Can you overcharge a battery?

[georgevan]

I mean a cell phone or laptop. If it is fully charged yet remains plugged in is it bad for it?

 

[Andy M.]

There are conflicting answers to this question. I plug in my laptop to charge overnight. I go with what the manufacturer told me (Apple). It's not a problem. Same goes for my iPhone battery. I assume that's also true for other brands.

 

[dragnlaw]

I often charge overnight as well. But truth to tell, been told you should only charge to "almost" full and not charge til below 20. Can't get it out of my head. .. and then I say - bah, charge it when you think of it and the consequences be...

If I know I'm going out and notice my phone is hovering around the 50% - I charge... don't use my phone often when I'm out but there have been times that I have... and run dangerously low.

and that "almost full" and below 20" also applies to my son's E-car. According to the manufacturers. He sets the timer on his phone to plug and unplug.

 

[Just Cooking]

I often charge overnight as well. But truth to tell, been told you should only charge to "almost" full and not charge til below 20. Can't get it out of my head. .. and then I say - bah, charge it when you think of it and the consequences be...

If I know I'm going out and notice my phone is hovering around the 50% - I charge... don't use my phone often when I'm out but there have been times that I have... and run dangerously low.

and that "almost full" and below 20" also applies to my son's E-car. According to the manufacturers. He sets the timer on his phone to plug and unplug.

I have had that information also.
My problem is that I, automatically, charge phone and kindle each morning.

As I've aged I've changed my bad habits to simply stupid ones.

Ross

 

[taxlady]

I think that modern batteries in smart phones and laptops have software that prevents overcharging. I have been told that the reason to unplug when full is to save electricity.

 

[buckytom]

What taxy said. Modern cell phones know when to stop and go into a trickle charge so they don't overcharge.

Also, Li-ion batteries don't suffer from "memory" issues, but they do have a limited number of useful charge cycles.

 

[Andy M.]

What taxy said. Modern cell phones know when to stop and go into a trickle charge so they don't overcharge.

Also, Li-ion batteries don't suffer from "memory" issues, but they do have a limited number of useful charge cycles.

I was once told that the battery in my MacBook Air had about 1000 useful recharge cycles before it started interfering with performance.

 

[buckytom]

Andy, there's a whole lotta statistics, and maximums and minumums, and benchmarks all twisted together into a sales pitch that tells you how long ypur battery will last.
Every battery, or really a series of little batteries, and every system using them is different. Blue chip companies, like Apple, and Sony, and so on have remarkably better results on their products.

Or maybe it's better to say that certain brands use higher quality batteries. A thousand charge cycles is enough to outlast the usefulness of their perpetually renewing software.
And then you have to buy the update.


It's funny; I was in a class given by a manufacturer on the engineering of the system that we had just bought where they spec'd out the hard drives to last 100 years in their special configuration.

In the middle of the class, one of our guys walked in a reported a drive failure.

So much for benchmarks.

 

[roadfix]

I use a dedicated Mac Book for downloading and streaming, hooked up to my home stereo system. And the charger is connected 24/7.

 

[dragnlaw]

I once bought a portable booster for the farm, for cold winters yuh know, out in the country. It had a trickle feature that you left plugged in so that it was always tip-top when you needed it.

When I needed it ... it was dead - unchargable - kaput - money down the drain