Is Charging a Fully-Loaded Mobile Device a Waste of Electricity?
The modern mobile devices, especially smartphones, are equipped with an 'Over Charging Cutoff' feature. When you start charging your mobile phone, the home screen will display battery charging and continuously updates the charging status and battery percentage. Some phones may show a moving bar indicating the extent of charging, while others display ---% available -charging. Such indications help you understand the current state of charging.
Battery Full Indication
When the battery is fully charged, the display will change to either Battery Full or Battery Charged 100. This means the device is automatically disconnected from the charging source and charging stops.
Test Your Knowledge
A simple test can confirm this. Although the charger will heat up gradually during charging and get hotter until the battery is full, it will cool down and return to its normal temperature once the charging is complete. This clearly indicates that no electricity is wasted with every charge cycle.
Justification for Plug-In
Although a small amount of electricity is wastefully consumed, this amount is so minimal that it is not worth unplugging the charger immediately once the phone reaches 100%. An electronic device inherently causes some inefficiencies, leading to wasted electricity. This is just a typical inefficiency that is present in all electrical devices.
Monitoring Power Usage
For those who are genuinely concerned about power consumption, you can use a power meter to monitor energy usage after the phone has reached a 100% charge. This way, you can see how much electricity is being used.
Do Not Recharge Continuously
However, continuous charging after reaching 100% is impractical. Most smartphones have a built-in charge management circuit that stops charging once the battery is full. Therefore, recharging a fully-charged phone will not only be wasteful but could also damage the battery over time.
It's important to note that the amount of wasted electricity is insignificant. Inefficiencies are inherent in all electrical devices, and the power loss during recharging is minimal. These inefficiencies are usually not worth the effort of unplugging the charger every time.
Conclusion
From an energy conservation perspective, it is more efficient and practical to leave the charger plugged in compared to the negligible amount of power wasted. The consistent and predictable power consumption of the charger until it is disconnected is a better approach to manage power usage effectively.