How to test the capacity of your cell phone battery

[Poppy]

The title asks it all,
My phone is just over three years old, and I generally try to keep it charged at about 80%.

Is there a way to test how good that battery is?

 

[hamhanded]

Android or iPhone? CoconutBattery is a freeware app for Mac that supports displaying the battery manufacture date, current full charge capacity, original design capacity, cycle count, temperature, and charging wattage of both the laptop and your phone.

 

[Poppy]

arrgh,
thanks for the response, but mine is an android.
Does your app also determine what its current capacity is?

 

[hamhanded]

It does, but it won't work with an Android device. Sorry I can't advise for Android.

 

[Poppy]

Thanks. Maybe they have an app for android. If not I can look for one that is android compatible.
I may be switching to Apple soon.

 

[kreisl]

didn't kreisl create a thread on that topique

 

[this_is_nascar]

The title asks it all,
My phone is just over three years old, and I generally try to keep it charged at about 80%.

Is there a way to test how good that battery is?

If it's 3-years old, trust me, it's on its way out.

 

[Poppy]

Based on the information I garnered in this thread

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/charging-percentage-capacity-and-extending-cell-phone-battery-life.422496/

I almost never fully charge my phone, but it is rarely less than 60% either.

 

[idleprocess]

Short of some means to limit the charging range in software with some neat integration with the OS to allow charging to 100% on a whim I know I'm not going to pull the charging cable at 80% with any regularity since I charge the phone overnight.

 

[linc90]

I use AccuBattery on my android phone. It works well enough. Definitely worth a look at.

 

[Poppy]

I use AccuBattery on my android phone. It works well enough. Definitely worth a look at.

Thank you, I'll check it out.

I have Asterios Charger Tester installed, and under "advanced" it said that my battery is "Healthy" but it doesn't do an actual capacity test.

 

[linc90]

Accubattery gives you a capacity that it keeps updating as your battery gets aged. Is also gives you all the numbers for each charge and discharge cycle.
Unfortunately If you get the calculator out and start crunching the numbers nothing really adds up, so the accuracy of the data seems to be questionable. It's still the best that I know of on android. I will definitely never be going to apple myself so I'll keep using accubattery and hope a future update will help accuracy, or maybe I'll run across a better app one day. Dream big they say 😁

 

[Poppy]

I installed it and it is running. Does it run in the back ground even when you close the app window? Or do you have to leave the app open all the time for it to be able to do it's calculations?

 

[idleprocess]

Does it run in the back ground even when you close the app window?

Android apps with any sort of persistence tend to be running in the background even if the app window is dismissed.

 

[BVH]

Google "Chargie A", Gold edition for android. It's a combination of hardware (looks like a USB drive) and software charge limiting system. Very versatile. I've used them the a year with no issues. Set a primary charge percentage limit and a secondary charge percentage limit. When you plug in at night, it will charge to the secondary limit and then at an early morning time you choose, will finish charging to the primary charge percentage so that the battery doesn't sit at a "fullish" limit all night. I use 70% as my secondary limit and 84% as my primary limit. I have it do the top off at 5 AM so its ready for use at 6AM.

Chargie A Gold Edition Single - Chargie

All battery manufacturers state that charging your phone to 100% and keeping it like this for 8 hours every night stresses the battery and shortens its lifespan. Discover the remarkable design and function of the Chargie A Gold Edition, a USB phone charging limiter crafted to extend the life of...

chargie.org

 

[linc90]

Yes it runs in the background all the time.

 

[Qship1996]

My Motorola Droid will be 6 years old in February and battery seems fine for daily use, gets left plugged in charging all night, every night. Bigger things to worry about.

 

[ampdude]

I use AccuBattery on my android phone. It works well enough. Definitely worth a look at.

Yes, works great on my phone too.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Poppy,

Get a USB amp/volt meter, run the phone down to X, Y or Z, plug the USB meter into your wall wart and zero things out.

It's not the best way to determine capacity, as 'discharge' is the way to go, but it will give you an idea, minus any charger inefficiencies.

Chris

 

[Poppy]

Chris, I'm guessing that it will measure the ma that gets put INTO the battery?