Miscellaneous laptop discussions : Extending the life of my laptop's battery
- 3/20/09 3:10 PM
You are not alone :)
by dexter_birdbrain - 3/14/09 12:33 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I was using a Dell Latitude laptop that had been used for around 2 years by a couple of people and its fully charged battery wouldn't hold beyond 30 mins!
Here are some simple tips to extend your battery life -
1. Disable your WiFi or Bluetooth in case you don't use it. These consume huge amounts of power.
2. It is always advisable to use the laptop after the battery has been fully charged and then drain it fully. In other words, don't keep your laptop plugged in forever. Plug it in only when the battery is low (5% and below) and plug it out once it has reached 100%.
There was an earlier link as well where this was discussed -
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-4_102-0.html?threadID=326905
Thanks!
Extending the life of my laptop's battery
by kevinmarkp - 3/14/09 12:38 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When you are connected to a mains supply, take your battery out after it's recieved a full charge. Just work straight from the mains.
Extending the life of my laptop's battery
by Fatboy71 - 3/14/09 12:58 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The best advice I can give is.
1: Only charge the battery when the laptop goes into hibernation due to the low battery level.
2: When you are powering the laptop off of the mains, disconnect the battery, has leaving it plugged in whilst running it off of the mains (exempt when charging the battery) can seriously reduce the useful life of the battery, I have seen this many times.
Prolonging laptop battery life
by GregoryKirk - 3/14/09 2:02 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Most people leave the AC adapter plugged into their laptop and the battery installed. This is not good, for several reasons.
While you might think a laptop should bypass the battery if the AC adapter is connected, in most cases that is not what happens. Instead, the laptop drains some of the energy from the battery, which is then immediately recharged from the AC source. This means that the battery is constantly discharging and recharging (also known as "thrashing"). Since the battery has a finite number of charging cycles, this can lead to premature failure of the battery. Worse, the constant charging means that the battery gets very hot, and that heat can be transferred to the system board, which helps eventually cause general failure of the laptop.
So, what to do? If you are using the laptop in a stationary position, with the AC adapter constantly connected, you can remove the battery from the laptop (when it is powered off and unplugged). This will avoid the problems of discharging/recharging and heat. When you need to use the laptop without the AC adapter, then plug in the battery. If you don't use the battery for a month (or use it sparingly), then unplug the AC adapter, reinsert the battery, and turn on the laptop (but don't plug in the AC adapter); when the warning appears that the battery is almost out of charge, then turn off the computer, plug in the AC adapter, and let the battery fully recharge (time to recharge depends on the battery, check with the manufacturer). Once the battery has fully recharged, you can again remove it from the laptop (if you're planning on running from the AC adapter).
A word of caution: obviously, if you lose AC power, your laptop (without installed battery) will suddenly turn off, much like a desktop -- so it would be a good idea to have the AC adapter plugged into the battery side of a UPS when you're running without the laptop's battery.
With proper care, a laptop battery might surpass the average 3-year lifespan.
rouhly skecthed laptop power advice
by lm27 - 3/14/09 2:31 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
HEY man you should try to set or check the BIOs settings of your laptop there by the power controls to save power im roughly saying this but if you don't know where it is located just send me an e mail to lm27@in.com and I will look it up for you
Extending the life of your laptop batteries
by I_Like_tech - 3/29/09 11:06 AM In reply to: rouhly skecthed laptop power advice by lm27In my experience it is not unusual for a battery to loose its ability to hold a charge after time
A lot depends on the usage and # of times it is charged, not just how long you own it
If you keep the battery in the laptop most of the time when it is on AC power, it is constantly being charged and discharged
I comfirmed this with accessorygenie.com the company I have bought a few batteries from they recomended using the laptop with 2 batteries:
1 that is at the end of its life cycle to keep in the laptop when you are on AC
2nd that is the one to use when you are on the road and need battery power
They suggested I swap out the "good" battery and charge it once a month
This will keep the 2nd battery it prime condition.
It is confusing to me. I wish there was a way to to know how long a battery will last, and even harder when you compare 2 different batteries.
