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hayat55

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 18, 2016
75
4
my AirPods are 100% charged but my case is 54% charged. Can I just plug my case in to charge with the lightning adapter and not overcharge the AirPods that are in the case?

Or do I have to remove the 100% charged AirPods then charge the case?
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,593
5,764
Horsens, Denmark
Even when the AirPods are 100% charged but the case is not???

Won’t that overcharge the AirPods?

Nope, it won't If you leave your phone in the charger when it's at 100% it doesn't overcharge either. The AirPods send their battery info to the case so it knows whether to route power to them or not - similarly, the case sends its own info to the charging brick about how much power it wants
 
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44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,494
Even when the AirPods are 100% charged but the case is not???

Won’t that overcharge the AirPods?

Nope, it won't If you leave your phone in the charger when it's at 100% it doesn't overcharge either. The AirPods send their battery info to the case so it knows whether to route power to them or not - similarly, the case sends its own info to the charging brick about how much power it wants

This is more accurate information direct from Apple:

https://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-ion/

“Charge your Apple lithium-ion battery whenever you want. There’s no need to let it discharge 100% before recharging. Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle. It could take several days to complete a cycle. The capacity of any type of battery will diminish after a certain amount of recharging. With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle. Apple lithium-ion batteries are designed to hold at least 80% of their original capacity for a high number of charge cycles, which varies depending on the product.”
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,593
5,764
Horsens, Denmark
This is more accurate information direct from Apple:

That info is of course correct, but it's about charge cycles. There are more aspects to it than that. Apple also themselves state that if you want to store the battery for longer periods of time, you should keep it at 50% in a semi-cold environment. This is because, as I said, the battery cells can benefit from getting some exercise. All the cells will be exercised no matter if you do one full 100% run, or two 50% runs because of how the battery controller works, and the two 50% runs are better, since Li-Ion batteries don't like being fully discharged, but Apple has a mechanism in place that makes sure the Li-Ion battery never truly is fully discharged as well. Hence that when your computer shuts down, if you try and power it on, it'll show the "no-battery symbol", which it obviously needs power to show.

So yeah, charge it whenever you want. My point from before was just that I don't have any worries about battery health when I use up 80-95% of my battery, because the battery is designed to be used, and my current health (maximum capacity) also proves that it works just well :)
 
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