Charging our batteries is not a simple art. The most convenient solution is not to worry at all about how to charge it, but if we want to preserve its useful life as much as possible, it is recommended to follow a general rule: 20/80. It’s something we’ve been talking about for years, and a practice recommended by the manufacturers themselves to minimize the degradation of our batteries.
We’re going to tell you exactly what the 20/80 rule is, if it really makes sense to charge batteries using it, and how manufacturers are implementing solutions so we can apply it more easily.
Exciting area. Famous with the advent of lithium-ion batteries Memory effectsDue to the fact that we had to charge the battery up to 100% for the first time and it was recommended to do the full cycle.
However, new batteries have two zones that are considered voltages. Scientific evidence It points in this direction not only in mobile phones, but also in electric vehicle batteries. In particular, the areas between 0 and 20%, as well as 80 and 100% of charging time are most important.
Studies indicate that charging in this region accelerates battery degradation, being less efficient, requiring more power, and generating more heat, among others.
Manufacturers that approve this information. Major mobile phone manufacturers have been implementing comprehensive measures for some time to manage charging more efficiently. And these measures involve something very simple: preventing the phone from charging when it reaches 80%, or optimizing the charge as much as possible after reaching this number.
In fact, by default, the iPhone activates optimized charging when we reach 80%. The phone analyzes the time when we are about to wake up, to reduce the charging time of the phone by 80 to 100%. Other phones, such as Samsung, Huawei, Realme/OPPO or Sony, allow blocking when the charge reaches 80%.
This is clear evidence that preventing the phone from going to 100% is beneficial for the battery, although not all that glitters is gold.
60% is not very realistic to live with. The main problem with the 20/80 rule is that, unless we have a phone with a battery that lasts about two days, it’s virtually impossible to respect. Leaving the house at 80%, using the phone intensively and reaching 20% is something very few phones can afford, especially when time passes and the battery loses capacity.
Similarly, this rule can have the opposite effect: we become obsessed with micro-cycling and constantly recharging the phone. My recommendation? If possible, avoid letting the phone go below 20% (it’s more than viable if the phone doesn’t die at the end of the day) and don’t be too obsessed with not charging the phone to 100%.
Figure | Bing Image Creator + Photoshop Generative AI
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