Battery health on Android?

[Diablo2K]

I got a new Google Pixel 7. My first phone that uses the new charging protocols, PD 3.0. I currently only have a single charger and one usb cord that supports PD charging. I am getting more soon and replacing all my old chargers and cables.
My new phone has a smaller battery and I use it alot more and the battery no longer lasts like my old phone.
I was wondering if it is OK to keep it hooked to the charger when I am not using it. I like to use the clock screen in the "Alarm Clock for Free" app while it is sitting in the phone stand while I am on my computer as I am OCD about knowing the time. I would like to be able to get up, grab my phone and go and have it fully charged. Is this going to cause the battery to wear down prematurely?

I plan on getting a wireless charger for my desk and one for the nightstand next to my bed so I don't have to worry about plugging it in or unplugging it.

What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks.

 

[dogDAbone]

Well I've heard/read arguments for & against keeping a phone plugged in all the time or not and whether it effects battery life, and IIRC, for most recent phones, they automatically stop charging once the battery is full or nearly full, even if you leave them plugged in or charging wirelessly, and for my P7P and S23Ultra, I know this to be true, since I have looked at them during the night and the gauge shows 100% but the little icon that indicates active charging is not flashing.....

So I experimented a bit by unplugging them during the night after 100% was reached and left them on my night table until morning, when they still showed 95-99%. I then proceeded to use them as normal during the day (usually 6am-5pm) for browsing, email, text, photos etc (no gammin though) for several weeks and have not noticed any decrease in battery life, and by bedtime (9-11pm) they both would still have around 25-40% left....

So for me, I don't think it is an issue. However, IIRC, wireless charging is usually a slower, lower-wattage process, and that may or may not make some difference with some phones, but I don't know because I haven't tried that yet

 

[Diablo2K]

Well I've heard/read arguments for & against keeping a phone plugged in all the time or not and whether it effects battery life, and IIRC, for most recent phones, they automatically stop charging once the battery is full or nearly full, even if you leave them plugged in or charging wirelessly, and for my P7P and S23Ultra, I know this to be true, since I have looked at them during the night and the gauge shows 100% but the little icon that indicates active charging is not flashing.....

So I experimented a bit by unplugging them during the night after 100% was reached and left them on my night table until morning, when they still showed 95-99%. I then proceeded to use them as normal during the day (usually 6am-5pm) for browsing, email, text, photos etc (no gammin though) for several weeks and have not noticed any decrease in battery life, and by bedtime (9-11pm) they both would still have around 25-40% left....

So for me, I don't think it is an issue. However, IIRC, wireless charging is usually a slower, lower-wattage process, and that may or may not make some difference with some phones, but I don't know because I haven't tried that yet

ok, thanks for your reply.
I have a cable that shows the charging wattage. I know the closer it gets to full charge the slower it goes. When fully charged with the clock display on it's less than 1 watt.
I have no idea about how the wireless charger will work when it is fully charged, is the coil still going to be fully powered or will it power down or not? I will do some more research to find out more and hopefully someone on here will know as well.

 

[RCoight86]

I have a pixel 7 also, I enabled smart charging so that overnight on the wireless charger it slows down the charging to a few watts so that it only reaches full charge by the time my alarm goes off. Might be worth turning on. The more you can avoid the battery heating up the better.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

With modern batteries it’s fine.
What puts wear and tear on your battery is discharge cycles. There’s no longer any form of memory or loss like there was on nickel cadmium batteries.

Also, generally it’s known that batteries are an expendable part of your phone. If you’re a long term phone user and you also use your phone regularly (let’s say at least a full discharge per day), you’re going to have to replace the battery after two years anyway; at least if you want a battery that has optimal retention.

Knowing that and having that expectation, it’s not worth the neuroses to worry about when there is no modern battery that has these problems and you’re either going to upgrade or replace your phone battery after two years. And if the battery lasts longer than two years you can consider that a bonus.

 

[GotNoRice]

Slower charging is actually easier on the battery. So while a quick charge is nice if you are actually time limited, if you are charging overnight or while sitting at your desk, it's actually better to charge at plain-old 5V.

