A charge cycle is the process of
charging a
rechargeable battery
A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or prima ...
and discharging it as required into a
load. The term is typically used to specify a battery's expected life, as the number of charge cycles affects life more than the mere passage of time. Discharging the battery fully before recharging may be called "deep discharge"; partially discharging then recharging may be called "shallow discharge".
A "charge cycle" is not a unit of time; the length of time spent charging or discharging does not affect the number of charge cycles.
Each battery is affected differently by charge cycles.
In general, number of cycles for a rechargeable battery (the cycle life) indicates how many times it can undergo the process of complete charging and discharging until failure or starting to lose capacity.
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...
clarifies that a charge cycle means using all the battery's capacity, but not necessarily by discharging it from 100% to 0%: "You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle."
Batteries - Why Lithium-ion? - Apple
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See also
* Deep-cycle battery
A deep-cycle battery is a battery designed to be regularly deeply discharged using most of its capacity. The term is traditionally mainly used for Lead–acid battery, lead–acid batteries in the same form factor as automotive batteries; and con ...
References
Battery charging
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