Optimal way to charge the battery

[LogicalDude]

Hi guys,

Quick question from my side - what is the optimal way to charge the battery for my Xperia XZ2 Compact? I have read articles online that it's recommended to only charge the phone when the battery is in the 25%-30% range and charge it until 85%-90%, but wanted to get the official opinion of Sony as well.

I plan on using my phone for at least 4-5 years so this is important. Right now with modest usage, I can charge the phone every second day only, which I guess is quite decent?

[Lord_viridis]

Well luckily for you, Sony has a few features built into their phones to keep the battery health as high as possible, for as long as possible.

The first is the adaptive charging feature, this puts power into the battery at a level that keeps the battery heat lower, it also makes sure that during the "extreme percentages" you mentioned earlier, the battery is not being overworked and overcharged. This overall helps the charge efficiency and subsequently battery life.

The second feature is battery care+.

This learns your charging habits and aims to keep the last 10% of charge from happening until just before you normally remove from charge. 

This helps the battery life by not constantly charging that final few % which is shown to decrease battery longevity.

[LogicalDude]

That's nice!

But regardless of that, how would you recommend that I charge my battery?

[najodleglejszy]

@LogicalDude  don't overthink it, just charge it whenever you need.

[LogicalDude]

And you are sure that if I charge it 50% => 95% is not worse than if I charge it 25% => 90%?

[Jonas · Accepted solution]

Hi @LogicalDude!

I have heard so many different theories on when to charge the device and what percentage it should be removed from the charger. Everyone claims that they are correct and then there is another "study" that shows they are all wrong and then another study shows that the previous one was wrong and the cycle never ends.

I would say, use Battery Care and if it can be avoided, do not let the battery fully discharge, apart from that, I'm on the same train as @najodleglejszy. Just charge when you need to charge!

I don't know about the cost to replace the battery where you are situated but here in the Nordics it's around 80 euros at an authorized service centre and that is like 10-20% of the cost of a new device.

[LogicalDude]

Thank you Jonas!

And should I enable this battery care saving program or is it automatically enabled?

[Jonas]

Hi again @LogicalDude, sorry for the late reply.

You're very welcome!

I think it's enabled by default, but you can find the setting in Settings > Battery >  Battery Care. Here you have two options.

Auto = if you always charge the device at the same time, for example when you sleep.

Custom = if you do not always charge it at the same time and you want to customize the feature a bit more. I use this as I always try and charge my device to full before leaving work, so I have it set to end at around 5 pm.

The best part about custom is that I can change it when I'm at home on the weekends since I use my device more and I have to charge it more often.

I hope that helps and sorry once again for the late reply.

[LogicalDude]

Thank you, it was turned on indeed.

What about the adaptive charging feature the other user mentioned?

[Jonas]

Hi again @LogicalDude,

The Qnovo Adaptive Charging is activated automaticially and is not a setting in the device that you need to enable.

"Qnovo Adaptive Charging monitors your battery’s health when it’s plugged in and adjusts current levels to ensure the battery isn’t overworked."

I hope that clear things up!