After 2 years and 3 months my pixel 6 got too hot one too many times while charging and using and the battery expanded. Now I replaced it and got a pixel 8.
Now I don’t want that to happen again. I know this chip gets hot when charging. And I don’t mind slow charging at all, I’m used to overnight charging.
With my current setup I got a 20w cable charger and a 10w wireless one, and I want to know how to get even slower, less heating charging rates. What adapter brand is reputable, and is the slowest, battery friendliest that’s still reasonable for use… If this phone also just lasts me 2 years instead of the 5 that I’m gonna get os updates I’m gonna be mad… I’m okay with a battery replacement in general after a while but that isn’t really doable if the entire case is bent like it is on my P6…
I wish we could replace batteries…
Same… It should really be a default or a regulation… It also annoys me how flawed the fair phones are as devices…
What flaws are you referring to? I’m perfectly happy with my FP4. Just wondering what flaws I should be annoyed about.
What flaws are you referring to?
For me, lack of security. I also vaguely remember hearing that their repairability was overstated/limited due to part shortages, but I never looked into that as the lack of security is a deal breaker for me.
Replaceable batteries are coming back in the EU though due to the battery regulation (EU) 2023/1542 which requires portable batteries to be removable and replaceable
I got the first version of the terraube. It was awful, which is really unfortunate. They did a good job on the hardware-ish…but they only updated the software once. So the phone, after 3 1/2 years was stuck 2 years into the software lifecycle. Then they released the Terracube 2…which has the same issue. In addition, when I tried to get the original phone serviced, they upped the price of the repairs to about the same as the terracube 2, after promising it would only be 60$ a repair when I first got the phone.
Fairphone was a phone that I had looked at too…but its over 1000+ and I just cant see a phone that expensive.
Slow charging only makes a tiny difference IMO, modern devices don’t get very hot while charging and Li-ion is fine up to about 45C during charging.
The best option is stop charging at 80% which will substantially improve battery life, my Samsung has this built in. But for phones that don’t you can use a wifi power plug and a Home Assistant automation to turn it off when your phone hits 80%.
Oh my gosh, that solution is incredibly smart. I’ve been wanting to keep my phone below 80% since I got it, but ultimately was trying to manually check it and gave up, and two years later my Pixel 4a battery is pretty poor.
I’m setting this up, thank you so much. I think I do even have a WiFi adapter somewhere I hadn’t found a use for.
Are there any easy to set up home assistants that are privacy friendly?
Home assistant is pretty easy IMO once you get a feel for it, and entirely local so very privacy friendly.
Smartphone batteries usually get damaged between 2-3 years of use, nowadays it doesn’t matter if you use slow or fast charge that it’s being determined by the charging cycles supported by the battery at the moment of the manufacture, I suggest you to learn how to disassembly your own phone and buy a replacement online to avoid big extra charges, it’s more easy than it seems.
Mind will be 6 years at the end this month and still going strong (considering its age). I make sure not to leave it charged at 100% for a long time. I’ve read through some article in lemmy not ago that not charging it more than 80% will improve its charging life cycle - doing this now.
My Samsung S21 has a feature called “Protect Battery” which limits the battery to only 85% so you never fully charge it to 100% and thus conserve the battery more. Since I can still get a full day of battery with only 85% (topping it off when using wired Android Auto in my car) this has worked well for me. Not sure how accurate it is, but Accubattery reports my battery health is still at 92% after 3 years
At least with Android 14 (I don’t recall if it did it before) when I plug my pixel 6 in at night it goes to an ‘adaptive charging mode’ to accomplish just what you’re asking for with the idea that it slows charging to compete around the time of the next alarm. So maybe you don’t need to actively pursue it if the software is regulating the input there?
That just uses normal fast charging to get to 80%, then stops the charge and finally resumes charging about an hour or two before the planned “charged by” time. No slowing down.
Oh, and it also has (or had on Android 13) a cool bug where it just stops charging if it fails to reach 80% by the time it wants to resume charging (for example if you put the phone on a slow charger late at night - that’s how I woke up with 60% battery after 4 hour sleep).
So I just gave up on the idea of using a slow charger to better preserve the battery because the phone clearly wasn’t expected to be used that way.
What about if I don’t have an alarm? I don’t need one to wake up.
I set an alarm at 7 am, no sound, no vibration. It activates adaptive charging without waking me up
This. Just plug it in, modern phones are smart enough to handle their own charging. If it’s bedtime, it’ll charge slowly, aiming to hit 100% by the time your alarm goes off in the morning.
If you charge overnight set an alarm - most phones will automatically slow down charging to the safest rate that will get it to 100% before alarm
But it still quick charges and gets pretty warm until it reaches 80% and then continues an hour before the alarm :/
My 6 pro won’t slow charge until after 10pm I’ve noticed. My alarm is at 04:30, so if I start charging at bedtime, 08:30ish, it doesn’t slow charge. It’s weird that way. Already on my second 6p, my first I’ve died one night, woke up with a flashing gray white screen, and it was hot. Got it rmad thankfully.
