Chargie battery manager for mobiles

mgfvvc

Somebody on another forum I frequent, recently bought a Chargie. This is a dongle that goes between your mobile and the charger and manages the charge level, so it can limit your phone to a particular charge and/or delay charging to full. 

The idea behind the delay function is that phones left on charge overnight aren't on maximum charge for long. They will charge to say 50% then spend most of the night on a moderate charge level before charging to full shortly before you normally get up.

This serves 2 purposes. It should reduce battery wear and extend the battery's life. It should also reduce the risk of a battery fire overnight.
I don't see much in the way of independent reviews on the web. It sounds like a good idea, but does it really work and are the devices good quality? I don't suppose anybody here knows the answer yet, but I'm interested in people's opinions, especially well supported opinions. I would also like to know whether anyone is likely to try one?

born_again

Not tried the above device.
But my Huawei P30 Pro from 09-06-2020 is charged each night on a Choetech Wireless charger (15W/10W/7.5W)  since purchase to 100% & still showing 100% health.

Also get charged in car when using Android Auto & on Huawei charger that came with phone if required during day if required, due to heavy gaming usage.
But still lasting as long as ever.

PHK

Entirely unnecessary as all but the cheapest phones have battery management circuitry in the phone and battery that communicates with each other.

Ayr_Rage

Get yourself a Realme phone, mine has optimised night charging and has learnt when I got bed and wake up.

It charges to 80% and then tops up the last 20% in the hour before my normal waking time.

mgfvvc

PHK said:

Entirely unnecessary as all but the cheapest phones have battery management circuitry in the phone and battery that communicates with each other.

Android battery management is very basic. There is nothing in a basic Android phone that allows you to stop charging at a giver percentage or charge at a specific time. There might be phones that do this, but I've never seen one.

mgfvvc

Ayr_Rage said:

Get yourself a Realme phone, mine has optimised night charging and has learnt when I got bed and wake up.

It charges to 80% and then tops up the last 20% in the hour before my normal waking time.

I'm not going to spend hundreds of quid replacing phones to get that feature, but I will look at Realme next time I change my phone. It's not a brand I'd heard of previously.

Ayr_Rage

mgfvvc said:

Ayr_Rage said:

Get yourself a Realme phone, mine has optimised night charging and has learnt when I got bed and wake up.

It charges to 80% and then tops up the last 20% in the hour before my normal waking time.

I'm not going to spend hundreds of quid replacing phones to get that feature, but I will look at Realme next time I change my phone. It's not a brand I'd heard of previously.

It was not an expensive phone for the features.

forgotmyname

Sounded an interesting idea, giving users the choice of how their phone charges but their website lacks real data and makes false claims
that the device can save you $29 in a single month.

Makes a big thing (AND FALSE) on having gold contacts on every inch of it's board and connectors. So it's a dead short?
No lead in the solder that's a downside because lead free solder is horrible.

It's free after a months usage based on replacing a $1500 phone after 3 years..  Misleading or plain lies?  It's a device they claim that
protects the battery not the phone itself. It doesn't do that either because it's output is unstable, not charging at the voltage specified and
it does not limit the charge current which can cause excessive heat.

Put the money towards your next phone and learn what degrades the battery and avoid as best as possible doing that. But they are
consumable items so they will wear out.

Personall I disable fast charging, when I get up I unplug it rather than leaving it until later.  100% avoid running it totally flat although it
should have some safety built in to avoid that. Dead to a phone maybe still above the voltage that causes major damage to them.

My phone battery reports a 3.6% loss after 22 months and will cost less than £100 for a genuine guaranteed replacement. That
is what they should be calculating any savings. The cost of a battery over xx years. So will it save £100/$100 over 3 years NO.

PHK

mgfvvc said:

PHK said:

Entirely unnecessary as all but the cheapest phones have battery management circuitry in the phone and battery that communicates with each other.

Android battery management is very basic. There is nothing in a basic Android phone that allows you to stop charging at a giver percentage or charge at a specific time. There might be phones that do this, but I've never seen one.

You've misunderstood. I'm not talking about menu options but the circuitry built into the battery and phone that prevents overcharge and dangerous situations.

mgfvvc

PHK said:

mgfvvc said:

PHK said:

Entirely unnecessary as all but the cheapest phones have battery management circuitry in the phone and battery that communicates with each other.

Android battery management is very basic. There is nothing in a basic Android phone that allows you to stop charging at a giver percentage or charge at a specific time. There might be phones that do this, but I've never seen one.

You've misunderstood. I'm not talking about menu options but the circuitry built into the battery and phone that prevents overcharge and dangerous situations.

So when you say "entirely unnecessary" you are ignoring the main purpose, which is reduced battery wear.

Ayr_Rage

All modern phones have circuitry to prevent overcharging, it is the last 20% that really stresses the battery and that is why my phone only charges from 80% to 100% just before I wake up.

It took a couple of weeks to learn my normal bed and waking times and now when I plug it in at night it tells me that "optimised night charging is in progress and the battery will be fully charged at 0530"

It really is rather smart.

My LG laptop also has a similar feature which when activated stops the battery charge at 80% and that is supposed to prolong battery life, it just sits at that level even when plugged in and I am using it.