How do you manage battery health of your development devices when is always plugged in?

Question

I know this question is not programming related, so for this I made community wiki. Developers are the best guys to answer the question.

I am addressed to those that do development on devices that runs on batteries, like phones, gadgets etc. Probably you are constantly develop for them, and therefor they are always plugged in and charged at 100%. We develop mainly for smartphones and we have devices that were always above 90% charged in the last month or so.

If a battery is always charged, it degrades it life cycle, so what steps you do to ensure decent battery drain to maximize the life of the batteries.

Answer 1

There's nothing you can really do about it.

With some older devices, it was possible to use them with the battery taken out if the charger was in (how most laptops currently work), but this is very rare.

The best you can do is to unplug it whenever possible (there must be times when you're coding for long periods of time or doing other stuff and don't need the device plugged in).

Also, don't charge it overnight if you know it will be in the charger the next day.

Remember, though, many new devices use Li-ion and Ni-Mh batteries now, which are much more reliable than their Ni-Cd counterparts on this front, so you are unlikely to see deterioration as quickly.

Answer 2

I think you're talking about "battery memory" which affect NiCd batteries. Most devices use NiMH or LiIon, which doesn't have the problem.

Answer 3

Here's a good write-up on Lithium-Ion batteries too:

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

Answer 4

I'm developing for mobile phones so often that i have phones only for the purpose for devloping of them. So I don't care about the battery. And if I'm missing to seen a low memory screen, I use this app, to get the feeling back ;)

I don't really see a problem. If you're really professional you need 1 or even more (e.g. to simulate network etc) mobile phones for the sole purpose of developing. And if you use the phones also for your private purpose, the the battery will decrease anyway during your spare time.

Answer 5

To minimize the loss of Li-ion battery capacity over time:

1. Keep your devices not plugged as long as possible to have minimal charge level.
2. Keep your batteries as cool as possible.

You can also remove batteries if your device doesn't require them to operate and store them in a cool place.

Answer 6

1. Keep it unplugged sometimes. For a laptop, you can use the laptops battery just fine. For a mobile device like a phone, this is a little more annoying because you are trying to upload to it fairly regularly (but not constantly).
2. Use the spare. Have a 'dev' battery that you use when constantly plugged in. When done developing and ready to show off your new fart widget to all your friends, just swap the battery out.