Should I turn off 80℅ battery charge limit on Pixel 6a?

Designed1668

Since the Pixel 6a battery update came through, my battery life is now pretty bad as was expected. I have been using the 80℅ charge limit ever since I switched GrapheneOS. I was using it to both preserve the life of the life of the battery and to mitigate risks of overheating/fire.

Does the battery update now take care of that? Would going back to charging to 100℅ essentially just bring me back to what I was getting before the update with the 80℅ toggle switched on?

xxx

Designed1668 Would going back to charging to 100℅ essentially just bring me back to what I was getting before the update with the 80℅ toggle

Kind of. The patch reduces the battery capacity so setting charging to 100% will use the whole reduced capacity.

GrapheneOS

Designed1668 You should update to the latest release which will show you a notification and a notice in the battery settings if you have a faulty Pixel 6a battery. It sounds like you likely do. It will also show the battery health status as Dead. You might as well turn off the 80% charge limit if you have one of these batteries, but you should replace it. It's considered dead and not practically usable anymore if you have one of the faulty ones. Either replace the battery or get a new phone. They have a free battery replacement offer or you can take $100 cash or $150 credit towards a new Pixel instead. If you're going to keep using it rather than buying a new Pixel from them, either take the free battery replacement or $100 cash and get the battery replaced. If you're going to buy a new Pixel elsewhere such as a used Pixel 8a, then just take the cash.

deplored

Designed1668
Did you get a notification or does Setting/Battery or Settings/About Phone/Battery information say anything?
I updated my wife's 6A and didn't get a notification or any new info in Settings, so I am hoping it is an unaffected. Google wants you to sign in to their website to see if it is affected and I read you also need to be signed in on your phone for it to tell you.

abednego

You should ask Google for a battery replacement instead.

Grapi

Using a 5W charger can significantly extend battery life and prevent overheating. It prevents overheating because it delivers a lower charging current, which is much gentler on the battery. Lower currents generate less heat, reducing thermal stress - one of the main factors that degrade battery health over time.

In contrast, high-current chargers, such as PD chargers (USB-C to USB-C), use the maximum available power to charge your device faster. While convenient, this rapid charging generates more heat, which can negatively impact long-term battery health.

Personally, I always use a 5W charger (USB-A to USB-C) and set an 80% charge limit. In rare "urgent" situations, I switch to a faster charger, either 10W or 15W (USB-A to USB-C), or a PD charger (USB-C to USB-C) with 30W or more - for quicker charging.

Most of the time, I charge only up to 70% using a 5W charger, which helps preserve battery health even further. I also use an app that alerts me with a sound when the battery reaches the desired percentage, so I can unplug the charger promptly.

wuseman

Grapi
Same! When I use a PD charger the phone gets noticeably warmer than my hand. When using one of my two 5W chargers it's still cool to the touch. Definitely better for the battery!

Oggyo

Grapi
This is true that charging with a lower current preserves the battery from extra heat, but I think for modern phones using a 5W charger is better when the phone is completely idle or even turned off.
I noticed some power-intensive operations on today's powerful phones take above 2A, which the traditional 5W charger can't deliver.

So, if you put your phone on 5W and then keep using it, or any power-hungry app/automation keeps draining more than the current that the 5W charger can deliver - it's actually worse for the battery, switching between charge/discharge cycles so often.

Common scenario - gaming when the phone is charging. This put even more heat or happens the above-described.

Designed1668

Grapi I've been charging with a 5W charger ever since I got the bought the phone 3 years ago. I can't say it made much difference.

...This also has nothing to do with the question I asked.

Sagichnicht

The battery patch brings your capacity down to like 55% of the nominal capacity. So even if you're charging to 100%, it's 100% of 55% instead of 80% of 55% (=44%).

55% is very much in the feelgood-range for these batteries. If it helps you avoid going below 20%, it's definitely good for your battery, especially as your 20% now are actually only 11% of the nominal capacity, which is very much in the bad-bad-range for Li-ion batteries.

Plugging your phone in more frequently is definitely the way to go now. That is, until you replace your battery, which you should do.

Designed1668

Sagichnicht thank you for at least addressing the question. Where are you getting your 55℅ figure? Is this like an official thing or your own guess?

And yeah, at this point, I'll probably replace the phone sooner than later. Though I do want to wait at least a couple more months for black Friday sales. Do you know if battery issues are a thing on all of the a-series phones or just the 6a?

Sagichnicht

Designed1668 it's the guesstimate of aBattery and AccuBattery, 2400 mAh.

Maybe it's cycle dependent, I don't know, I and I know know if anyone but Google really knows.

It's only the 6a, and only a subset of them as far as I understand.

GrapheneOS

Designed1668

Do you know if battery issues are a thing on all of the a-series phones or just the 6a?

There was an issue with a subset of Pixel 4a batteries and then again with a subset of Pixel 6a batteries. For the Pixel 4a, it was already after end-of-life. For the Pixel 4a, devices with the LiSheN batteries were impacted but not ATL batteries. It's similar for the Pixel 6a in terms of only a subset being impacted. It may be the same battery vendor that's the issue for the 6a too, we aren't sure.

de0u

deplored If the device is up to date, check the battery health status as indicated very recently in this thread (GrapheneOS).

Designed1668

GrapheneOS I did get the notification that my battery is affected. YAY I WIN! I also see the notification in Settings -> Battery

It will also show the battery health status as Dead.

Where would I see this? I went to Settings -> System -> Device Diagnostics -> Component Health -> Battery Status . It says I have "100% of original capacity" and a cycle count of 558.

dc32f0cfe84def651e0e

GrapheneOS If you supported devices with removable batteries instead of sticking to Pixels, this wouldn't be a case.

deplored

de0u
Excellent thanks. Looks like we are in the clear. But I wonder of it needs to be past the 375 or 400 cycles to change status?

GrapheneOS

deplored It needs to be 375+ cycles to get the notice and 400+ cycles to show as Dead.

GrapheneOS

Designed1668 The capacity status there is very misleading since by original capacity it does not mean the capacity it had when it was shipped.

dc32f0cfe84def651e0e

GrapheneOS 582 cycles, no "dead" word either. Am I looking in the wrong menu?

de0u

dc32f0cfe84def651e0e If you supported devices with removable batteries instead of sticking to Pixels, this wouldn't be a case.

Anybody who wishes can fork GrapheneOS and produce a low-security OS that prioritizes existing phones with removable batteries. Or any manufacturer of phones with removable batteries can choose to dramatically up their security support to reach the GrapheneOS requirements: https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices

DeletedUser499

dc32f0cfe84def651e0e
obviously your favourite device is not supported, so direct your frustration at that device manufacturer to up their game!
I expect they build phones for the millions of people who don't give a rats ass about security or privacy, so getting them to up their game for roughly 250,000 GrapheneOS users is a non event.. but you could try!

As regards your battery, it has been identified as unreliable, unsafe, has it not, heed the warning, replace it, or trade it in for money off a new device as per the offers... the 80% limit is now redundant in your case.

wuseman

dc32f0cfe84def651e0e
Which device do you suggest that they support then?

The Fairphones all suck, I know that from experience

What else?