Hey guys, I just received my Surface 3 two days ago from Costco. Wow, I must say the quality of this device is outstanding and it has exceeded my expectations. I would like some advice on how to best care for the battery.
The first evening, I just plugged it in, ran the initial setup, installed the recommended Windows Updates, and let it charge to full over night. Yesterday morning, I unplugged it and used it throughout the day while discovering the "Metro" side of Windows. As the battery drained, I wondered how I should best monitor it. I installed the modern app, BatteyInfo, and purchased BatteryBar Pro for the desktop.
From information I had read in the past, I thought it was good to let the device drain down close to 0% once in a while to help calibrate the battery software, so I let it drain to 9%. But as it was draining, I did some more reading and according to this article linked below, you should try to avoid draining a lithium ion battery below 20%!
http://www.howtogeek.com/169669/debunking-battery-life-myths-for-mobile-phones-tablets-and-laptops/
After reading this information, I immediately plugged in my device and left it alone to charge back up to 100%. While it was charging, BatteryBar Pro still showed 0.0% wear. I don't remember the exact mWh. But when I woke up this morning, with the S3 fully charged, I now have "0.3% wear of 28,443mWh". This is just one day of use, so if I wear down the battery by 0.3% everyday, the battery will be down to nothing before a year is up! Do you think I caused damage by using the device until the battery reached 9%?
I understand heat is another factor, so I will always try to keep the device in cool environments and never let it sit inside a car. But in terms of charging habits, what you think is best for minimizing battery wear?
As I write this post, my capacity is 25,908mWh of 28,348mWh, with a discharge rate of 4,195mW according to BatteryBar Pro.
For those interested, BatteryInfo reports:
System Product Name: Surface 3
BIOS: 1.50310.98
OS Build: 9600.17736.amd64fre.winblue_r9.150322-1500 (<-- Any clue why AMD64 is mentioned here??)
Platform Role: Slate
Report Time: 2015-5-18 14:40:01
Name: P11G8M
Manufacturer: SMP
Chemistry: LION
Design Capacity: 28,443mWh
Full Charge Capacity: 28,348mWh
Cycle Count: 1