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    Battery Quetions

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by zlee05, Jul 21, 2007.

  1. zlee05

    zlee05 Newbie

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    I have had laptops before, but have really never looked into this. What shoudl you do to prolong the life of you battery? Keep it on the charger as much as possible, or does that actually hurt it, like old cordless phones. Should you run it down as much as possible before charging it back up everytime? Thanks for the info?
     
    zlee05, Jul 21, 2007
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  2. Rickyz80

    Rickyz80 Notebook Enthusiast

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    my dell e1505 battery crapped out on me a year after I bought it and it said it had some kind of faliure. I was told by dell it was because the battery cant always be in even when plugged to the wall bc it will overheat it and overcharge it. I personally think it was bs because an hp zx5000 I have is 3 years old and the battery has been in since I bought it and never really leaves the desk and its a/c adapter and it seems fine.
     
    Rickyz80, Jul 21, 2007
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  3. jimmy_simms

    jimmy_simms Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah thats crap, batteries have cycles that vary, I believe my dell battery you can use and charge about 600 times before it will start to go.

    My laptop is mostly plugged into the power supply and I get fine battery performace when I do use just the battery.

    When you first get it you should run it down and then charge it. And second once the battery is charged, it stops charging it.

    This plugged in and overheating the battery, well only will happen if your notebook or battery is faulty.
     
    jimmy_simms, Jul 21, 2007
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  4. zhefei

    zhefei Notebook Guru

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    Notebook Battery Guide
     
    zhefei, Jul 21, 2007
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  5. tsunamifury

    tsunamifury Notebook Consultant

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    There are so many wives tales and threads about this. Most people are very mis-informed. Unfortunately Jimmy Simms advice is not correct and can damage the battery. You no longer run LION NoMem batteries down all the way, in fact they are built to not be used like that. He is thinking of the old NiMH technology.

    From the battery guide listed above "Never discharge your battery to 0% – as this can render your battery useless."
     
    tsunamifury, Jul 21, 2007
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  6. dc74

    dc74 Notebook Consultant

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    dc74, Jul 21, 2007
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  7. HiryuX

    HiryuX Notebook Guru

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    i might be wrong.. but isn't 1 discharge once in a very long while good for the battery?
     
    HiryuX, Jul 21, 2007
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  8. dc74

    dc74 Notebook Consultant

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    The discharge is not good for the battery, it's used to calibrate the digital "fuel gauge" that's on some Li-Ion batteries. I believe the recommended interval is one full discharge every 30 days for calibration.
     
    dc74, Jul 21, 2007
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  9. tsunamifury

    tsunamifury Notebook Consultant

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    No, this is old information. No-MEM batteries do NOT need calibration. Dell and many other manufacturers specifically state this, and that it DAMAGES your battery to do so.
     
    tsunamifury, Jul 22, 2007
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  10. dc74

    dc74 Notebook Consultant

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    http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
     
    dc74, Jul 22, 2007
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  11. tsunamifury

    tsunamifury Notebook Consultant

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    No, again you are implying something that isn't true. This will make your windows vista gauge more accuate, but it will NOT help the battery in any way at all what so ever. You had to do this before the the battery itself would actually fully discharge, which it didn't do if you repeatedly did not fully drain it.

    This is just an exercise that tells the computer how much battery life there is, and does not effect the battery itself chemically or mechanically. You only risk damaging it.

    Edit: I see that you mentioned that earlier, your comments should be reversed.
     
    tsunamifury, Jul 22, 2007
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