Many phones have options for battery protection, which basically limits max charge at 85%. If you can make it through the day starting at 85% without your battery dropping too low, then you might consider leaving that enabled. I almost always leave battery-protection enabled, but disable it if I know i'm going to go on a trip or something where the extra battery life might be beneficial.

Absolutly DO NOT simply leave your phone plugged-in, pegged at 100% charge, for longer than absolutely necessary. YES, this STILL matters, even on a brand new phone with a brand new latest-generation battery.

Ideal charge percentage is usually 65-70%, which is why that's almost always what your phone or tablet is at when you buy a brand new phone or tablet. That's so it can spend months or even years sitting on the shelf without the battery destroying itself. This is known as a "Storage charge" and is the most healthy for the battery long-term. So just use common sense and adjust your usage pattern such that your phone spends as much time as close to that range as possible. For example, if your phone is already at 75%, DON'T "top it off". Also, try not to let your phone battery get too low on a regular basis. NEVER let your phone/tablet battery sit at 0% for any significant amount of time. Anything below 30% or so, you should probably charge it, including using a mobile battery pack if necessary.

Do these things and you can probably get 20 years out of your battery.

 

[Dopamin3]

If you bought your phone from Google and have an unlocked bootloader, and want to venture into the world of custom ROMs... One of the Evolution X team members released "PixelParts" (https://github.com/Evolution-X-Devices/packages_apps_PixelParts) that includes an option to stop or start charging at a percentage you set (e.g. 80% and 20% or whatever) which will greatly extend the life of the battery if you leave it plugged in. It has some other cool features too. From what I noticed most custom ROMs integrate these features.

If you're staying stock the adaptive charging will help along with this Google article: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/6090612?hl=en

 

[Diablo2K]

If you bought your phone from Google and have an unlocked bootloader, and want to venture into the world of custom ROMs... One of the Evolution X team members released "PixelParts" (https://github.com/Evolution-X-Devices/packages_apps_PixelParts) that includes an option to stop or start charging at a percentage you set (e.g. 80% and 20% or whatever) which will greatly extend the life of the battery if you leave it plugged in. It has some other cool features too. From what I noticed most custom ROMs integrate these features.

If you're staying stock the adaptive charging will help along with this Google article: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/6090612?hl=en

Ok Thank you for the info. I got my phone through Spectrum Mobil. I have thought about looking into a custom rom, I use to do to my phones but it has been a while sense I modded a phone. I don't really know what my options are sense I am locked into Spectrum at the moment.
I will check out the article you posted.

 

[Dopamin3]

Ok Thank you for the info. I got my phone through Spectrum Mobil. I have thought about looking into a custom rom, I use to do to my phones but it has been a while sense I modded a phone. I don't really know what my options are sense I am locked into Spectrum at the moment.
I will check out the article you posted.

I honestly don't know about if Spectrum phones can be bootloader unlocked or not (the requirement for rooting and/or running a custom ROM) but it looks like this guy was able to bootloader unlock his Pixel 6a once it was paid off: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpectrumMo...=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I assume you would also need to have the device paid off, then contact Spectrum to make sure it's unlocked.

Honestly the development scene is pretty good on Pixel 7 series (often referred to as "pantah" since 7 is panther and 7 pro is cheetah). There are lots of custom kernels and ROMs available to really improve the functionality and battery life.

 

[TheSlySyl]

I use Accubattery Pro, and I've had it installed since day 1 of my Pixel 7 Pro. I also used it on my last two phones (pixel 2 and pixel 4a).

 

[Diablo2K]

I use Accubattery Pro, and I've had it installed since day 1 of my Pixel 7 Pro. I also used it on my last two phones (pixel 2 and pixel 4a).
View attachment 588991

