We kind of are used to electricity shortages in Zimbabwe. It’s understandable, we can’t keep feigning surprise to waking up to darkness. 16 or 18-hour power cuts are nothing special anymore.
However, we have taken on some bad habits in order to deal with this situation and the batteries in our phones and computers are letting out a cry to the heavens.
It is therefore imperative – yes, I finally get to say this word – that we remind ourselves of proper battery etiquette. We will also look at a familiar battery protection mechanism that is now coming to phones.
The 20 to 80 rule
The main measure to keep in mind is the 20 to 80 rule. Don’t regularly let your battery drain below 20% and don’t charge it to over 80%. Lithium-ion batteries last longer when not fully charged.
Yes, I know it’s hard to follow this advice when you know the phone is going to have to be your work machine and entertainment hub for the whole day only to be charged as you slumber in the witches’ hours.
However, if you want your phone’s battery to last a long time, just try to keep your charge in that 20-80 range. What good is good software support, like the 7 years of major OS updates that the biggest smartphone manufacturers now offer, good for if your battery conks out in just 2 years.
Tips to keep in mind
Charging
- Unplug After Full Charge: Leaving your phone plugged in after it reaches 100% can wear down the battery over time. If you charge overnight, try using a slower charger, and unplug your phone once it’s fully charged. Some phones have optimised charging features to help with this.
- Partial Charging is Okay: Top up your battery whenever you can, even if it’s just for a few minutes. As long as you keep the charge between 20 and 80.
- Avoid Extreme Temperatures: Keep your phone between 20°C and 30°C. High heat degrades battery capacity. So, this is a double whammy – power cuts + hot weather – however, avoid charging your phone in very hot environments or under direct sunlight. Heat damages the battery.
If you take anything from this, let it be that Heat is the primary cause of battery degradation. So, if you feel that your phone is heating up, unplug it. Wait for it to cool down and then plug it back in. Some phones will help with this:
It was 30 degrees out and when I plugged in my phone to charge, it couldn’t deal. It placed charging on hold, talking about ‘Charging will resume when the phone returns to normal temperature.’
Using the phone
If you’re trying to keep your charge between 20 and 80% in this 18-hour power cut era, you have to limit how much power your phone draws during the day.
There are some settings you can tinker with to ensure your phone only sips power because out of the box, these powerful phones of ours chug it down to provide the best performance.
- Reduce screen brightness: The brighter the screen, the more power it draws from the battery.
- Shorter Timeouts: I’m with you, I hate when the screen turns off just because I didn’t interact with it for two seconds. However, if you’ve ever pulled out your phone from your pocket to realise that the screen was on, probably from the last time you placed it there, you know how a short screen time duration can be a life saver.
- Turn Off Unnecessary Features: Disable GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or mobile data when not in use. These features drain battery life, especially in areas with weak signals.
Even if you do all that, you may find yourself running out of power. Luckily, phones have built-in power saving/ battery saver modes. Some even have ultra-battery saving modes that allow the use of just a handful of apps.
These modes reduce background activity, screen brightness, and other energy-consuming features. Some of them also limit the performance of your phone’s engine (processor) and the phone may feel a little sluggish.
However, would you rather have a sluggish phone for a little bit than be disconnected from the information superhighway altogether?
Bypass charging
This one is not readily available. In fact, at this moment only one phone manufacturer that I know of offers the feature.
REDMAGIC calls it charge separation and it allows the device to draw power directly off the charger without using the battery’s stored energy.
Why is this a cool feature? See, battery degradation can also be caused by frequent charging. You may have heard people talk about charge cycles and whatnot. It’s common sense really, the more you charge and recharge your battery, the quicker it degrades.
We could have the same phone model but your battery would degrade faster if you were a power user who quickly drains the battery and tops it up. That’s especially so when you love gaming on your phone like me.
So, REDMAGIC’s charge separation allows you to run your phone directly from mains power and not the battery. This means you can have the phone plugged in as you use it without having to worry about damaging your battery by staying plugged in.
This allows you to use your phone without using up any battery power, ultimately preserving the battery for longer. They say the feature is beneficial for minimising unnecessary battery usage and maximising battery lifespan.
Now, REDMAGIC has slapped this feature in its latest gaming phone but I hope in the next few years, it trickles down to all other phones.
Now, if only all phones could bypass charging like REDMAGIC’s feature—because let’s face it, we need all the battery-saving magic we can get with these marathon power cuts.
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