Battery wear and a quick question

My battery wear is 6%, I've been using it for a month now. It doesnt seem to affect the time I get out of the battery, when should I look to replace the battery? When it goes over 20%?

And the quick question is, how can I keep my WIFI connection when the lid is closed but on battery power?

Thanks.

 

In your control tab -> power options

 

I feel it is way to early to battery replacement yet Alvito. I think the best time to replace the battery is objectively when your battery no long meets what you require of it i.e. doesn't last as long as you need it to or it should be replace once a year. Unless ofcourse the battery has a problem along the way. The 9 cell for my 6000 is a year old and at 27% wear. I seem to have lost 30-45 minutes of run time. I have heard batteries only last around a year so it is not surprising.

 

As Metamorphical suggested, it really depends on your usage. Battery wear will increase with the number of discharges you have. If you are constantly on your battery, then you'll want to change it when you find that the battery is not living past your needs. For me, i'm at 16% and I've had this battery for about 6 months, but I'm rarely on battery so I'm not going to be change it for awhile.

SG

 

Lol nice avater sgirl. I am getting a 9400 for christmas with a 9 cell, I wont be using the battery much and was wondering if it will wearo ut jsut by using the notebook while plugged in? Does it only wear when u charge it? And how do you know if its wearing, is there somthing that tells you or do you jsut notice your getting less batery life?

 

Thanks. Yes, if you leave the battery in while on a/c, it will gradly increase the wear rate. This does not mean that everytime you are charging and it hits 100% charged, you need to take out the battery. Instead, if you are planning on not using your battery for a few days, then it would be best to take it out.

There is a program that you can download from the web that tells you what your wear rate is.

 

Lol k ive never owned a laptop befire, I thought the battery is inside the laptop? Or is it like a vidio camera where its a block that can unhook?

 

Its like a video camera. The battery will be located on the bottom and has a latch that releases it.

 

Oh ok thats good. Ty very much i cna always count on you to answer a question.

 

how do you know how much battery ware % you are at?

 

I use Notebook Hardware Control

 

Under CPU Speed in NHC, do i change the power scheme to always on?

will that make sure my wifi doesnt cut off when i close the lid?


thanks

 

Which power scheme should I use so my wifi doesnt turn off when I close the lid?

 

my 2 month old m1210 battery shows a wear level of 34% which I think is excessive. I called up xps tech support and they refused to replace it. I tried again with online chat and they agreed to replace my battery.

I guess it depends on who u talk to.

 

i'm at 17% after 4 months. not bad. it was at 12% for a really long time, because i treated the battery really well and didnt use it that much.

 

I'm at 40 % after 7 months. I discharge and charge it at least once everyday at school. My max battery has dropped from about 3 to 2 hours. I tried to get a new battery out of Dell saying it was abnormally so but they ended using DellConnect to just look at the battery info where it said it was healthy.

 

I use my laptop on AC 85% of the time and always leave my battery connected. I don't think it's wearing out the battery faster at all. I would need a pretty good source to believe this.

 

The best way to keep a battery healthy is to run it down to 5-10% charge before plugging in the a/c. This helps prevent "Li-ion battery memory wear." Basically, say you use the battery to....55%, then plug in a/c. Do this continually, and the battery will begin to "think" that at 55% charge, its "dead" and needs to be recharged. This is why many folks see dramatic changes in battery life even after just a few months. I have had my 6400 since October of '06, and I still get a good 5.5-6 hours of battery life now in March '07.

 

Lithium Ion batteries do not have a charge memory. Only NiCad and NiMH batteries have a memory effect. It is okay to charge and recharge LiIon batteries. It is actually better to keep them active. If a NiCad or NiMh battery is only partially discharged then recharged many times, it will begin to "remember" the level it was discharged to and won't fully recharge. Those types of batteries should be run down as low as possible then fully recharged them to optimize battery life.

 

i have a 9-cell that i've had for about 9 months now. it used to last me about 2:15 but recently, i get less than an hour from it! even worse, if im using the computer, and have say 30% battery left, shut it down (not in standby, actually shut down) use it an hour later after my class, i'll re-boot, it'll work for approx. 5 minutes and then the computer goes into standby cuz there's not enough left. even the meter on the battery says 0 (no lights)!!!

Where did my 30% remaining go after i shut it off?!??!
also, the battery life in QS just recently (past few days) went from Normal to a warning that it still charges properly, but I may get less time. (An entire hour less?!)

 

Li Ion batteries should last much longer then what people have been reporting in this thread. That is what they are used over the batteries you mentioned, Seven Lima. The only explanation would be memory wear. Its the same with cell phone batteries. if someone charges it every single night, even when it has a lot of charge left, it ruins the battery. Its standard with any rechargeable battery to run it down to 5-10% THEN recharge it. That is the best way to maintain battery life.

I am aware that Li Ion batteries "supposedly" do not suffer from the ill effects of charge memory, but in fact, they do. Especially with repeated charger after only a partial discharge.

Again, the best way to maintain battery life, is to wait until the battery reaches 5-10% charger, then plug in the a/c. In every case that I have experienced with cell phones and laptops, this always holds true. Doing this, I have only had to replace Li Ion batteries after almost 2 years of use.

 

I do not agree with your theory. The main reason for LiIon failure is excessive and prolonged heat from the notebook itself and poor charging pratices. Through many years of my own experience using all types of rechargeable batteries I know how to make them last. I am typing this right now on a 6+ year old Dell 8100 with the original batteries that are still functioning very well. I get over 4:30 hours of use when both batteries are installed. That is beacuse I understand how to properly maintain batteries. I also have had countless phones and have many professional grade power tools with all types of batteries. I have done my battery research and get very good life from all of them.

The worst thing to do is to run a LiIon battery down and deep cycle it like a Nicad.

Computer manufacturers do not recommend that practice.

Here are some of a long list of links that back up my point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/...itelet/en/batteries_faq?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=10970
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=18241
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/lithium-ion-battery


The list is endless.......

It is true that you should run down a LiIon battery occasionaly to "recalibrate" it but that also depends on the specific battery and the manufacturer's recommendations.

Ultimately the best way to prolong LiIon battery life is to keep it cool and never fully deplete its charge.