Phones and other mobile devices are wonderful things, but it can be confusing when you have to think about charging them and letting their batteries either go all the way up to one hundred percent or stay at the mid-range of the battery’s life. There are several misconceptions about charging phones and one of the most prevalent is whether or not you should charge a phone with a portable battery charger.
In short, charging your phone with a portable battery charger is fine because many portable chargers were designed to handle smaller gadgets such as cell phones. As long as the voltage of the charger matches up with the voltage of your phone, you’ll be okay. However, there are plenty of other considerations to make when you think of charging your phone. Here’s a brief guide to charging your phone with a variety of chargers.
Charging Your Phone with a Portable Battery Charger
In a perfect world, you would always be near a wall charger to easily and effectively charge your phone, even while on the go. This is impractical however, so most people own at least one portable battery charger for their phones or other mobile devices.
These portable battery chargers are often designed to fit your phone and will have the exactly correct voltage so that your phone charges without issue every time. However, there are some mobile chargers which are designed for larger phones or other devices entirely, such as laptops and other large devices.
Avoid Sketchy Websites and Products
You’ll want to make sure that you aren’t using one of these products, as they can pump too many volts into your phone at a time and fry your phone’s battery and lifespan and leave you on the hook for a costly repair, if not replacing the phone altogether. The majority of cell phone portable chargers will have five volts of power, but there are plenty of questionable, sketchy, and downright falsely advertised chargers on eBay which will offer far more.
These chargers will often be priced cheaper, but this is only because they’re knockoffs; you should stay away from these listings if you value the lifespan of your phone, as unscrupulous sellers (and perhaps even those who don’t know better) will take a counterfeit product and advertise it to you as if it were the real thing.
Staying away from these listings is important if you want a phone charger (portable or otherwise) that will work as intended and never overload your phone with excess voltage. You should look to your phone’s manufacturer or other reputable and trusted sites if you want to find products that are guaranteed to work. The savings may be tempting, but they come at an awful price, ironically.
How Chargers Impact Battery Life
The battery in your phone right now is known as a lithium-ion battery. These types of battery can store up to five hundred charge cycles (going from full to empty) before they start to degrade. Even after they start to degrade they’ll still work, but they’ll slowly become less effective until, some time after the start of the degradation, they’ll stop working altogether.
When you charge a lithium-ion battery from empty to full, you’re taking just a slight bit of its lifespan off because you’re adding heat. The battery heats up as it charges, and this heat will eventually begin to impact the lifespan of the battery. This is why using a charger with more than five volts of power is dangerous; the added heat will heat up the battery and leave it working far worse after every charge, speeding up the degradation process until the battery stops working altogether.
The chemical reaction that causes your phone to overheat is made more severe the longer the phone is in the charger and can also be compounded by using your phone while its charging, so you should refrain from taking it from empty to full frequently and try not to use it too often while it’s actually charging, as this can seriously affect the battery and, subsequently, your phone’s lifespan.
Knowing Your Options
Many people are afraid to use portable battery chargers to charge their phone, but this fear is irrational. Portable battery chargers are perfectly fine as long as you’re using the right voltage, which can easily be checked online or on the box your charger comes in. The only fear you should have is using a portable charger which was purchased on a sketchy website or from a sketchy seller on a site like eBay or Craigslist.
As long as you’re using the correct charger for your phone you should be fine. This means purchasing from a big box store like Best Buy or going straight to your phone’s manufacturer. Going these routes will guarantee your phone is in good hands and will be charged without issue throughout the year. In addition, continue to make sure that you’re charging frequently and keeping your phone’s battery life somewhere between twenty and eighty percent for maximum optimization of its battery life.
Other Considerations
In addition to the options and tips above, there other considerations to make when trying to preserve your phone’s lifespan and battery life. First, you should try to never heat up your phone by other means, such as leaving it in a hot car or overworking it during the day. You should also avoid extremely cold weather if possible, as this can also have an adverse effect on your phone.
Physically damaging your phone can also cause your battery to be damaged and malfunction in a number of ways. To avoid your phone’s lifespan from being cut short, you should maintain your phone’s physical integrity and make sure it’s never damaged during its charge. As long as you keep these tips in mind, your phone’s battery lifespan should be fine and you’re free to use portable chargers to charge it up for convenience and time’s sake.
In Conclusion In short, portable battery chargers are fine for your phone as long as they’re the correct voltage, which they should be if you’re using a portable battery charger from a reputable brand or website. Just make sure that you’re not using your phone while its charging and there’s no way for it to overheat while in the charger. Follow these tips and techniques and your phone will last for as long as it should. Have fun while charging and don’t sweat the small stuff.
