5 Tips to Maximize the Battery Life of Devices
by Natalie Schlueter
Devices are expensive. Maximizing battery life is important.
Purchasing a large fleet of devices can be nerve wracking, especially when the devices could only last a few years. The average total lifespan of any tablet battery is 3-4 years. A phone’s battery will last around 3 years. It is no secret to the average consumer that their phone’s battery will deplete without the proper care. It should be the same thought process for company tablets as well. Why waste the thousands of dollars spent on devices by not protecting their battery life?
Not only does the battery life deplete, but with it the performance of the device. Maximizing the battery life of devices is important to maximize the ROI of devices with increased and prolonged performance.
Read below to access the top 5 tips for maximizing the battery life of your devices.
1. Decrease Screen Brightness
It is safe to say that screen brightness affects device battery life. Decreasing screen brightness can potentially increase the life of the device by about three hours. Imagine what you can get done in three hours multiplied by every day in the week. Screen brightness is not something that we think about all the time, and sometimes we need the screen to be as high as possible to really understand what we are looking at or reading, but it is safe to say that decreasing screen brightness can influence battery life, and it should be considered on a daily basis.
The good news is if you are managing an entire fleet of devices, you can set controls on devices to limit the brightness level. Android has options to keep the screen brightness at one level the entire time so you don’t have to worry about consistently having to adjust the screen brightness on every device at the beginning or end of the day.
Another part of this to consider is decreasing the screen timeout. The screen timeout is the amount of time it takes for an inactive device to go to sleep and turn off the display. This decreases the amount of time the screen is on, and therefore helps save battery with the least amount of inactive screen time as possible.
2. Monitor Charging
If you do not have a smart charging system in place, consider monitoring the charge. Many new devices today have an integrated system that self-monitors the charging pace. For example, the newest iPhones have a system of drip charging. Drip charging allows a device to slow the charge so that the battery never goes completely to 100% battery life until you are ready to use it. Other self-monitors will stop charging the device when it reaches 100% battery life.
In the past, it was recommended that devices be drained of battery at least two to three times every six months. This is no longer the case. In order to maximize the battery life of devices, the battery should be at around 20 to 50 percent charged before plugging it in again.
If you do not have a self-monitored system, you should make sure that when the device hits 100% capacity that they are unplugged. Of course, it is not necessary that these are unplugged as batteries are not what they used to be and will not get fried because of devices overcharging, but it is still a good habit and practice to unplug the devices at 100% capacity.
3. Tablet Placement
The placement of devices is important to maximize the battery life. Batteries exposed to high heat tend to perform worse than batteries that are not overheated and higher temperatures make for a shorter battery life in the long run.
How can you minimize the threat of a device overheating? There are a few simple ways to manage this:
- Make sure the device is charging in a space that allows airflow. Allow space between devices so air can circulate around and invest in a solution that allows multiple devices to charge together in a space that supports air flow.
- Try to minimize the amount of background noise happening on devices at any given time. This means decreasing the screen brightness and closing out of all unused applications at the end of the day, or even during.
- Disable unwanted connections. This includes Bluetooth, WiFi and Cellular Data. Your device is constantly looking for these connectivities and with it searching in the back, it can potentially be a part of the device overheating.
- Charge devices in a cool place and store them in a temperature controlled area.
When investing in a large fleet of devices, it is imperative that you consider the plan for charging the devices and where they will live when charging. Finding a space that can allow for airflow to and around the devices will improve the life of the device’s batteries in the long run.
4. Utilize Smart Charging
What exactly is Smart Charging? Smart Charging, or Intelligent Charging, is a form of technology where the charger can sense based on battery temperature when it is at 80% capacity. When the device is 80% charged, the charger switches to trickle charging to make sure that the device is always charged. The best part of this is you will not over charge your device battery, ever, therefore maximizing the battery life of the device.
Do you want to do this on a large scale? There are intelligent charging carts for that. A smart charging cart can sense which group or set of devices require the most power and can allocate power to those specific devices. This can be helpful in environments where devices are placed in a cart for a short amount of time before going back into use. Additionally, intelligent carts are a great option when more powerful devices are being used – which, without this type of charging, could cause the breaker to overheat and shut off.
5. Avoid Using High Powered Applications During Charge
Using high powered applications during charging sessions creates dissonance between the battery being charged and the battery needing to be used on the applications. Allowing the battery to charge before utilizing applications such as video streaming apps, gaming apps, or other high powered software will allow for the battery to charge faster, and ensure that it does not overheat.
Using applications while devices are charging is not bad, just be mindful of the types of applications being used and know that using applications will slow down the charging process as the power supporting the application usage will pull from the current charge.
There are many ways to maximize the battery life of devices, and it is up to each individual user to determine which set of tips will help them progress throughout the day, while protecting their battery’s lifetime. Make sure when you purchase a fleet of expensive devices that there is a plan in place to determine how the devices will be charged safely and effectively.
