I need help to understand the battery

[ardchoille50]

I would like some information regarding how the iPhone battery works so I can better understand my iPhone 6.

My device:
I am on an iPhone 6, 64 GB model in Space Grey, that was purchased new from Verizon on January 14 of this year.

My iPhone management habits:
* I never manually close apps unless an app is misbehaving
* Once per month I allow my iPhone battery to run down until the phone powers itself off. I then charge it to 100% before using it again.
* The main app background refresh is on but toggled off for individual apps
* Screen timeout is set to 2 minutes
* Screen brightness is set to half with Auto-Brightness toggled on

The fact that I average 2 days between charges with moderate use tells me that these habits are beneficial. I have followed these habits on iPhones since 2012 and have always enjoyed long battery life on iPhones.

Symptom:
When I charge the phone to 100% and immediately begin using it, the phone stays on 100% for a short time. However, as you can see from the included screenshot, when I charge the phone to 100% and leave it on the charger for a couple hours after the 100% mark has been reached, the phone stays on 100% for more than 6 hours.

My query:
What exactly is happening, when I leave the phone on the charger for a couple hours after the 100% mark has been reached, that causes the apparent extended battery life? Am I shortening the overall lifespan of the battery by leaving it on the charger for hours after the 100% mark.

Can someone who understands these batteries give some insight?

 

[adamhenry]

When the charge reaches 100% it changes to a trickle charge to prevent overcharging. It will not degrade your battery to leave it on the charger long after it reaches 100%. IMHO it would be better for the battery to terminate the charge at 100% but it would only make a very small difference if any.

 

[Alan Mac Farlan]

Battery science is not my suit ... but what little I know about it is that Apple hard charges the Lithium battery when it is below 75%, then slows it down quite a bit, when it gets to about 95% Apple then goes to trickle charge supposedly.

Stays there at trickle charge in part to deal with solar panels on some iPhone systems (the solar panel in the sunlight makes energy that 'must' go somewhere and do work or you break the solar panel) ... and to deal with computer battery.

The Tesla Electric Sports Car has 10,000 computer battery in it, that are in long tubes, and they only last 2 years, then you have to replace 10,000 battery to get the Tesla Car up and running again.

Android has a back case port to replace the battery ... Apple do not, need special tools to do it well but iPhone battery can be replaced rather easily.

I do not think that Lithium computer battery has a sponge memory in it like the NiCad, otherwise the way Apple charges them up would enhance that sponge memory and they would dry up faster in my unschooled opinion.

Even with full drain and full charge on the NiCad battery it still would not drain all the way and charge all the way ... just do it bigger longer is all .. then just having partial charges and partial drain going on in the performance curve.

So with NiCad it is better to do it that way ... with Lithium I doubt it.

The 2 year battery life of these computer battery is pretty much set in stone in the chemistry of the materials.

All battery dies, from the expansion and contraction of heating them and cooling them down from charge and discharge.

There is NEW stuff coming out that changes the architecture of the battery with using the same materials of today that is making a difference ... in changing the surface area of the battery with a bubble architecture instead of a flat sheet for a surface.

This change in architecture changes how the battery charges and discharges and seems to change the durability of the materials as well ... have to see though. Chemistry is chemistry ... still an inexact science.

With Saccharine they were looking for a Beta Blocker for medical purpose and this accident came out instead ... Rummy who brought you New York 911; well he was in charge of the FDA in Reagans term .. and he made the unique decision to claim this chemical that Big Pharma cooked up in the lab was now a FOOD item and did not need human testing prior to public use.

Still the chemical turned out to be dangerous for human consumption, but oddly enough is still on the market.

You asked a wide open question .. so you get a wide open answer.

my very warmest regards.

Alan