E6400 connected to power supply

Hi,

I have a question regarding the battery life of my E6400.

Does connecting the machine to the power supply when the battery
is fully charged reduce the battery life?

BTW: what is the best way to work with the machine when it is 99% of the times connected to the power supply?

should I remove the battery?

Thanks

 

I think you'll find conflicting answers to your question. Some will say you should charge your battery, use it till it is about dead, recharge until full, unplug and use, etc. While others will say just plug it in whenever you can.

I am under the opinion that I just plug it in whenever I can and leave it plugged in for as long as possible and I don't remove the battery when doing so. I have found that this doesn't seem to make any difference on Dell batteries. I have had 3 different Dell laptops and at about 18 months for each of them is when the battery seems to die, regardless of my charging habits.

 

My E6400's battery is approaching 15 months and thinks it is still at about 90% of capacity without any special care. Dell use a very low charge rate as the battery approaches full which might help the life.

You can use Fn+F2 to disable charging, at least until the next reboot. Express charge (which has to be enabled in the BIOS) probably results in reduced life.

John

 

Lithium is a very unstable material.. it oxidize as soon as the battery is made. Using your battery slows down the oxidation. Warming up the battery reduces the battery life span (not a problem with this laptop).

Not all batteries are made equal.. even if made in the same manufacture. The average battery life is a year to a year and half before the charge is too small to use your laptop.