syncing iphone bad for battery?

[branharrison6]

I had a question if a person makes a habit to sync their iphone on their computer, or just charge it frequently, if this affects their iphone's battery. Is it best to wait till your iphone's battery is completely drained and then plug it in and do your syncing while it charges back up?


Thanks

 

[soberbrain]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

Best practice is to drain then charge all the way. But this is not always practical so newer batteries like on the iPhone are made to charge at any time. You should let it drain completely and charge up completely about once a month to keep it healthy

 

[rKunda]

I wouldn't assume the post above mine is authoritative.

As I've understood it, that applied to traditional batteries, the likes of which are not used in electronics. Newer batteries like to be charged much more frequently than a full depletion cycle. That is only useful initially for calibrating proper readings.

Also, I wouldn't take my post as authoritative, either. Google for some more official type info on electronic batteries and good practice.

Edit:

A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

 

[andyblila]

Here is the link to Apple's website regarding this issue. Took me about 10 Sec to find it.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

"Use iPhone Regularly
For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down)."
Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.

"Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops/cellphones) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.

Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.

Consider removing the battery from a laptop when running on fixed power. (Some laptop manufacturers are concerned about dust and moisture accumulating inside the battery casing.)

Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing dates. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.

If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge."

So in other words no it won't hurt the battery; however, discharge it fully once a month to condition the fuel gauge.