LAPTOP batteries, HELP

[bill mudd]

Can I get some feedback on laptop charging please.

Question: Do you simply leave your laptop battery in ALL the time during use and off overnight?
Or do you charge it, use it up, recharge it only when NOT using the laptop?
Ive been told either way is ok and you cant hurt the battery, but I dont think it could be true,

Anyone?
:?

 

[Chris Carlson]

It's fine to leave it in. Even the best laptop batteries will start losing some serious battery life after 1.5/ 2 years. Some people say completely (disable all safe guards) discharging the battery and charging it will add battery life. I know in certain batteries, not sure about laptop batteries, that the acid in the battery will actual still turning into a solid state if not used for long periods of time. This has happened to me several times in other devices. But anyway, I'd just leave it in there.

 

[B Ozanne]

I have a two year old Gateway with a fairly large battery. I typically get 4 hours plus out of a charge. I have never taken any special precautions. I don't drain it down to nothing then fully charge it. I just use my laptop. I unplug and replug whenever and wherever I want. My battery seems to be working just.

There has probably been some loss of power over the years, but nothing substantial. Modern lithium batteries are designed very well and do not have the memory problems of the older types.

 

[John Erwin]

I have a bit more rigid stance on this, and it's served me well.

My laptop is used in three ways; the way I manage the battery is different for each situation:

1. During off-chase season or not being used on a trip, I have it plugged in and being used as a workstation. I charge the battery to full and pull it out for storage. The battery never sits longer than a few weeks, but if someone is planning on storing batteries longer they should be charged at least once every six months.

2. During chase season or if using the laptop in the car; I install the battery and run the laptop from auto power via a DC-DC adapter. This setup is very flexible, and allows the laptop to be used under a wide range of situations. Generally the battery doesn't get used much and tends to stay topped off.

3. When using the laptop for travel or situations when the battery is getting used extensively, I generally let the battery get mostly discharged before charging.

Sure, you can simply not worry about any of this and perhaps everything will be okay... but I've always been careful about all of my battery powered devices and have always had excellent battery life. Most battery "Experts" will tell you that no battery is perfect and that proper care and management will prolong it's life. Although some newer battery types don't have the Ni-Cad "memory" problem, virtually all batteries have a finite number of charging cycles.

 

[bill mudd]

so then short charging ISNT an issue with laptop bateries? well then thats good news

seems a cigarette lighter outlet (rental car situation) wont handle charging and running the laptop at the same time (had this happen blew a fuse) so perhaps it would be best to simply remove the batt until needed which can be a hassle, right? or can you disable the laptop battery through a setting under "battery"? (windows xp)

thanks

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Many laptop batteries are Li-Ion, which doesn't have a memory problem. Some recommend that when you first get the battery, you should complete drain it, completely charge it, drain it again, then charge it up. After this, you should never let Li-Ion batteries drain completely. Again, no memory with this type of battery, so don't worry about partial charges or discharges.

90% of the time, I'm plugged into AC power when I"m on my laptop. Occassionally, I'll use the battery power, but only rarely since I'm almost always near an AC power source. My apt had power interruption issues last summer (seemed to go out a few times a week for a minute or less). Given this, I've always just left my battery in... If the power does interrupt briefly, if I don't have a battery in, say goodbye to whatever I'm working on.

I also run a utility called XPSpeedSwitch on my Dell I6000... This little utility allows me to force the processor to downspeed (to 700mhz I think) to enhance battery life, to stay at max speed (2.17ghz), or use Intel's default dynamic clocking. Many Intel laptop processors have this -- when the processor isn't being used much, it'll automatically downclock, though it'll go back up to rated speed when the horsepower is needed. See http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/ ... I also use that guy's I8KFanGui utility, which gives me direct control over fan speed.