Midrange phone that survive Trini heat? Two batteries swell up in 18 months
Keron Baptiste@keron_tt
Wha going on allyuh. Android dev in Port of Spain here. I test all my client apps on real phones so I go through midrange phones like water, and I have a problem.
My last two phones (one around TT$2,800, one around TT$3,500, both from the big brands, bought in a store on Frederick Street) swell up the battery inside 18 months. Back cover start lifting, screen get a gap. The second one I catch early.
My daily life for context:
- Is 31 to 33°C most days, humidity like soup.
- Phone charge in the car on the way to clients, with Maps running and the AC not reaching the dash mount.
- Overnight charging on a fast charger.
Questions:
- Is this the phone or is this me?
- Any midrange phones known for handling heat better?
- Battery settings that actually help? I see "adaptive charging" and "protect battery" type options but doh know if they real.
Trey said to post here and call the hardware people. Steups, I just want a phone that last.
Accepted answer
It's mostly you (sorry!) but it's fixable. Lithium-ion cells age much faster when they are hot AND at a high state of charge at the same time. Your car mount is the worst case: hot dash, sun, navigation working the CPU, and fast charging adding its own heat. Swelling is gas from the electrolyte breaking down (and a swollen battery is a fire risk, so stop using a phone once the back starts lifting).
What helps, roughly in order of impact:
1. Don't charge in the car while navigating in the sun. If you must, use a slow charger and a vent mount so the AC actually hits the phone.
2. Turn on the charge limit (often called 'protect battery' or similar, caps around 80 to 85%). It's real.
3. Overnight: slow charger, not the fast one. Nothing is in a hurry at 3am.
4. Take the case off when charging in the heat.
(And when it does swell, a phone with a pull-tab battery is a 20 minute fix instead of a new phone.)
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Gwen Albright@gwenprints
It's mostly you (sorry!) but it's fixable. Lithium-ion cells age much faster when they are hot AND at a high state of charge at the same time. Your car mount is the worst case: hot dash, sun, navigation working the CPU, and fast charging adding its own heat. Swelling is gas from the electrolyte breaking down (and a swollen battery is a fire risk, so stop using a phone once the back starts lifting).
What helps, roughly in order of impact:
1. Don't charge in the car while navigating in the sun. If you must, use a slow charger and a vent mount so the AC actually hits the phone.
2. Turn on the charge limit (often called 'protect battery' or similar, caps around 80 to 85%). It's real.
3. Overnight: slow charger, not the fast one. Nothing is in a hurry at 3am.
4. Take the case off when charging in the heat.
(And when it does swell, a phone with a pull-tab battery is a 20 minute fix instead of a new phone.)
Keron Baptiste@keron_tt
Gwen this is gold. The car thing is exactly my life, Maps plus charging plus sun on the dash every day. Steups at myself.
Trey Robinson@techwithtrey
Told you Gwen would come through. I'll add: for the next phone, look for reviews that run a long thermal test (20 to 30 minutes of gaming or 4K recording) and check if it throttles or throws a heat warning. That's the closest thing to your dash. And the charge limit setting is legit, I run mine at 80% now.
Karthikeyan S@karthik_embedded
Gwen covered it fully. One more: the temperature protection in the phone only saves the battery from extremes, not from 'warm all day every day'. 40°C for 2 hours daily ages the cell like crazy over one year. Our motor controller batteries on farms die the same way only. Shade is the best component.
Leo Chen 陈立@szhw_leo
Also cheap fast charger can make it worse. If charger negotiate high voltage but phone thermal design is bad, more heat. Use the original brand charger or a known one. Can.
Dita Anggraini@dita_kotlin
Practical one: apps like AccuBattery log battery temperature while charging. Check what you actually hit on the dash. If you see 40+ while charging, that is your answer.
Keron Baptiste@keron_tt
Update: put AccuBattery on it, dash charging hit 44°C yesterday afternoon. Allyuh was right. Moved to a vent mount and stop car charging unless I under 20%. Will report back in a year if this one survive 😂
Andre Mitchell@andre_313
Detroit is the opposite problem in winter lol, phone dies at 30% when its -10. Batteries hate everything fam