Today’s devices make work so much easier in a mobile world. Big, bright, colorful screens and fully featured computational apps help blur the lines between being in a remote location and working at the office. But unfortunately, those highly coveted features come with a price: faster battery drain!
You might find that your batteries need help keeping up with the power demands of this new generation of power-hungry devices. In this post, you’ll get up to speed on ways to increase the usage time of your batteries and prolong their life span.
How Lithium Battery Drain Happens
In some instances, you may get what seems like a rapid drain of the power in your batteries. When this happens, it is likely due to environmental conditions, physical battery damage, or too heavy of a load.
Environmental conditions to avoid for your smartphone and other battery-powered devices include extreme temperatures and areas that are too moist or too dry. Batteries can sustain damage if used or charged improperly, so follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Also, your device may be drawing just enough from your battery power pack to operate without enough juice to refill the batteries. If you use a portable power solution, ensure it is correctly rated for your device’s power consumption.
10 Tips to Increase the Battery Life of Your Device
Here are some simple things you can do to reduce battery consumption and increase battery health. Some tips apply to daily usage, while others are for when an emergency requires you to ration available power.
1. Reduce Screen Brightness
Your device’s display is a big power consumer. Screens have higher refresh rates and vivid colors with high levels of default screen brightness. Your phone’s default brightness may have looked great in the store, but you can increase how long your batteries hold their charge if you reduce it to a dimmer yet comfortable viewing level. As a bonus, your tired eyes will thank you for it. Staring at brightly lit displays can contribute to eye strain.
2. Use Battery-Saver Mode
Most modern smartphones and other devices come with a battery-saver or reduced-power mode. This feature can extend your battery life in critical situations when a power source is unavailable. The setting reduces power consumption by stripping nonessential capabilities that drain excessive amounts of power. For example, the screen brightness is dimmed, and background activity that requires regular check-ins, like push notifications and checking email, is suspended.
Battery-saver mode can help you squeeze out your batteries’ last bit of usable power. It’s a good temporary solution, but it will sacrifice some functionality.
3. Update Your Operating System
Software updates often include performance optimizations that help your battery last longer. In addition, software developers are growing more aware of power management issues and are consistently adding new power management tools to help extend battery life.
4. Avoid Overcharging the Battery
Circuitry in modern devices prevents batteries from overcharging. If you leave your phone on a charger past 100%, the battery will drain slightly and then recharge slowly. However, you can damage your phone batteries by attempting to charge them at a higher current than they’re rated for. Check to ensure that your fast-charging technology is compatible with your device. Also, whenever possible, hit the power button to turn your phone off while charging it.
5. Consider Using a Partial Charge
Continual complete charging and draining will place your lithium batteries under great stress. You can make them last longer and work better by practicing the partial charge.
This concept involves charging your device a little at a time. You can plug it in for a few minutes here and there to reduce the amount of charging stress it experiences. By not fully charging your lithium batteries, you help them last longer and avoid the risk of getting them too hot.
6. Turn Off Push Notifications
Push notifications help make mobile devices valuable. They enable you to stay connected to different sources without opening multiple apps.
While these alerts are handy, they cause extra drain on your batteries. You can compromise by setting up push notifications only for the apps you need to connect to constantly.
7. Avoid Full-Cycle (0% to 100%) Charging
Lithium batteries work better and last longer if you pamper them. One way to do that is to keep them charged in the middle range, between 15% and 85%.
By not wholly draining and then charging your battery up to 100% again, you extend its life and reduce the minute damage the cell sustains each time it is cycled.
8. Close All the Apps Running in the Background
Apps running in the background consume power even when you aren’t using them. The best way to mitigate excessive battery drainage from this cause is to close all apps when you are finished using them.
If you can live without constant connectivity, try putting your phone in airplane mode from time to time; this will temporarily disable all internet services, reducing the strain on your batteries.
9. Choose a Dark Theme for Your Phone or Device
Dark themes conserve power by using less lighting for your screen. Typically, the background goes dark, and the text is lighter for better visibility.
Using dark themes can be challenging to get used to, but many people like the way they look in addition to the extended battery life.
10. Do Not Sync Email, Calendars, and Contacts
Automatic syncing for email, contacts, and calendars is a handy feature that comes at the price of battery life. To perform the syncing, the utility must continually check for updates to ensure that all notifications are accurate and timely.
Unfortunately, this convenience requires the device to use power. You can turn off the syncing features to save a significant amount of battery power.
Use a Fast-Charging, Large-Capacity Power Bank for Your Device
Getting extra minutes or hours of operation out of your devices’ batteries is possible, but it can often be inconvenient or short-lived.
To switch into the professional digital lane, consider a cutting-edge portable power solution from Omnicharge. Check out our product selection and see which is right for you.
