Is fast charging harmful? Six facts you need to know about your phone's battery

Battery life is one of the things that interests most owners of phones, and the battery that can last an entire day is a major advantage for any phone buyer, after measuring the screen, according to the CNet website concerned with technical matters.

According to a study conducted by the Cantar World Panel website in the third quarter of last year on the trends of buying and using smart phones, tablets and worn devices, the phone battery was more important to users even than the excellent camera, and the same interest in battery life applies to the life cycle of the device.

Here are six important facts every phone owner must know about his device's battery:

1- The phone's battery will not change any time soon
All mobile phones - most personal electronics and electric vehicles - use rechargeable Li-ion batteries, and it is difficult to make batteries that last longer because battery technology has not changed for decades, so most of the progress in battery life comes from the benefits of energy conservation Built-in hardware and software-making manage the charge and discharge process more effectively.

Unfortunately for mobile phones, the focus on extending battery life is generally on cars, satellites, and home power systems, which are areas where batteries need to function for a much longer period of two or three years than we expect from mobile phones.

Another factor that stands against phones is the size of the battery. Compared to the electric car battery, the phone power supply is minimal. For example, the Tesla 3 rechargeable battery has a capacity of 4,000 times that of the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

This is important because the larger the battery the greater the field of circumvention to extend its life cycle. For example, when charging a battery, its voltage increases and causes it stress, especially during the last 20% of the charge. To avoid this stress, electric car manufacturers may resort to charging new batteries up to only 80%, and because of that large capacity of the car battery it can still travel an acceptable distance While avoiding overvoltage stress, this can double the overall life of the car battery.

Large phone batteries can give the user a full day of work from a single charge, but that is if the phone has been charged 100%, and although this allows the battery to last an acceptable period between all two charges, it also puts the battery under further stress due to voltages The high charge required by the full charge, and thus affects its life cycle.

2- Fast charging will not damage your battery
A traditional phone charger provides 5 to 10 watts of power, while a quick charger can double that up to eight times.

For example, the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max come with a fast charger of 18 watts, and the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Plus come with a fast charger of 25 watts, and Samsung also sells an additional 45-watt fast charger for fifty dollars.

And as long as there is no technical defect in the phone battery or charger electronics, the use of a fast charger will not cause any long-term damage to your phone's battery.

The reason for this is that fast charging batteries operate in two stages: the first is where a voltage is applied to the empty or semi-empty battery, and this gives the phone that fast charge from 50% to 70% of the battery capacity in the first 10, 15 or 30 minutes, because it is During the first stage of charging the batteries can quickly absorb the charge without any long-term negative effects on their health.

In contrast, the remaining 20 or 30% of the battery capacity takes a long time to charge similar to the duration of that 70% charge. The final part of this is the second charging stage, where phone manufacturers have to slow down and manage the charging speed accurately, otherwise the charging process may damage the battery.

CNET quotes Arthur Shi, a hardware dismantle engineer at the I-FEXIT site, who likens the battery to a sponge, as when pouring water on a dry sponge it absorbs liquid quickly, and for the battery this represents the fast charging stage.

As water continues to be poured at the same rate on the increasingly saturated sponge, the liquid will flow to the surface with an attempt to absorb it, and for the battery, the energy that does not absorb it may cause electric failure and other problems that can damage it.

Battery damage is rare if everything is carefully managed from the inside, so the battery management system closely monitors the charging stages and slows its speed during the second stage to give the battery sufficient time to absorb energy and avoid problems, which is why it may take ten minutes to charge the remaining small percentage of the capacity the battery.

3- Don't be afraid to overcharge your device's battery
Phone owners are afraid of the problem of overcharging the phone battery if it is left connected to the charger continuously, assuming that this leads to instability of the battery and thus shortens its total life, or causes high internal heat to lead to the explosion of the battery or ignition.

But according to the experts who were reported by the CNet website, the phone's power management system is designed to turn off the electric charge once the battery charge reaches 100%, and before it enters the phase of overcharging.

Unless something goes wrong in the battery’s electrical circuit, you can't charge any modern phone over-charge, he says, adding that phones have built-in protection to prevent this from happening specifically.

You can install an app to manage power that alerts you if the phone battery charge reaches 80%, to avoid the stress in the voltage caused by charging the remaining 20% ​​of the battery capacity, or you can manually disconnect the charger from your phone when it reaches 80%, but in return you may lose Those extra hours of battery savings.

4- Do not let your phone's battery drain completely
You might have thought about making your phone's battery drain completely to help the battery reset its charging status, but this is not a problem with modern phone batteries, according to CNET.

In fact, discharging the battery to zero may cause chemical reactions that, over time, may shorten battery life.

To avoid completely discharging the battery, the battery management system includes safety features that turn off the phone when it reaches a safe power level above the battery, and you only think that the battery has drained when you see that last warning of a low battery charge.

But if you want to keep your phone battery healthy for a longer period, plug it into the charger when it has an estimated charge of about 30%.

5- The high temperature can damage your battery
Heat is the true enemy of your phone's battery, and it is known that it reduces battery life over time, so you must keep your phone away from strong sunlight, and away from window sills or under the car windows to prevent overheating; in rare cases, excess heat may lead to a battery explosion .

Isidore Buchman, founder and CEO of Cadex Electronics, a battery technology company, says a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius can reduce battery efficiency.

This does not mean that you keep your phone in a cold place, but rather you should avoid high temperatures. If you are under the sun for long periods, try to place a towel over the phone or put it in the bag next to the cold water bottle. The idea is to prevent the internal phone temperature from rising.

6- Unmatched cables and chargers will not damage your phone's battery
As long as you do not use fake or damaged chargers or cables, using chargers or cables from other companies will not harm your battery, but you may not charge the battery at the same speed if you use that charger or cable that came with your device.

Some phones - such as Huawei phones or "OnePlus" - use a charger design with an exclusive intellectual property, so that it is part of the electric circuit responsible for fast charging built-in the charger, and to take advantage of that intellectual property for fast charging the phone you will need to use a compatible charger.

Other phone makers, such as Samsung and Apple, adhere more to the industry standard rules for fast charging, and allow you to charge your device quickly with various options of compatible chargers and cables.

In all cases, the safest bet is to use the chargers and cables that come with your phone, because when using chargers or other cables, your device may use the default mode for the lowest possible charging speed.