Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 March 16

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

March 16

Android Battery

"Sony Xperia XA Ultra Dual", non-removable battery.

1) Is it possible to replace the non-removable battery by yourself or by sending it its company? If so, how, and Where could I send it to ("Sony" company of course) in UK in order to replace the battery to a new one?

Also, could I replace it to a larger "mAh" battery?

2) I did not receive a fast charger with it. After through research I couldn't find its integration. Is it possible to use a fast charger for this phone? If so, could you please display which one, what model, and so on.

123.108.246.102 (talk) 11:47, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

It's a glued case, so replacing it is possible, but comparable to replacing a cracked screen. Most small independent phone shops can do this, or you can DIY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUYZCSwHHAQ I think it's quite hard to get the batteries though - it's a phone-specific connector on it and there aren't a huge number in stock from most suppliers. Andy Dingley (talk) 13:19, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Sony Xperia XA Ultra where released in July 2016 and already need a battery replacement? First check if your phone has a unusual battery drain when it is not used. Check if your charge drops more than 10% per hour no matter you dont use it. Allot of smartphones may develop issues with unneeded software running unnoticed in the background. --Kharon (talk) 11:24, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

All checked. Battery drains very quickly for no reason. I have to charge more than twice if I use it properly (but not fully). The, awaiting for charge completion, is even a bigger piss take; 1 hour and 40 minutes. Btw, is it possible to buy a fast charging charger for this phone?

123.108.246.169 (talk) 16:11, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

[1] finds some possibilities. 173.228.123.121 (talk) 22:11, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

100 minutes sounds about right for a 2,700mAh battery charging at a maximum of two amps. I wouldn't try to charge it any faster in case it overheats. Does your phone get hot even when you are not actively using it or charging it? The specifications say:

Stand-by Up to 558 h (2G) / Up to 708 h (3G)

Talk time Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 12 h (3G)

Music play Up to 65 h

I would expect at least a third if these times from a 2-year-old battery. Dbfirs 22:26, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Phones always contain their own charging circuitry that controls the charge speed, so if you're charging in 100 minutes the limitation is in the phone. Using a bigger charger won't help. Generally (because of how Li batteries work) the fastest charge is during the first 80% or so, after which it slows down a lot. So if you charge for 60 minutes you likely already near 80% charged, with the 40 minutes spent topping off the last 20%. It's actually better for the battery to disconnect the charger at 80% and there are apps that can do that for you automatically. The battery is good for a few hundred full cycles but the "wear" is almost entirely at the above 90% or below 10% charge levels: as long as you stay between those bounds you get almost unlimited use.

I read somewhere that Tesla cars advertise (say) a 200 mile range, but normally they stop charging at around 80% / 160 miles. You can charge them to 100% through a setting on the control screen but they advise only doing that if you're about to go on a long trip, since it affects the battery's lifetime, and those batteries are crazy expensive. 173.228.123.121 (talk) 23:01, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

…if you're charging in 100 minutes the limitation is in the phone. This is incorrect. To "fast charge" you need to use a charger that supports it. The phone can't pull more current or voltage than that which the charger puts out. Fast charging involves using higher currents and voltages; see for example Quick Charge, Qualcomm's standard. --47.146.60.177 (talk) 02:51, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Good point, I checked and saw that the phone supports QC 2.0[2] though that too is circuitry in the phone. It sounds like OP may already be using it though, if they're getting a full charge in 100 minutes. If not, they should give it a try. It does make a lot of difference. My own phone takes several hours to charge by normal USB even with high-current chargers, but might be in the 100 minute range to get a full charge with QC2. It gets to around 90% in under an hour and I usually unplug it if I'm there to notice when it gets there. 173.228.123.121 (talk) 05:09, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Just as a quick note, at least for the benefit of others, 'normal USB even with high-current chargers' is easily largely irrelevant. Most phones won't try to draw more than 500 mA unless they have some sign from the charger it supports a higher current. While there are a few standards which are supposed to be unifying, their support is still fairly hit and miss particularly when you consider all the myriad of cheap Chinese phones. And even if the phone supports one of these standards, there's no guarantee the charger that came with the phone supports it. It may simply use some semi proprietary standard from whoever made it. Quite a lot of non OEM chargers support the iOS standard. If the chargers says it supports 2.1A or especially 2.4A it probably supports the iOS standard. It may not support any other standard. Some Android phones support this standard but by no means all. In other words, even if it's a 2.4A charger, it doesn't mean your phone is going to charge faster than 500mA with it. Some phones may also draw more perhaps 800-900 mA with or without (particularly cheap Chinese ones) some signal form the charger, but may also higher charging currents still at 5V under some conditions such as Quick Charge so even if your phone is using more than 500mA it doesn't mean it's using the maximum it's capable of using. Most phones will also adjust charging current if the there too much of a voltage sag for various reasons. So if the charger is crap, or you use a not very good long cable (2m or especially 3m), you may have slow charging even if the charger and phone are intercompatible at a higher current. Especially with 3m, I've found even the better looking and branded Chinese cables still have problems. Frankly I have doubts even many of the branded Amazon cables are that good. There are a bunch which are probably okay, when I was looking I looked for ones which mentioned a decent wire gauge, e.g. Volutz, Blitzwolf, Anker. Of course 3m is very demanding I suspect even with good cables you could still have limitations at some times. (If you're considering data, USB 3.0 is likely to have problems with more than 2m. For this reason, many don't bother to make type C 3m or if they do they mark them as charging only.) Incidentally the move to USB type C will hopefully finally give good compatibility with decent charging currents across devices. Nil Einne (talk) 10:19, 22 March 2018 (UTC)