Common battery myths that need to die (You're Doing It All Wrong!)

Sharon Profis busts a few overplayed battery myths on "You're Doing it All Wrong."

[Rickbearcat]

The pathetic thing about this story is that there is no delineation between normal lead acid, alkaline, nickel metal hydride, or lithium type batteries. This story is meant for one thing only, your typical sealed lithium ion battery in today's electronic devices. The title should have read, "Common Lithium Battery Myths that need to die"; just for clarification purposes and to not confuse people on what you can and can't (shouldn't?) do with other types of batteries.

Edit: What is the point guys? Cnet and or the writers of these videos don't even read the comments sections. None of our questions or comments is ever responded to by the person(s) in the videos. I've reacted to hundreds of vids with comments of a constructive nature and never once have I gotten a response from the staff at Cnet. They don't want to have anything to do with us. And that is even more pathetic than this story.

[amateurwizard]

Too short. Missed out on so many tips and hot topics

[RichardServello]

LiON batteries still need to be calibrated to display proper percentage.  To do that you should drain it to 0% early on its use and charge to 100%, that's it.  It helps with all LiON devices.  That's why rechargeables seem to get better battery life after a week or so...if you don't do that it will eventually sync itself...but doing it day one will get you on track right away.

[adriansnetwork]

But why does my phone always be at 100% when I leave it overcharging? That means the power doesn't cut off, it continuously gives it power to maintain 100%.

[linksmith]

1. Overcharging. A LiIon battery does not "overcharge" in the common way we think about. However, when left constantly at 100% fully charged for long periods of time, this causes breakdown of the active materials into a gas. This can be seen with bloated cell phone batteries, or in the case of laptops, which use metal cases 18650 cells, the gas simply vents. In either case the results are poor battery life and in phones with internal batteries (Galaxy S6, iPhone, etc) damaged components from the battery pushing on them.

2. Discharge before recharging. This myth is left over from the days that NiCd batteries ran everything. It was the most common way of avoiding voltage depression or "memory" as it's often called. Li-Ion cells should be discharged to 5-10% before recharging, and should *never* be stored discharged or fully charged. For long term storage, charge them to about 50%.

Source: Two years working at Batteries+Bulbs. We gave this advice for new, under warranty products.

[FRS]

But Samsung write on its phone boxes that you must charge 1st time you unboxing it !!

[aric]

I remember back in the days, when I bought one of those monochrome Nokias and was so excited to text my friends, I kept looking at the charger waiting for the '7 hour initial charge' to be over so I could use it. Those were the days...

[faissalelbaioui]

hello everyone welcome to my channel i need your support to continue

[ClutchFirst]

Thank you. Breaking in new batteries always gets me nervous. Now my conscious is clear. Lol

[Yarmayn]

So moral of the story is charge your device/battery whenever you want??

[afiqfikridaud]

What about using the device while charging? Will it causes any damage to the battery?

[AdonisGaming]

guess I'm gonna start leaving my phone plugged in at night again lol

[kurupter]

You forgot about the 9v battery myth. If you lick the terminals, you will NOT get shocked. Believe me, try it, and you will not be disappointed.

[HaroldJP]

I'm not sure about myths 1 and 2 being wrong. I've done those 2 things for years and have enjoyed the same battery life on my devices, while my peeps complain about phones not lasting what they used to. Also, regarding overcharging, I don't think they "cut the power" once they hit 100%, because when you use a power pack it is evident that your device is still sucking power from it: power pack keeps giving whatever animation it does when it's being used all the time.

[rezwan]

I have read in an article that you are not suppose to keep your device plugged in once the battery has reached 100%. It over works the ions and harms the battery. Sort of like over exerting yourself in the gym. Is that true?

[tommypallai]

Wow that was so helpful. Lately I've been wondering these things myself and have been looking all over and finding different things. Thank you!!!

[larrysmith]

Anyone who says you can't overcharge a battery hasn't witnessed a 18650 lithium battery explode and catch fire in a flashlight kept in a polyester uniform shirt pocket. I'm not sure what smelled worse, burning skin or melting polyester.

[TechLineHD]

The first time charging myth stated here is a crap. I've did an extensive research how to charge lithium batteries for the first time and like 20 different sources confirm that it is better to fully charge before using them. And this is not for calibrating them but because they have not been used while they were stored in the warehouse/retail store etc;

[Yathoom]

Actually, I've been using Samsung Note series for 4 years now, Nokia and Sony Ericsson before that. All of which batteries will be noticeably damaged when left on the charger over night. As a matter of fact, I have not changed the battery on my note 2, 3 and 4. I do charge them when they go very low in charge (10% and less) and I try not to unplug them until they're fully charged. I can accept that it is a myth to do the last thing, but all of my friends who leave their phone on charger over night notice drop in their battery performance after few months.

[redsnowdue]

Actually storing your batteries in the fridge gives them a longer shelf life.