APR 28, 2021 Pageview:1084
The so-called Smart (Lithium-ion) batteries or any other type of battery works by transferring ions between negative and positive electrodes. This action may results in cathode wear after a certain amount of charging cycles which is dependent. This wearing out of the cathode reduces the battery life hence affecting its capacity. It is estimated that the battery lifespan is generally about 300-400 charging cycles, but it is majorly dependent on the manufacturer.
Several factors contribute to battery life reduction; among them are charging habits. It is typical behavior for people to charge their phone battery, for example, overnight. In such instances, the battery charges past the maximum charge of 100%. This greatly affects the battery lifespan. Overcharging is considered a risk to battery life. Another case of poor charging practice is charging while using your phone, e.g. while browsing. In addition to the heat generated during charging, excessive heat is also generated during regular use. This combined effect greatly increases the battery temperature, accelerating the battery's discharging action, hence lowering the battery's lifespan.
What is optimal battery charging?
We can now define optimal battery charging as allowing a battery to get just enough voltage recommended by the manufacturer based on this information. Optimal charging entails having just enough, no much, no less for optimization of battery life. For a phone battery, the optimal charge is realized when the battery icon displays a 100% charge. For a car battery, the optimal charge is about 12.6V.
How do we know that optimal charge has been attained while charging? Some battery manufacturers, primarily in the cellphone industry, have an intelligent application to detect when charging is optimal. Optimized battery charging is an intelligent system that analyzes various factors to plan the appropriate charging time and battery level. This system uses machine learning to be able to work optimally.
Optimized battery charging, for example, prevents charging from reaching 100%; instead, it charges up to 80% and completes charging when the users are likely to unplug based on past experiences.
Car Battery Optimal Charging Voltage
Research has shown that a battery kept at maximum or optimal voltage enjoys a long service life compared to the one undercharged or kept at reduced voltage. A 12v car battery can be safely charged over a wide range of voltages. Notably, a car battery requires at least 12.9V to charge. However, at this rate, the battery charges slowly and may take a lot of time before attaining optimal condition.
There are no side effects as with slow charging. It has been proved that slow charging is the best thing that can happen to a battery. A slow-charged battery retains its charge longer. The battery life is also extended with slow charging. Nevertheless, in the interest of time, charging faster is desirable in some instances. A battery can be charged safely and effectively at high voltages provided the battery is not fully charged.
Charging voltages can go to over 15v as long as a mechanism for monitoring the charging is put in place to ensure overcharging is not happening. Optimized battery charging systems comes in here. These higher voltages ensure the battery is charged faster in cases where time is limited.
Is it better to charge a battery fast or slow?
Traditionally batteries could be charged for a long time to attain full charge. However, with the recent advancement in technology on mobile processing power, the need to always stay connected and rely on gadgets to perform specific tasks necessitate cutting down or eliminating downtime on our gadgets. All these calls for the need for fast charging.
Fast charging is a battery charging technology that charges the battery faster than the usual traditional way by increasing the charging power. Of course, this technology helps reduce or downsizing the charging time, thus allowing users to be constantly connected with their devices.
Despite the advantages that come with rapid charging technologies, this type of charging reduces battery life. Fast charging produces a lot of heat which reduces the service life of the battery. As temperature increases, the battery capacity, as well as lifespan, reduces.
Unlike fast charging, slow charging gives the right amount of voltages; hence it doesn't produce excessive heat. Since little heat is produced, the battery's temperature is always kept in the safe, manageable limits; hence long battery life is guaranteed. With this information, one can conclude that slow-charged batteries last longer than fast-charged batteries.
Even though this might be the case, if the issues of temperature rise can be managed, then both slow and fast charging will serve equal battery life. Luckily, modern science has yielded modern AI-based systems with the capability of tracking and monitoring charging speed, temperature, and other factors and quickly takes the necessary action to mitigate it.
Conclusion
We have explicitly expressed that optimal charging of batteries guarantees battery life hence long service life. As earlier stated, slow charging is desirable. However, when we don't have the luxury of time, fast charging becomes desirable. Temperature affects the battery so much; therefore, if temperature increase can be managed during fast charging, fast charging will be as good as slow charging.
In summary, in slow charging battery lasts long, enabling sensible use of the phone since it takes time to charge and is affordable. In contrast, fast charging saves time as the battery charges quickly, and it also extends smartphone usage. On the other hand, it has the following disadvantages; for slow charging, the phone cannot support heavy usage. It consumes a lot of time, while for fast charging, the battery gets damaged slowly, battery life decreases, and one cannot share chargers.
To mitigate the effects of fast charging, some manufacturers have designed software capable of monitoring the user's battery charging experience via machine learning, analyzes it, and controls the charging by limiting the attainment overcharge, which can ruin the battery.
In conclusion, on top of other pertinent factors that affect battery life, overcharging or undercharging greatly contribute to battery degradation.
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