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    Preserving battery!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by Sethers, Feb 6, 2012.

  1. Sethers

    Sethers Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was hoping you guys could clear up this myth I have always had,
    when it comes to keeping the life of the battery to its best I have heard of two different ways, one is that I can use it plugged in and when its 100% will just run of the cable and not damage the battery's life.
    now the other version is that having it plugged in all the time damages the battery and so its good to use it of cable until you need/have too.
    I would like to have my battery working for sometime unlike my last laptops....
    so please clear this up for me! be a great help!

    I guess as an extra query I seem to have this problem when running on the battery is that my interent connection keeps dropping every so often for a second then reestablishes its self? and this is defaintly only when its on battery! on charge its fine? so if anyone has any ideas for that too that would be great!
    thanks :D
     
  2. goonielife

    goonielife Notebook Enthusiast

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    The battery stops charging once it hits 100% and the system runs off the power cord. Keeping it at 100% will not "damage" the battery. What they say is that keeping the battery at about a 50-60 percent charge is best. Keeping it at 100% will have a shorter lifespan than 50 -60 percent. Nothing that I have read suggests it will make a substantial difference though. Some people suggest dropping it to about 60% then using the bios to shut off battery charging if you have it plugged in all the time. Then turn charging back on once it hits about 50%. From what I remember it sounded like you may realistically have something like 10 - 15 percent longer battery life by keeping it around 60%. I personally don't think it is worth it.

    As far as the disconnects I know that there are wifi settings in the power settings. Check those settings, it may be lowering the signal when on battery causing it to drop connection.
     
  3. Sethers

    Sethers Notebook Enthusiast

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    Wow that's perfect to have it explained for me! I think your right about it being not worth it but its good to know the facts now :)

    And I went into the power settings and tweaked it to maximum on battery and so far noticed no drops so all is good :D
    Thankyou very much for your advice/help!