Few people today imagine life without a smartphone. Someone uses mobile communication only when necessary, while others do not let the phone out of their hands at all. With such a load, sooner or later an inevitable process takes place - the battery is obsolete and needs to be replaced.
Experts have found that after five hundred charge-discharge cycles, the battery capacity decreases exactly half of the nominal value. Neither the brand of the phone nor its cost affect this process in any way. This article will show you how to find out the battery capacity. Ways to save and measure it will also be discussed in the review.
What is battery capacity?
The capacity (volume) of the battery, which is indicated among other technical characteristics, shows how long the battery can provide uninterrupted power. The capacity of powerful batteries is expressed in ampere-hours, and small - in milliampere-hours. This value is calculated by multiplying the discharge time by a constant current value.
In modern devices, manufacturers predominantly install lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries. Battery operation is provided by various chemical processes. During operation, changes in the electrolytic composition, volume, state of the electrodes occur, which indicates the limited battery life.
So, how do you know the battery capacity in order to timely track the moment of a forced replacement? After all, no one wants the phone to "run out" at the most inopportune moment.
How to visually inspect the battery?
It is possible that if you encounter problems with holding the charge , you won’t need to find the answer to the question of how to find out the capacity of the phone’s battery . In some cases, the battery needs immediate disposal. You can check the need to replace the part with an elementary visual inspection.
The critical condition of the battery will be immediately noticeable. As a rule, during prolonged use on the battery, bloating and traces of corrosion are detected that have a green or white tint. Deformation in the form of bubbles may not be immediately visible, such a defect tends to grow gradually. However, when bubbles appear, the battery must be replaced immediately. Otherwise, the electrolyte can simply damage the microcircuit. A new battery will cost much less than an unexpected smartphone replacement.
What should alert you?
The quick discharge of a smartphone should surely attract the attention of the owner, because most often only when they first encounter a problem, people begin to be interested in how to find out the battery capacity. The prerequisites for this action are:
- reducing the amount of time the phone operates at the same load;
- a sharp shutdown and zero amount of energy upon reaching a certain percentage of the charge (most often 20%).
True, today you can easily lose sight of the moment you need to replace the smartphone’s battery due to the prevalence of powerbank devices - a portable battery with which you can recharge the battery anywhere and anytime.
How to check the battery mechanically?
Battery life is affected not only by the intensity of use. Factors that reduce battery life include sudden changes in temperature or long periods of inactivity. Excessive heat and too severe colds are perceived by the device as negatively as the fact that the battery has not been used for a long time.
Battery swelling is usually quite slow and not always immediately noticeable to the smartphone owner. To check if it is likely that the battery will fail soon, turn the battery on a flat surface. If there is a bend, then the rotation will occur easily.
How to check battery capacity programmatically?
It is much more informative than the visual or mechanical way to check the battery by software methods. So, special commands or applications will help you identify the problem quickly and efficiently. Methods vary depending on the operating system of the smartphone.
For iPhone owners, who often complain about a lack of charge, experts recommend installing the iBackupBot utility, which is available in two versions - for PC and Mac. True, getting the necessary data using the utility is quite difficult, so it’s better to install the finished application on a computer, and then connect a smartphone to it. Starting iBackupBot, you need to add the connected device to the list of valid ones. By clicking on “More information”, you can see the necessary data on the screen: the number of charge-discharge cycles and battery capacity. In the event that the indicated value is below fifty percent of the nominal, it is worth buying a new battery.
For those who are looking for how to find out the battery capacity of Android, there are several methods. So, you can simply type * # * # 4636 # * # * on the keyboard and select the “Battery Information” command. After that the necessary data will appear on the display. Checking the battery status with program code does not always work, in which case it is worth installing an application like iBackupBot from GooglePlay. For phones with Android operating system, a good program is, for example, Battery. In addition to information about the current battery capacity, the application will show the voltage and temperature of the battery.
How to accurately measure battery capacity?
Of all the methods that tell you how to find out the actual battery capacity, the most effective is to measure this value with the help of advanced chargers. Measurements can be carried out in two ways:
- Charge the phone. You must select the type of battery (which is indicated on the battery) and the mode. By calculating the amount of current and the time spent on a full charge, the device will give a result - the current capacity.
- Discharging the phone. These measurements can be carried out in the reverse order. The device will also measure the necessary values (only spent on discharge) and give a result.
How to measure battery capacity using a tester?
How to find out the battery capacity with a multimeter and what kind of device is it? A tester, or multimeter, allows you to determine the place of a break in the electrical network, voltage and resistance, and device performance. At the same time, the use of a tester to determine the battery capacity of a smartphone is not the most effective method, since the values will be only approximate. To obtain more accurate information, it is better to use the above methods: programs or a special charger.
How to measure laptop battery capacity?
How to find out the capacity of a laptop’s battery if it starts to discharge quickly when the battery is running? In the case of laptop computers, the situation is somewhat different - you will not need to use third-party programs.
You can find out the actual laptop battery capacity using standard Windows tools. First you need to run the command line and enter “powercfg –energy” in it. Additional information will appear on the screen, in which the path will be written: C: \ Users \ Username \ energy-report.html. Following it, in the end you can see the energy-report.html file, when you open it, all the battery information will appear: code, manufacturer, number, electrolyte, battery life, rated capacity and full charge. The latter values are the actual capacitance values.
So, the question of how to find out the battery capacity does not actually cause difficulties. Timely diagnosis and battery replacement will extend the life of your smartphone or laptop. In addition, you should regularly clean the connectors of the equipment from contamination, install specialized applications, prevent the battery from fully charging and prolonged downtime, and if possible, disable unused functions and services.