Quick Google search confirms this: adaptive charging only works if alarm if 5am or later and charging starts at 10pm or later
Weird. My pixel 6a slow charges through the night at 0.5A
Yes slow charging is one factor to prolong battery life. You can even go down to 5w or less. But another important factor is not having your phone charged at 100% for long durations, because at high voltage the battery degrades faster. So don’t leave your phone plugged in when it’s fully charged, try to keep it between 30 and 80% all the time for maximum lifetime
Old 5w iPhone chargers are good if you want to leave your phone charging over night, but the reality is after about 2 years the battery will still be worn and need replacement. You can limit the charge level but then again that doesn’t really change anything because it will still need to be replaced in a slightly longer amount of time (say 2.5-3 years instead). The best way to prolong your battery health is to not use your phone and leave it powered off at 50% in a dark closet. I personally prefer semi fast chargung only when it reaches 20-30% and unplug at 60-70 or whatever I feel is enough for what I will do for the rest of the day
I am fine with the battery needing replacement in general, I want to prevent it from getting warm often, so that it doesn’t bloat again when it’s put of warranty like my P6 did…
Gonna add on to this, most people are right in saying get a low amp charger(amps are the more important that volts afaik) 1A is easiest to source but did see a .5A one time. Don’t leave charging at 100% for long periods of time.
What is missing from the comments IMO is anyone talking about how you use your phone. Minimise screen time and bloated software that is always running/sending data. Lineage (or graphene OS since you’re on a pixel) with no google apps will prolong your battery. For now I’ve just got some banking apps, molly(signal fork), jerboa and slack on my phone. My 3000mAh battery from 2016 is now lasting over 24 hours instead of less than 8 hours when using mainstream social media apps.
Slow chargers are really hard to fuck up, you’re good with almost anything. That being said, slow charging is 10w - so you already have what you need.
Alright, perfect! The charging pad is also most convenient
I bought a power bar with a timer on it, so I can leave my headset, laptop, old phone plugged in without overcharging them.
link to this amazing device pls?
I found mine by typing “power bar with timer” in amazon.com
There are many different models and I picked this one , and it works fine: https://www.amazon.com/DEWENWILS-Mechanical-Overload-Protection-Aquarium/dp/B08K313Z9L/
Thanks
For the pixel 8, you would need 30w or more to QC. I know this because I just recently got one myself and had to get a new charger and cable because my previous phone only had an 18w charger. You should be fine with what you have as long as you don’t consistently leave it charging past 100% (like having it plugged in all night). Then again, the 8 has adaptive charging, so if you set an alarm it should slow the charge to only hit 100% when the alarm goes off.
I kind of agree with your approach provided that it really works; needs more input on this. Why would we slow charge as proposed in many of the comments, if the current tech embrace fast charging - kind of defeat the purpose. I never leave my phone changed 100% for long, and my anecdotal evidence can prove that works as my phone battery is reaching 6 years. Anyway, there a post somewhere in lemmy suggesting not to change beyond 85%.
Fast charging dumps more heat into the battery as efficiency losses are always heat. Heat is what degrades the battery, far more than charge cycling.
Tq. that’s a very logical explanation. So I assume (current) fast charging battery management are not capable to mitigate the efficiency issues.
Ideally, you would start charging at or below 15% until it’s 80%; however, most modern devices are already doing this behind the scene and when it says 100% on the screen, it’s actually only 80% and they shut off entirely when the charge is actually below 15% to conserve that last little bit.
This doesn’t really do anything to help damage caused by overheating, though. QC and PD both come at the cost of increased heat while charging. But as long as you’re not overcharging it all the time or giving it way higher juice than it needs, the safety features on the device are pretty good except in the rare instance of factory defects.
most modern devices are already doing this behind the scene and when it says 100% on the screen, it’s actually only 80%
Could you provide sources for this? There seems to me to be no reason to do this in a consumer device that is designed to be replaced every two cycles.
when it says 100% on the screen, it’s actually only 80%
Damn, I need to find out if my not so modern phones display the real or pseudo value.
Fast charging is 100% convenience for the end user and marketing material for the company. Fast charging is just dumping more electrons into a battery quicker than slow charging. I don’t think battery tech has adapted that much to be able to handle this so AFAIK we’re just normalising abusing our batteries. Did read an article that batteries that we’re slow charged, also discharged slower as well.
If I want to slow charge I use a USB 2 port on my PC.
Don’t do that, PC usb ports can break the charging port as the power output is unregulated better use some 5v1A rated charger
Really? The USB 2 spec says 0.5 amps at 5 volts maximum without negotiation AFAICT. How many motherboard manufacturers are breaking spec?
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