circuitry will keep you from doing so. When buying a new charger (whether it be a car or home charger), make sure the amperage of the new charger matches the one that came with the phone.
 
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music_man185

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i use the oem home charger that came with the droid, and i just purchased the moto oem car charger. i just wanted to make sure i'm not doing the battery harm, if i throw it on the charger at 70 or 80 percent. rather than letting it drain more before charging it.
 

Arodnum1

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i use the oem home charger that came with the droid, and i just purchased the moto oem car charger. i just wanted to make sure i'm not doing the battery harm, if i throw it on the charger at 70 or 80 percent. rather than letting it drain more before charging it.

You won't harm it, the cells used are protected, lithium ion is a great improvement from your old nimh or nicad, they are lighter, more powerful, and they evenly discharge unlike nickel based batteries

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jseah

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i have another battery question. the older cell phone batteries used to have an approximate "number of charges" in them. like say, 500 charges in the life of the battery. are they still this way?

for example, if they only have certain number of recharges in them, it would be better to let it drain as low as possible each time and recharge to 100%. i usually just charge mine every night, regardless of its current charge.

NiMh batteries were the ones with a limited number of charges. It roughly equated to 500 full charge/discharge cycles and the battery would degrade. With Li-Ion batteries, there is no limit to the number of charges, although I have heard that it is bad to let the battery fully discharge and then recharge too often as that speeds up the degradation of the battery. I have also heard that with Li-Ion batteries, they actually start to slowly degrade over time as soon as the battery is manufactured, so depending on how much you actually use the battery, you can expect it to last somewhere around 3-5 years until it has degraded to a point where it will essentially no longer hold a charge.
 
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