I have a powerbank that I use to charge my cell phone. 10,400 ma is it's capacity. Output 3.7 V It has 2 outputs. 1.0 and 2.1 amps and I use the 2.1 amp My cell battery is about one yr old. (Replacement for orig battery) After charging the battery, it only lasts about 2 days before going dead. During those 2 days, there was no cell phone usage. Battery capacity is listed as 850 Mah. Does it look like my battery capacity is seriously degraded ?

Believe it or not it depends on location. If you are far from a tower it us es more transmit power. Ever hear of "cellphone killer buildings" ? That is like some hospitals etc. that have the type of construction your wavelengt h doesn't go through all that well. The cellphone keeps upping its transmit power to "touch base" with the near est tower and it ain't getting it, so it kills your battery. Also, you can't just charge those things like a car battery. If the battery is in the phone that is one thing, but if you rigged up some sort of connection outside that will burn it up, maybe even make it explod e. If it is in the phone and this is like a USB connection or whatever, you pr obably just got an inferior quality battery. It may have say on a shelf and that is not good for them. It could be just as old as the old one, since t hey keep on changing styles/formfactors. in other words they are not making new batteries for my 30 year old flip phone. Aftermarket batteries are onl...

Can powerbanks shorten lithium battery life ?

M

Martin Brown 9 years ago

Some of the older ones come with a selection of interchangeable plugs that can be put onto the lead to fit any of the insanely wide variation of connectors that different phone handset makers used in the past.

I have a small solar one on the window ledge that has dug me out of a pit when the mains failed and my mobile battery was (of course) flat.

We have another compact more powerful one (~4Ah?) useful for extended playing with small gadgets on intercontinental flights.

I don't see the point in having anything more beefy since these days you can always recharge phones in the car or from any USB output. I just carry a 6" USB to uUSB lead.

Back when they were all on random connectors it made more sense.

Regards, Martin Brown

Vote

M

Martin Brown 9 years ago

And enable airplane mode. Then it won't try to contact base stations. It is margial reception that kills the battery (or pedometer apps).

Wifi on or off didn't make a lot of difference on mine but tethering to provide Mifi services to other clients hammered it. GPS is also fairly frugal but I guess that will vary with the chipset used.

Regards, Martin Brown

>

Vote

K

krw 9 years ago

However, using one of these directly into a LiIon battery is simply insane.

USB, sure. That's a whole different kettle, though.

Larger devices have proprietary charging system, so you make a good point about USB chargers.

Vote

A

Andy K 9 years ago

My mistake, output is 5.0 volts.

Andy

Vote

A

Andy K 9 years ago

Are you saying you do not know what model number means?

formatting link

Andy

Vote

A

Andy K 9 years ago

After charging the phone 2 days ago, it is still 3 bars out of 4 for the battery condition.

My problem must have been an anomaly. :-)

Thanks for all the responses, Andy

Vote

K

kevin93 9 years ago

On Wednesday, October 5, 2016 at 1:37:47 PM UTC-7, Andy K wrote: ...

But as you can see from that link it is in fact an Alcatel 510A, not AT&T - why couldn't you say that?

Vote

D

Dave Platt 9 years ago

If it's presenting itself as a clean 5-volt DC source, and if it's not grossly violating the USB charger/power specs, then it should be just as safe to use as any other USB charger, and it shouldn't have any more of an ill effect on a phone's battery than any other charger.

Lithium batteries do require very careful charge control, both for safety and for maximum battery life. The responsibility for this falls on the shoulders of the charge-control chip in the battery module or the phone. This chip is supposed to set the actual voltage and current which are presented to the battery itself... the charging module has its own voltage-and-current regulator built in.

The choice of the battery charging current, and the "endpoint voltage" has a lot to do with the battery lifetime. Charging to a higher endpoint voltage can increase the battery's capacity significantly, but also significantly reduces the number of charge/discharge cycles you can get before the battery poops out. A more conservative charge cutoff point may reduce the capacity-per-charge by some percent, but give you a lot more charge/discharge cycles.

Vote

K

krw 9 years ago

No moron, I'm saying exactly what I wrote. "I have no idea what a

510A is." The stupid OP doesn't even know who the manufacturer is.

Maybe. If the OP can't be bothered to find information that will help him, I don't really have an interest in searching the web to find

*possible* matches and then find the technical information needed to decode his question.

Vote

K

krw 9 years ago

Sorry, moron. You are the moron OP.

Vote

D

dakupoto 9 years ago

Absolutely true, given that lithium based batteries are very sensitive to constant current/constant voltage phases in the charge cycle.

Vote

D

dakupoto 9 years ago

AT&T never built your phone. They just got a sub-contractor(typically a Chinese contract manufacturer) to assemble it for them. After the device arrives, they would do some rudimentary checks, put the AT&T logo on it and sell it to you.

Vote

A

Andy K 9 years ago

Reduced to name calling ?

Grow up.

Vote

K

krw 9 years ago

Tired of being trolled, moron.

Reduced to netkopping?

>

Vote

T

Tom Gardner 9 years ago

And that is all you need to know about krw, his respect for the s.e.d., and for the people trying to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Vote

K

krw 9 years ago

That a call a spade a spade? You bet your ass.

...said the chaff.

Vote

Can powerbanks shorten lithium battery life ?

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?