There’s nothing worse than having a device with a battery that cant hold a charge. This is why knowing how and when to charge your iPad is crucial to maintaining its original battery capacity.
So when should you charge your iPad?
Ideally, you’d want to maintain a battery life of 75% to 25%. This is because iPad’s use lithium-Ion batteries which work in charge cycles. Each time your iPad drops below 25% battery, it consumes one charge cycle. The more charge cycles your iPad consumes, the quicker the battery degrades. Additionally, constantly topping your Ipad’s battery to 100% battery can add additional stress to the battery, not because lithium-ion batteries can be overcharged at 100%, but because lithium-ion batteries perform better & maintain optimal temperature levels at 50% battery.
Lithium-Ion batteries work very differently from the traditional nickel batteries; simply not knowing how Lithium-Ion batteries work can shed off years out of your Ipad’s battery capacity.
Let’s take a look at how you can prolong your iPad’s battery life with just a few tips.
When & How Often Should You Charge Your iPad For Prolonged Battery Life?
Firstly three main elements impact your iPad‘s battery health & capacity & all of these are linked with the percentage at which you charge your iPad & discharge your iPad. These are your charge cycles, the temperatures your iPad is operated/stored in, and the battery percentage of your iPad when stored for an extended period. All these factors will determine the lifespan of your iPad’s battery.
Starting with charge cycles, so why is a charge cycle of 75% to 25% battery ideal (This means charging your iPad to 75% battery life max and dropping it no more than 25% before charging it again)?
This is because iPad’s contain lithium-ion batteries, which degrade based on charge cycles. A charge cycle is simply when you use an amount equal to 100% of your battery’s capacity, so charging your iPad to 100% and discharging it all the way down to 0% consumes one charge cycle; the more that occurs, the more your iPad’s battery degrades.
However, because temperature has a massive impact on lithium-ion batteries, the best battery percentage to maintain for overall battery health is 50%. This is because it puts a lot less stress on the battery. Charging from 100% down to 50% will reduce your charge cycle much quicker than if you discharge the battery from 80% battery on your iPad to 30%, even though both of those cycles consume 50%.
A test done by battery university shows that a charge cycle of 75% to 25% was the ideal range for prolonging the battery life of a lithium-ion battery & its performance, providing you with an estimated 3000 charge cycles. Whereas 85%. to 25% was the second best range, with an estimate of 2000 charge cycles. The test also reveals that charging and discharging from 100% to 25% had the shortest life span.
And finally, a charge cycle of 75% to 65% had the longest lifespan out of all; however, because this is simply a 10% battery capacity it’s an unrealistic target to hit.
You may be wondering what if you have no access to a charger and your iPad is about to discharge below 25%, well in this case, you can simply turn off your iPad until you have access to a charger.
Charge cycles are just one factor in prolonging your iPad’s battery life. The next Factor is operating and storage temperatures.
How Extreme Temperatures Can Affect Your iPads Battery Health
According to Apple your iPad performs best in an environment with temperatures of 62° to 72° F (16° to 22° C), when exposed to temperatures above that, specifically when they rise above 95° F (35° C), it can permanently damage your iPads battery capacity.
This is because Lithium-Ion batteries don’t do well in extreme temperatures, whether it’s too hot or too cold. Additionally, storing your iPad at a 100% charge at an extreme temperature will degrade your iPad’s battery health even faster this is because the high battery percentage adds additional stress to the device combined with the environmental temperature stress. Battery university shows the impact of battery degradation in extreme temperatures when your device’s battery is at 100% or 40%. If storing your iPad at 40% charge at 40°C it will retain 75% of its battery capacity; however, if you store it at the same temperature but at 100% battery life, it will only retain 65% of its battery capacity after three months.
Is it bad to charge your iPad every day?
No, the amount of times you charge your iPad doesn’t impact its battery health; this is because, unlike nickel batteries, Lithium-Ion batteries don’t need to be discharged to 0%. In fact, the more you reduce the number of discharges, the longer your iPad battery will last.
Should you charge your iPad overnight?
There’s no real harm in charging your iPad overnight; this is because once the battery life reaches 100%, it will immediately stop charging, thus making it impossible to overcharge. Additionally, iPad batteries are designed to charge fast all the way up to 80% battery and then slow from 80% to 100%. The reason for this is because charging from 80% to 100% adds more stress to lithium-ion batteries so the trickle charge works to increase battery longevity.
How much can an iPad charge in 30 minutes?
According to apple, a 30-minute charge would charge your iPhone up to 50 percent battery. However, it’s important to remember that the iPad’s battery is designed to charge slow once it reaches 80% to maintain the battery capacity’s longevity. So it’s dependant on your battery percentage when you start the charge.
How long does an iPad last?
this does depend on the way you use your iPad, if you have many apps running in the background, have the brightness set high, have many tabs open on your web browser, all these factors into how long your battery will last, however on average your iPad should last around 10 hours according to Apple.
Is it worth replacing iPad battery?
If your iPads battery capacity has degraded over time, replacing it will allow it to keep a charge for longer hours and perform better overall. If you’re iPad is still under warranty or under Apple care+, apple will replace your battery for free. However, replacing your iPad battery out of warranty will cost you $99.
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