Calibrate Anker PowerCore+ 26800 PD Battery?

The battery is brand new. When I first got it few days ago, I had it charged to 100%. Today I charged it full again and after a full charge, I noticed the battery gauge dropping rather quickly when at 100%. I have the battery plugged into my Nintendo switch. Not sure if it’s normal to see 20% drop from 100% within 3 hours of use? If I need to drain the battery, how far should I go down in % in hopes to calibrate the cells?

Thank you.

Hi @Kevin_Cabral,
There’s a little bit of a “break-in” period for a new battery where the battery gauge will calibrate itself, so what you are seeing is likely normal. In my experience, sometimes the battery will drain through the first few lights quicker than the last few and vice versa. Regardless, you should still see the full performance of the battery.
You can drain the battery to around 25% if you would like to calibrate it, but in general you can recharge the battery whenever it is convenient for you (you do not need to wait until it is completely dead). Try to avoid leaving the battery completely discharged for long periods of time as it can drain the battery too low and it will not be able to fully recover.
As always, feel free to reach out to support@anker.com for further assistance!

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Oh I see. Wasn’t sure if this behavour is normal or not. Thank you for clearing this up for me. I’ve been charging it up once I see 4-5 lights on the battery gauge. Knowing it’s a near battery, I don’t like to drain it that low as of yet unless I need too. Do you know how many charges the “break-in” period lasts for? Is it usually 10 charge cycles?

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Typically, 1 discharge and recharge cycle would be enough to calibrate the battery gauge. The lithium ion battery itself really doesn’t need to be broken-in, it’s mainly the gauge that needs calibrating from time to time (every few months or so). What you’re doing (charging the battery before it reaches 0%) sounds good because a lower “depth of discharge” will help with the battery’s longevity. So unless your battery gauge seems way off, I would just keep using the battery like you are right now and not discharging it all the way unless you need to. :sunglasses:

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Sounds good :slight_smile: So would 25% be enough to calibrate the battery gauge if the battery is still stubborn within the next few charge cycles? 25% is that 2 lights on the battery LED?

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I would say that that’s normal behavior considering you’re charging the Nintendo switch. It’s battery is quite large (4310mAh) and that type of drain after 3 hours of charging it should be expected.

(edited to add switch battery specs)

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I wasn’t 100%. Wasn’t sure how large in mah the Nintendo Switch is. As for calibrating the battery… I’m sort of use to calibrating my DJI drone batteries. So that means I would bring the battery down to 3.3v which is 0% and turn the battery off. As for this Anker battery, I doubt I need to go that low to calibrate it. Just want to make sure if 25% is perfect to calibrate the battery gauge or is 15% better? :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes, I would say going down to one or two LEDs would give the battery gauge enough data to calibrate.

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I’ll try it out if the battery is still stubborn. If not… I’ll wait within 2 months of using the battery to cycle it down that low if anything.

Reporting back from what I tried this weekend.

So I drained it completely, well until it stopped charging my phone. It was blinking 1 light and it stopped charging. Does this Anker battery have a low voltage shut off so it doesn’t kill the battery? I would assume so if it was blinking 1 light and stopped charging. Anyhow, when I drained it all the way down and charged it full. The battery seems to behave better. When I first got it brand new last week, it had 3 lights on it. Now at 100% charge, it doesn’t drain quickly as it did before. If I charge my Nintendo switch when it’s at 20-30% to 100%, I notice I lose 1 LED light in the Anker battery gauge when charging it twice from 20-30% to 100%. Someone on here mention the battery on the Switch is large in size. Might be why it takes a lot out of the Anker battery.

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