Battery care

I am sure this has been asked a million times but iv searched everywhere and am yet to find concrete advice. I have a studio 17, which i bought in May. I use the laptop with it plugged in 80% of the time and do my best to ensure the laptop is cool. I dont do any gaming on it, but do watch quite a few films (with it sitting on a basket so there is a good few inches underneath to prevent over heating.

After all of this i have lost 40% of my battery life, which i find horrendous. If this keeps up ill have to replace it 18months after buying my laptop. I intend to call Dell over this ASAp but in the meantime i want to know what i can do to preserve my battery life.


Should i leave the battery plugged in all the time, i do move the laptop round quite a bit, so having the battery there to save myself from shutting it down etc would is usefull to me.

I am carefull over the operating temperatures and i very rarely 'stress' the laptop. I could also count the number of times the battery has been left to drain <10% on one hand, though it did happen yesterday.


Any 100% sure advice?


cheers guys

 

1. NEVER drain the battery to nill. Shut off the computer at 5% to be safe (not standby).

2. DO NOT let the battery get hot. If your laptop is badly designed the battery sits next to hot components and then dramatic battery death like you experienced is expected.

3. If the above is true, remove the battery when your not using it.

4. If you know you don't need the batt then store it in a dry room temperature place at 40 or 50% charge.

 

My battery doesn't even last during 1 movie...its just very energy consuming.
If your laptop is plugged in its suggested to keep the battery out because it will die faster when its receiving power.
I always thought the best way to keep your battery aside, is to keep it completely empty, but some guy said 40 perentage is the best energy level to keep it stored. So now i'm not so sure.
And isn't depleting your battery to 0 percent once in a while also good to enlarge its lifespan? (my dad always said this but maybe he is mistaken).

Someone plz comment on this, I need to know ^^

 

This Notebook Battery Guide is helpful, also!


Cin...

 

complete discharge damages the battery. 40% is a good number.

Your dad wasn't wrong, he just wasn't talking about LiIon batteries (unless he is some hightech government job/thingy) he was most likely refering to Nickle Cadmium batteries.

Ni-Cd: Before charging always completely discharge, they will develop whats called a memory effect (decreased capacity). Ni-Cd has lower capacity then Ni-Mh but is capable of higher current output, also a high self discharge. (about 2000 to 5000 recharge cycles)

Ni-Mh: most forgiving and low self discharge and higher capacity then Ni-Cd. (about 500 to 1000 recharge cycles)

Li-Ion: Lighter and denser = more capacity per volume and weight. Like to be discharged and charged alot (for example discharge to 60% charge to 90% discharge to 60%...). DO note like to be fully discharged, it damages the chemistry. Also deteriorate the fastest if not used (shelf life). good high current out put (less then the life of Ni-Mh).

Id like to see Ni-Mh in laptops, then we wouldn't have to worry about them blowing up and we could do without the SUPER intelligent circuits in our batteries.

This circuit could be whats causing the OPs problem. For example I have one battery that reports 10% capacity, but in truth it still has 90% chemical capacity.

if that happens you have to over write the chip, and if you overwrite the chip you could OVER discharge the battery.

if you over discharge the battery the battery could blow up ;o: try to avoid!

there you go, Li-Ion is the necessary evil to make your society run! hate it or love it; it runs your life

 

@cin
+ 1 rep, thx.

 

Modern batteries have circuitry in them that prevents overcharging. You can't hurt it by leaving it in.

A bunch of thinkpads at my college, mine included, had the batteries all fail within 6 months of each other. Happened equally to those who left it in or pulled it out while using AC

 

Many thanks guys, much appreciated!