Can You Leave A Bluetooth Speaker Plugged In All The Time?

Bluetooth speakers are great when you need portability, low power usage, and affordability. These speakers come in all sizes and prices and there is a speaker for everyone. There are so many warnings when it comes to the use of any electronic device.

What is the best way to charge your battery? Will leaving it connected to the charger all day cause any harm?

Can You Leave A Bluetooth Speaker Plugged In All The Time?

You can leave the Bluetooth speaker connected all day, but that will damage the battery. Charging the speaker all the time, even when the battery is full to capacity, might lead to overheating, which can make the battery explode.

Again, you do not need to charge your battery to 100 percent as you may damage its cells when you do so. Although most batteries are designed to trickle charge when they get to about 80 percent or 90 percent, if you leave it on for long enough, the trickle charge will fill it up, and you will damage the cells of the battery.

If you are not using the speaker, and you have it connected to the charger, the battery percentage will remain 100 percent. When the charge drops to 99 percent, a trickle charge kicks in and fills the percentage back. You need to ensure that doesn’t happen by unplugging the speaker when it is done charging.

Why Leaving the Battery Plugged in all the Time Might Sound Like a Good Idea

If you often forget to charge your Bluetooth speaker, leaving it connected to the charger all the time will ensure that the battery is fully charged when you need to use it outdoors. Instead of picking a speaker and finding that it only has a little charge, the battery will always be full when you need to travel.

Leaving the speaker connected is also an easy way to enjoy continuous music when you are working outside the house and the speaker is inside the house. Low battery power will not cut off the music, and you do not have to leave what you are doing to connect the speaker.

If your speaker has a damaged battery, leaving it connected will be a good idea. Damaged batteries will only last for a few minutes. Instead of connecting and disconnecting the speaker every 15 minutes, you can leave it connected.

While you will enjoy music with the damaged speaker connected to the charger, you will face the issue of overheating, which can affect the performance of your speaker.

Why Should I Avoid Charging the Speaker to 100%?

Most speakers have li-ion batteries – the same batteries that are in smartphones. As a rule of thumb, you should not allow the battery to discharge to lower than 25 percent or charge to more than 90 percent. This means that when the speaker’s charge drops below 30 percent, you need to connect it to the charger, but unplug it before it gets to 100 percent.

If the lithium ion battery pushes the last charge from 80 percent to 100 percent, it ages faster. This means that you have to keep checking the battery percentage. If your speaker doesn’t show the percentage, you have to time the charging and know when to plug and when to unplug.

If the manufacturer, for instance, recommends charging for four hours, you can charge for three and ensure it doesn’t discharge completely. You can allow the speaker to recharge to full battery capacity once in a while, but recharging it to full capacity all the time will affect its lifespan.

It is okay to recharge your battery 0 to 100 percent once in a while. That will help recalibrate the battery, which works the same as restarting a computer. However, if you charge the battery so that it never drains of charge completely or charges to 100 percent, you will still have cared enough for it.

Modern batteries have advanced sensors that ensure they do not overcharge, but that doesn’t mean that leaving it plugged into the charger will not damage them. When you charge to 100 percent, you complete one charging cycle – your battery has a limited number of cycles before it is completely damaged. Although most batteries will last long enough before they exhaust these cycles, but if you leave it plugged in all the time, the cycles might be exhausted before you know it.

Will your battery suffer the memory effect when you do not charge to 100%?

The battery memory effect occurs when you charge your battery to between 20 percent and 80 percent. Your battery tends to forget the remaining 40 percent and 20 percent becomes the new zero while 80 percent becomes the new 100 percent. This only happens to older batteries such as NiCd and NiMH batteries and not lithium-ion batteries.

If your speaker has a lithium-ion battery, and most of them do, you do not have to worry about battery memory effect.

Can I Use the Speaker While Charging it?

You can use the speaker while charging it without any effect on the performance of the speaker. The speaker will sound as good as it has always, but there may be a few issues.

Your speaker was engineered to charge and play music with power from the battery. When you use it while charging, the speaker might end up overheating. At first, overheating doesn’t affect your speaker but if it continues, it increases the risk of the battery blowing or the speaker losing its performance.

Your battery should never get too cold and neither should it get too hot. Your battery should stay between 20 and 30°C for the best results. Anything above or below that range will damage the battery.

If you are using the speaker and charging it at the same time, the battery may never get to 80 percent. In some cases, when you turn up the volume all the way up, the phone might even discharge further. As such, it is better to switch off the speaker and allow it to charge fast then use it then. You will avoid overheating, and you will save your battery.

How Can I Care for the Bluetooth Speaker Battery for a Long Lifespan?

A new Bluetooth speaker will give you between 10 and 20 hours of battery life when fully charged. There are devices that will last only four hours while others will last up to 24 hours. The difference is in the size of the battery.

While the manufacturer notes that the battery will last for up to 24 hours, there are so many factors that determine whether the battery lasts that long. One of the factors is the mode of connection – speakers that connect via Bluetooth will last longer than those that connect via WiFi. A battery that lasts four 12 hours when connected through Bluetooth can last for eight hours when connected via WiFi.

You need to buy an advanced speaker with a battery that can disconnect before it charges to 100 percent and before it drains of charge to zero. These speakers are not many, and you will end up with a unit that doesn’t have battery protection features.

You can protect your battery by:

• Not charging to 100 percent

• Not allowing it to discharge to zero

• Not keeping it for long periods without charge

• Placing it in areas where temperature is between 20 and 30°C

• Using surge protectors when charging the speaker

• Keeping it in a dry environment

Can I Go For Fast-Charging Instead of Leaving the Speaker Plugged In?

Fast charging feels like a good idea when you are fond of forgetting to unplug your battery. With fast charging, you only need to wait for a short while and the battery will be full to capacity, and you can disconnect it.

Most battery and speaker manufacturers have fast charging standards. If the battery is not engineered to withstand fast charging, it will end up so hot and that heat can damage it in the long run. Fat-charging is so convenient as you can top up your speaker battery with ease before you run out of the house.

If you decide to fast-charge the battery, ensure that the charger is recommended for the brand of speaker you have. This way, you do not damage the battery with heat.

Closing Thoughts

There are so many warnings on how you should use your speaker, including how to charge the battery. Your speaker’s battery will probably last as long as the speaker with good care. However, if you do not take care of your battery, you will be out looking for a replacement in a few short months.

You should avoid leaving the speaker plugged in, especially when you are not using it. The damages that are caused may not be apparent the first few months, but you will notice changes with your battery when the battery cannot take the overheating anymore.

If your battery is damaged, and you have to keep the speaker plugged in all the time, get a replacement battery, which should help you enjoy longer runtime for your speaker. These speakers were designed to be portable, and you should ensure they stay like that.