Android "Safe Charging Mode"

Telecom
1

I've been using my ZTE Blade A7 Prime phone for home internet, recently, which necessitates leaving it plugged in all of the time.

I was surprised to pick up the phone and see that it was at 59% charge and there was a pop up that said that my phone was in "safe charging mode" since it had been plugged in for an extended length of time. It said that safe charging mode could be reset by unplugging and replugging the power source. (I chose not to.)

(Note: "safe charging mode" should not be confused with "safe mode". They're totally different from each other.)

A few hours later I checked it and it was down to 51%. Unhappy, I started Googling "safe charging mode" and found a dearth of information, other than owners of ZTE Blade A7 Prime phones and ZTE R2 phones who were similarly looking for information.

My first guess was that, after some predetermined time, charging simply shuts off and the phone gradually discharges, in some misguided attempt to protect the permanently installed battery.

This morning, however, I noticed that the phone was at 54%, without me doing anything. This actually made me happy. (Update 1: and now it's at 64%.)

I believe that, in situations where a phone is left plugged in for extended periods of time, Android keeps the charge level in the 50+% range to maximize the life of the battery. If that's true, then I'm a pretty happy camper.

I don't know if "safe charging mode" is something specific to ZTE phones or Android 9 (and higher?) but I'm initially optimistic about it.

Do any of you know any additional information?

(Update 2: while in safe charging mode I've watched it go all the way to 100%, which seems counterintuitive, since a maximum of 80% would probably be better for the battery. I don't know what the parameters of safe charging mode are. I'm just going to trust that they know what they're doing.)

2

Maybe it just trickle charges

3

If that's ok with you, I am curious if you have now gotten solid performance with the band changes. Also, how would you compare the latency / lag with Visible vs the other options you have used. Unfortunately for us, I am not quite there for the switch over from cable to two visible lines for home internet due to inconsistent performance in my area and us depending on internet for work and distance learning for now.

4

Visible has been gradually upping their game.

When I started with them, ping times were consistently in the 130ms range. Now they're at 100 or slightly less.

East coast stuff is still routed through New Jersey, as far as I know.

I haven't had to do much band selection in the past month or so. It was imperative to do so, when I first signed up, but I rarely bother, now, unless we have a problem.

If things get slow I can still always fix the problem by changing bands.

5

Ran across your post while searching answer for same problem. Came up with an idea I'm going to try and thought I'd join and post it. I ordered this $5.54 timer from Amazon (GE, 15119 Basic Timer, 1 Polarized Outlet, Plug-In, Daily On/Off Cycle) and plan to plug a 1A charger (not the fast charger that came with my ZTE) into the timer and set timer to cycle off for a couple hours each day. Will see how it goes, may have to play with the amount of on/off charge time.
Regards,
Rip

6

I did that for a friend of mine and it works great.

7

Thanks! Do you recall how much time off per day? Just once a day?

8

It's been awhile since we set it up but I think it's turning off for an hour, twice per day.

9

I just ordered an ASUS RT-AC68U router to see whether I can USB tether a ZTE Blade A3 Prime and have its LTE data broadcast through the router. If it works, I'll retire my current router so that I can always have a Visible plan as a whole home internet backup when necessary.

10

I have one and it is a really great router. Yes you can usb tether a phone directly to the router. I don't have an A3 prime but there is no reason why that particular phone wouldn't work.

11

Got my ASUS router 4 days early. The USB tethering works with my ZTE A3 and my Galaxy S6, which are currently my only android phones that are compatible with Visible. The speed is kinda slow - about 6 mbps at the most.

I'm going to stress test how much data I can use with this setup for the remaining 6 days of the plan I'm currently on. I have the ASUS/A3 feeding two of my Roku streamers and my work laptop.

12

Tethering is limited on visible to 5Mbps.

13

I believe you will run into "sage charging mode" (SCM) issues if tethered continuously. I use a router with wifi as wan and now use a plugin timer to cut power to the phone twice a day to avoid SCM.