Prolong life of Mobile Phone Battery

**TXyakr** · 08-15-2015, 09:01 AM

Mobile phones are frustrating because their batteries don't last long, 1 year is about it, but this article from several years ago may help you get more life out of yours. Basically try not to let phone's battery fully discharge very often, ideal to start recharge at about 50% (Depth of Discharge below 90% greatly decreases total number of hours you can get from it so if you do the math a DoD of 50% is about ideal), Try not to allow phone to get much hotter than your body's temperature. I.e. not in full sun on dashboard or leave it in car (I do this often when I go kayaking, but better to put in dry box/bag and take with me). Don't overcharge it and leave it on a charger that does not stop charging automatically when fully charged. The newest Samsung S6 and similar phones can be recharged with a Qi inductive pad (no cord to phone), hopefully the soon to be released iPhone 7 will also have this feature and save a lot of $ on those irritating cables. A good quality Samsung Qi pad is about $13 on eBay, about the price of an iPhone cable (BTW Apple should replace this during the first year). Replacing the batteries on either an S6 or any of the iPhones yourself is almost like brain surgery or old fashion watch repair, NOT user serviceable! If cat jumps on table during this operation tiny screws not on tape or in containers are lost forever! Cat is shot kids cry...LOL not really.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...ased_batteries

So unless you have a "janky" service provider like mine, Sprint, with no cell towers unless you are near a major Intestate, you may consider your mobile phone an emergency survival tool to call for help in true survival situations if you can climb to a high point and get a signal. So a battery that last a long time even a year or more after purchase is a good thing. Resorting to eating that cat jerky is not! I'm only joking about the cat, no flaming please I take good care of my kid's cats because my kids just ignore them most of the time and I cannot allow an animal to suffer.

**hunter63** · 08-15-2015, 10:16 AM

That was a some buzz on another forum concerning the amount of time a battery charge lasts on older model of flip phones.
Talk was about carrying on extended back country trips.

I would guess because the flip phones don't have a lot of activities going on all the time....battery last longer?

All I can say, is just "Yeah, that's why I carry a flip phone as a battery charge lasts a week"...(nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

**TXyakr** · 08-15-2015, 11:21 AM

I agree Hunter63 my old Samsung Mil-Spec flip-phone lasted a week or more on one charge and the battery is only 1300 mAh. No GPS radios to drain it and it could actually be fully turned off unlike most smartphones which never stop draining the battery. I still have it and for several years I kept it on $100/year contract just for such emergencies on a better coverage network. With Samsung's new Galaxy S6 and related models the case is as fragile as your grandmother's old china plates (almost) and battery as difficult to remove and stop the drain as an iPhone. Better have a backup and/or good survival skills. That teenage girl in who's plane crash landed in the Washington State mountains almost did not get picked up on the side of the road, most people just will not stop and help you these days. Get a signal, have a charge or hike for days then starve to death on the side of an interstate... because you had a dang smartphone!

**natertot** · 08-15-2015, 01:11 PM

I have a galaxy and I get pretty good use out of a charge. I had to go into settings and turn a bunch of crap off to do so, but hey. One is the gps/location option, that drains the battery super fast and I rarely use the gps. I just turn it back on prior to using the app when I do need it.

**Rick** · 08-15-2015, 02:52 PM

I have two spare batteries for my phone that I keep at full charge. I've read and seen too many stories where SAR was in contact with the person in trouble but that person's phone battery was low or ran out of juice.

**NightSG** · 08-15-2015, 03:06 PM

I had a (Motorola?) AT&T prepaid phone for a while that used two NiMH AAs. It would run fine for a day or two on alkalines, so it was nice to be able to have an "instant full charge" in the glovebox for a couple bucks or immediately fix a dead battery at any gas station or grocery store. Wouldn't mind finding a phone like that that can take a regular SIM card so I could use it as an emergency backup for the smartphone without having to maintain another plan.

**TXyakr** · 08-16-2015, 04:56 PM

No technology is perfect, best to find something that works best for your lifestyle and learn how to maintain it as best you can. That is what I have learned after a few decades as an Electronic Design Engineer, nothing I ever designed was perfect and that never kept me up at night, compromises are necessary. I agree with Rick a good strategy is to have one or more backup batteries. Also according to this "Battery University" keeping Li-ion almost always above 90% charge is better than deep cycling (allowing to go dead) so Rick's plan may help his battery last longer as well, better if charger auto-shuts off when it reaches full charge.

With my old Samsung S4 I had two extra 2600 mAh batteries that I could easily replace by popping off the back. These are very small and light, take little space even when ultra light backpacking and can get me by for a week or more no problem. But I also have an external Li-ion USB battery that is more than 10 times that capacity and a bit bigger than the phone. So if phone is my only camera it sort of worked.

Finally after much delay (can get new phone every 18 months or less) I upgraded to Samsung Galaxy S6 since I have been with Sprint for many years they only charge me an extra $5/month for the lease, but a friend has been with them longer and gets his for $0/month. As I said earlier it is much more difficult to swap batteries, best just to use external, also the entire backside of S6 is glass so best to use a protective case which adds weight and bulk. But the new micro Processor is efficient so if GPS and Wi-Fi etc. is turned off it lasts about 2 days, but better to recharge before it gets much below 50% battery capacity to not stress out Li-ion. Better to stress out external battery instead which is a cheap eBay replacement. BTW Qi inductive charger is only about 0.5 amp charge rate so may not keep up with GPS when in car navigating, need USB plugged into phone with 1-2 amps for that. Phone is almost useless as a trail GPS, need a different Garmin or some other device for that.

A friend who flies RC airplanes both gas and electric told me that Li-ion batteries work best when hot. It may be true that they output the most amperes when hot but this does not prolong their life so at least for your phone, tablets and laptop computers I would advise against allowing our devices to get any hotter than they need to be, like in your pocket. NOT in full sun of a car’s dash board or car seat! Camping in the summer or just day hiking and paddling etc. some heat even well over 100F is just unavoidable. This may be why I go thru a lot of batteries.

I checked into T-Mobile/ Trac Phone for minimal service for a flip-phone it is only about $7-10 per month Extra $45 or less for kit to add to existing phone if you don’t like theirs and can root yours, but IMO a better backup communication for about $15+/month is something like SPOT Messenger, ACR PLB, Delorme etc. with 2 way txt msg via satellite if you go to very remote locations fairly often. Cheaper options if you just want someone to track your position back home on P.C. via satellite and GPS. Can even rent or share cost among outdoors friends. I just tell my wife: “When it’s my time, I’ll be off to see Jesus or oblivion whichever y’all catch up when you can… I love you, don’t worry about me.” Seriously I give her detailed trip plans and phone numbers.

**hunter63** · 08-16-2015, 05:15 PM

......and to think I went to the wilderness to get away from all that.......Hummmm

**Wise Old Owl** · 08-16-2015, 06:39 PM

Embrace the change....

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**finallyME** · 08-17-2015, 01:11 PM

I learned once that if you are relying on your phone to call for you ride home after backpacking for 3 days.....take out the battery at the start of the trip. I was doing a through hike with scouts and we were dropped off at one end with the plan that I call them when we are close to the pick up location. We could get a signal on top of a pass with line of sight of our town. However, when we got to the point, my phone no worky. The other leaders were taking pictures with their phones and had drained the battery as well. Luckily, one of my scouts had just enough juice in his and called one of the pick-up people, who then called the other 2 and we were saved!
Now, if I do take my phone for the emergency...I always take out the battery and store them separate. Of course, I don't have an S6.