2 batteries can be the same age, but I guess there are so many factors that hasten a batteries ability to hold a charge
Though both batteries are the same age they can be used very differently thus the charge cycles and use can be very different
oh well
Here's what you should do...
by LMF5000 - 3/14/09 2:41 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Rule #1: NEVER EVER EVER discharge the battery to below 20% capacity. Lithium ion batteries will be put under extreme stress with every deep discharge. If you keep the battery at 0% charge for a few months, a copper shunt will actually form in the battery and when you try to charge it the shunt acts as a short circuit and the battery will catch fire. Nickel Cadmium batteries are the ones that love to be deep-discharged every time; but even modern Nickel Metal Hydride cells are worn out by repeated deep discharges... lithium ion batteries are even more sensitive to deep discharge, so set your computer to give you a battery warning at 20%, and switch the laptop off!
Rule #2: If you're not going to be using the battery, charge it to exactly 40%, take it out of the laptop and store it somewhere cold. Do not leave the battery at 100% charge needlessly, because the wear process is accelerated at 100% charge and is significantly slower at low temperatures and 40% charge. Look at the table on this page: http://batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
When you do eventually need to use the battery (before a road trip or when you're travelling), just pop it into the laptop and charge it.
Rule #3: After around 2-4 years, the battery will die no matter what you do to it. This is because (especially in cobalt-based batteries) the cobalt used to connect the contacts to the cell internally is slowly dissolved over time by the electrolyte of the battery; essentially the battery is self-destructing on an ongoing basis. The process starts the second the battery leaves the production line, so it would be wise to look at the date of manufacture printed on the battery and AVOID OLD STOCK!
Oh, and it helps if you give the battery gentle discharges i.e. use the battery for word processing and browsing the internet... try to avoid playing games or other power-hungry applications while on battery, because the high current needed to run those applications causes the battery to heat up and also wears out the battery a little faster due to the fast rate of chemical reaction needed to sustain that high current.
Lab top battery life
by sunshineoz - 3/21/09 3:48 PM In reply to: Here's what you should do... by LMF5000I keep the battery of my lab top in constantly, am I doing it any harm??? although the battery is always in machine I use the power lead all the time..
cobalt batteries?
by Kegtapper - 3/21/09 3:59 PM In reply to: Here's what you should do... by LMF5000Do you mean Lithium ION batteries?
Lap Top Battery.
by pupil26 - 3/26/09 1:48 PM In reply to: Here's what you should do... by LMF5000About Rule#2. How do Iknow when battery is charged to "exactly 40%"?
Yes, system-partition imaging is the way to go...
by pepoluan - 5/3/09 6:03 AM In reply to: Here's what you should do... by LMF5000I agree with DOSpower, and I always do it similarly to him.
Create two partitions, install OS on C:, make sure all data (including Firefox and Thunderbird profiles) live on D:, and after installing Windows (and all relevant drivers, but *no* customization whatsoever) quickly image C: into a file on D: (and backed up to DVD, just in case).
That way, instead of having to waste 1 hour+ re-installing Windows & drivers, I only waste about less than 10 minutes to restore the image.
Of course, re-installing all my essential apps will still take some time. In that case, after installing my essential apps (OpenOffice, Paint.Net, IrfanView, antivirus, etc etc etc) I create another image which I put in D:. But I don't burn this one to DVD, as it's not as important as the basic bare-bones image of a just-installed system.
(NT) extending the life of my laptop's battery
by darryllm - 3/14/09 4:34 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
HP Laptop Battery life
by wrob62 - 3/14/09 5:18 AM In reply to: Extending the life of my laptop's battery by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi
HP have a help site already on there lap tops,you can go there and there is a program to help you extend the life of your battery,and lots of other thing.Updates for your laptop just put in make and model IE presario 5000 and it will find everything for you.
rouhly skecthed laptop power advice
by CompuJohn - 3/20/09 6:55 PM In reply to: HP Laptop Battery life by wrob62You said go here.
Go where, please enter the URL.
Thanks
Laptop and Computer Maintenance TIPS
by ahart23 - 3/20/09 7:00 PM In reply to: rouhly skecthed laptop power advice by CompuJohnGreat electronic maintenance Tips on a weekly basis can be found at http://www.bigvalleyelectronic.com
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