I have used Accubattery sense I got the Pixel 7. I upgraded to pro today for just $1.19, couldn't pass it up even though I don't even know what I have now . I keep getting notices that Accubattery is having issues. I have it set to unrestricted in battery options but still get the messages. I have tried reading the info suggested and don't really understand it all. When I google for more info all I find is outdated info. ( Things like it will say to go the battery settings and click the 3 dots in the upper right of the screen, but on my phone there are no dots on the screen).
I have been trying to get Fast charge working on my phone. I thought I just needed a PD 3.0 charger and cables, but found out today I need chargers and cables that support PPS. Ugreen has a 30watt charger that has PPS for about $12 so I am going to try that and see if it helps. The wireless charger I got is only rated for 15watts but I only get about 8.5 max. It is enough for the most part but I am not sure why I am not getting closer to the 15watts it is rated for. I am letting my phone discharge so I can see if going from a 18watt QC charger to a 25watt PD charger helps. The wireless charger says it works with PD/QC/AFC.
What is really bothering me is that now that I have a wireless charging stand, I still need another stand so the phone isn't always sitting on the charger.

 

[Diablo2K]

Found out yesterday to get Accubattery to show "Last full Charge" info the charge has to be uninterrupted. I discharged it to 13% hooked it up to a 25watt PD charge to see what speed it would charge at. Got 15watts, before I switched to the Wireless charge to test out different chargers and cords. Still only getting about 8-9watts. Needless to say Accubattery did not count that as a "Full Charge" so I had to let the phone discharge once again, took all day yesterday and last night to get below 15%. Got it hooked up to the wired charger now.

 

[RCoight86]

I have used Accubattery sense I got the Pixel 7. I upgraded to pro today for just $1.19, couldn't pass it up even though I don't even know what I have now . I keep getting notices that Accubattery is having issues. I have it set to unrestricted in battery options but still get the messages. I have tried reading the info suggested and don't really understand it all. When I google for more info all I find is outdated info. ( Things like it will say to go the battery settings and click the 3 dots in the upper right of the screen, but on my phone there are no dots on the screen).
I have been trying to get Fast charge working on my phone. I thought I just needed a PD 3.0 charger and cables, but found out today I need chargers and cables that support PPS. Ugreen has a 30watt charger that has PPS for about $12 so I am going to try that and see if it helps. The wireless charger I got is only rated for 15watts but I only get about 8.5 max. It is enough for the most part but I am not sure why I am not getting closer to the 15watts it is rated for. I am letting my phone discharge so I can see if going from a 18watt QC charger to a 25watt PD charger helps. The wireless charger says it works with PD/QC/AFC.
What is really bothering me is that now that I have a wireless charging stand, I still need another stand so the phone isn't always sitting on the charger.

Try moving the phone around on your wireless charger, I picked up a charging cable with a watt meter built in for a couple of bucks and worked out the sweet spot for charging by moving my phone around. My wireless charge speed is 14w (15w wireless charger) and wired is 19-21w(65w charger). Also the pixel has smart charging built in, might want to disable that for testing. It might throttle your charge speed, my phone charges at 4w overnight with the phone aiming to be fully charged by the time my work alarm goes off.

 

[Diablo2K]

Try moving the phone around on your wireless charger, I picked up a charging cable with a watt meter built in for a couple of bucks and worked out the sweet spot for charging by moving my phone around. My wireless charge speed is 14w (15w wireless charger) and wired is 19-21w(65w charger). Also the pixel has smart charging built in, might want to disable that for testing. It might throttle your charge speed, my phone charges at 4w overnight with the phone aiming to be fully charged by the time my work alarm goes off.

I have one of those cables with the built in meter as well (SooPii, 100watt). It is normally off by up to 3-4 watts according to Accubattery. But is still a good tool for watching charge speeds. When plugged into the wireless charge stand I see it draws 13 watts but the phone shows 8watts. I know there is a loss between the cord and the coils in the phone. i have tried with the case on and off which made no difference. Also tried moving it around and even vertical and horizontal positions, again with no change. I have also had the charger shut down in the middle of charging, I have contacted the manufacturer to see about getting a replacement.
At night I have a slower charger hooked up, I get about 4 watts overnight.

 

[Vengance_01]

I have a pixel 7 also, I enabled smart charging so that overnight on the wireless charger it slows down the charging to a few watts so that it only reaches full charge by the time my alarm goes off. Might be worth turning on. The more you can avoid the battery heating up the better.

this is what I do as well. use the version 2 pixel wireless charger which has a built in fan