Cellphone battery life

I have a Tracfone. I bought it for emergencies a month ago. The
instructions say that the phone will withstand temperatures to -10C
and will hold a charge for 10 days.

They lie.

Because I only use my phone for emergencies, I left my phone in my car
for two nights. The temperature came near freezing, but did not drop
to freezing.

The phone battery died.

I took it back. The girl at the counter said that all phones are like
that and I shouldn't leave the phone in the car. Is she telling the
truth or
should I insist on another phone?

Terry Terry schrieb:
> I have a Tracfone. I bought it for emergencies a month ago. The
> instructions say that the phone will withstand temperatures to -10C

.... without taking damage. Did it take any permanent damage?

> and will hold a charge for 10 days.

I bet it said "for UP TO 10 days".

> [...]
> They lie.

Or you cannot read.

Andreas

Terry Terry <metspitzer@gmail.com> wrote in news:998c1819-d655-493c-b6da-
84add3594b19@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

> I took it back. The girl at the counter said that all phones are like
> that and I shouldn't leave the phone in the car. Is she telling the
> truth or
> should I insist on another phone?
>

If you'll SIMPLY plug the phone in next to your bed at night...EVERY
night...the Lithium Ion battery will last for MANY years. Unlike NiCd, or
even Ni-Mh batteries, Lithium batteries are more like lead acid (car
batteries). They LOVE to be charged from as shallow a discharge as you
really need. DEEP CYCLING kills Lithium, just like lead acid. They should
NEVER be left in a discharged state.

As a matter of fact, the IC chip inside these batteries PREVENTS you from
discharging it very far. This works great....er, ah....most of the time.
However, the IC, which stores the battery state, eventually becomes
confused as the battery ages. To RESET the IC is quite simple. Run the
phone so dead it refuses to boot up....AND IMMEDIATELY RECHARGE IT TO FULL
CHARGE WITHOUT DELAY. This performs a forced reset on the IC monitor and
suddenly the battery seems to have lots more capacity, when, in fact, it's
the IC that's letting you have more "bandwidth"...(c;

Li-Ion batteries should be quickly deep cycled about every 3-4
months...just once will do. Other times, recharge them as quickly as you
can, even if they are still showing nearly full. The less you run them
down before recharging.....the longer their life...REALLY longer, they will
run.

Just plug them in whenever you can......and quit trying to make them run
for weeks without charging, which is great for egos, but awful for Li-Ion
battery packs.

You can still brag to your kiddie-minded friends that it ran 24 days on a
charge....You just didn't say WHICH charge...(c;

Terry Terry wrote:

> I have a Tracfone. I bought it for emergencies a month ago.
> The instructions say that the phone will withstand
> temperatures to -10C and will hold a charge for 10 days.
>
> They lie.
>
> Because I only use my phone for emergencies, I left my phone
> in my car for two nights. The temperature came near freezing,
> but did not drop to freezing.
>
> The phone battery died.

Was that two nights from a fully-charged state?

> I took it back. The girl at the counter said that all phones
> are like that and I shouldn't leave the phone in the car. Is
> she telling the truth or should I insist on another phone?

The battery will appear to lose capacity when it's cold, but
that's because chemical activity slows. If that's all the
problem is, you'll get that capacity back at room temperature.

IMHO, an emergency phone kept in a car should be stored with a
12V charger to work from the cigarette lighter. In fact, our
cars have a 12V charger in the glove box for each phone type we
carry.

John

On Jan 17, 6:25 pm, larry <no...@home.com> wrote:

> If you'll SIMPLY plug the phone in next to your bed at night...EVERY
> night...the Lithium Ion battery will last for MANY years. Unlike NiCd, or
> even Ni-Mh batteries, Lithium batteries are more like lead acid (car
> batteries). They LOVE to be charged from as shallow a discharge as you
> really need. DEEP CYCLING kills Lithium, just like lead acid. They should
> NEVER be left in a discharged state.

That would be SIMPLE if I slept in my bed EVERY night.

I will get a CAR charger. I didn't EXPECT to need one.

On Jan 18, 1:09 pm, "Lisa BB." <unlucky_l...@BigBeeach.net> wrote:
> Terry Terry <metspit...@gmail.com> wrote in news:998c1819-d655-493c-b6da-
> 84add3594...@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com:
>
>
>
> > I have a Tracfone. I bought it for emergencies a month ago. The
> > instructions say that the phone will withstand temperatures to -10C
> > and will hold a charge for 10 days.
>
> > They lie.
>
> > Because I only use my phone for emergencies, I left my phone in my car
> > for two nights. The temperature came near freezing, but did not drop
> > to freezing.
>
> > The phone battery died.
>
> > I took it back. The girl at the counter said that all phones are like
> > that and I shouldn't leave the phone in the car. Is she telling the
> > truth or
> > should I insist on another phone?
>
> She's wrong.
> I live in a colder climate where it goes below 20F frequently in the
> winter. I've left mine in the car b4 and my phone worked just fine...well,
> after I let it warm up to inside room temps.

I will ask for an exchange then. The instructions lead you to believe
you can leave the phone in your car at -10C for 10 days.

The phone had a full charge before I left it in my car and when it
warmed up it was still dead.

It does work fine now that I have put another charge on it, but I know
I can not leave this one in the car when it is close to freezing.

Terry Terry wrote:

> I will ask for an exchange then. The instructions lead you to
> believe you can leave the phone in your car at -10C for 10
> days.
>
> The phone had a full charge before I left it in my car and
> when it warmed up it was still dead.
>
> It does work fine now that I have put another charge on it,
> but I know I can not leave this one in the car when it is
> close to freezing.

Is this with the phone switched on for 10 days? If a full
charge is completely drained after 10 days with the phone
switched off, then there is a problem.

John

Terry Terry <metspitzer@gmail.com> wrote in news:e8b1f82c-27c8-47c8-b3c3-
1e04c00f0928@k39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

> I will get a CAR charger. I didn't EXPECT to need one.
>
>

Any Walmart has them really cheap that work just great. Benefit, too, is
if the charger gives you any trouble, simply drop by ANY Walmart and they
will simply replace it.....without all the SELLphone company bull****
blaming you.