Battery concern....

Is there any reason why my battery drops to 96% over a week, (gradually 1%each day) even after turning on and shutting down, then mysteriously when I turn it on say a few days later its back up at 100%?
This happes while the computer is plugged in 24/7.
Thanks

 

It's how Li-ion batteries work. Over time they slowly lose charge. When it's plugged it, it would charge to 100% and then stop itself. And according to the default full charge threshold (96/100), it will have no where to go so like a normal battery, it would lose some charge. Then once it goes below 96%, it will charge itself back up a 100% and then the whole process repeats.

It is normal.

 

Won't that wear out charge cycles though?

 

It might yes, that is why it is smart to set a lower charge treshold. Personally I use 36/40.

You can get more information from the Battery Guide here on NBR.

According to the NBR Battery Guide, storing the battery at approximately 40% is ideal.

Break down of the Power Manager:

Always fully charged (start when below 96%; stop at 100%): Self explanatory. Select this setting to always be charging your battery on AC mode. I don't recommend this.

Optimize for battery lifespan (automatically change for me): I still do not understand this setting. I have set it for a month and it is identical to the Always fully charged option. It has never notified me when thresholds changed either. I do not recommend this setting.

Custom: This is where I have mine set and I recommend this. Following the Battery Guide, I set my battery to Start charging when below 36% and to Stop charging at 40%. The battery may not always follow this rule though. Due to a bug in the software, the only work around I know of is to always set your Custom settings while on battery and then plug your AC in.

Here are some example situations with these settings.

Your battery is at 50%. With start 36% and stop 40%, your battery charge will stay at 50% when plugged in.

Your battery is at 20%. Once plugged in, your battery will charge until 40% and stop.

Perform Reset...: This will perform a battery reset; which means to fully drain the battery and recharge it back to 100%. This will provide more accuracy in battery readings. Perform this about every 30 charge cycles.

After four months with this Custom setting and after 54 cycles, I have a Full charge capacity of 71.53 Wh. This is approximately 3.5 - 4 hrs with Wireless on and zero brightness.

 

So with li-ion batteries it's alright to not fully charge your battery?

 

That is correct.

 

what software do you use to set the battery to charge at 36% and stop at 40%?

 

You use the Power Manager. Double click on that green battery icon to the left of your system tray. It's the last tab; Battery Maintenance.

 

I'm not sure if this is true but I heard that batteries wear out faster in colder weather... Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Heat makes a battery drain faster and causes more wear. It is not recommended to freeze the battery but storing it in the refrigerator in a plastic bag would be the way to go if you plan on storing a batter for a long time. Check out the Battery Guide here on NBR for more information.

 

Questions:
1) How do you count the cycles? Manually? The higher the number of cycles is indicative of battery wear because the battery has only so many cycles in its lifespan?
2) You use 36 and 40 as the lower and upper limits of you charge band, but why not move that closer to the mid-point of the 0 to 100 range? What is the concept behind your setting of 36 L and 40 U?
3) So if I want to follow your procedure, unlplug the AC and then set the custom?
4) Does you batter drain faster than it charges? Mine does, much more so. Is this normal?

 

1.) There is information about my battery within ThinkPad's Power Manager program. It tell me everything from the manufacturer to the number of cycles.
2.) According to the Battery Guide, 40% is the ideal charge to keep a battery level at to insure a long lasting lifespan.

3.) That is correct, there is a glitch in the Power Manager program; sometimes when your computer is shut down and then you plug it into AC, it will not follow your charge settings and just full charge all the time. Th workaround that I discovered is to boot up our PC and the plug into AC.
4.) I believe my battery my drain slightly faster than it charges. I wouldn't say much more though. So yes, I think it's normal.

 

Any workarounds to the issue of the program allowing the battery to charge to 100% when charging whilst powered on? Lol.

Today, the program was set to charge my battery to 60% like always (it was around 30% from minor usage by me overnight) and I flipped out when it charged itself to 100%. I never noticed that it went past 60% while I was working. Went from full capacity 59.50wH to 58.60wH. I was kind of pissed.

 

If you are going to be using your battery at all, set it so that it charges to 100%, but only starts charging when its around 80 - 85% or so. That way, when you are not using the battery, and the charge deteriorates, it will take a long while to go down to the 80% range, allowing you to have used it at least one time on battery, so that it will drain enough to fully charge itself again. You should only use Arkit3kt's method if you plan on using your computer like a desktop almost 100% of the time. I rarely ever use my notebook on battery and I have it set to start charging at 85% and to stop at 100% and that works fine for me.

I think you want to store your battery at around 40% when storing it for long periods of time, without any use.

Also, when using your battery, be sure to start charging it back up around 10%-20% or higher, DO NOT let it drain to the point that your comp goes to standby due to low power. You should only do this when calibrating your battery(every 30 cycles-to keep the battery gauge accurate). If you regularly drain your battery all the way, it will drastically shorten your battery's life. Li-ion batteries like to be charged with some charge remaining. Trust me on this, this is how I ruined my first battery. I have a Thinkpad T60.

 

Oh okay thanks for your info. By the way if we left the battery inside and set it to stop charging at 40%, will the temperature of the battery increase while we connect it to ac power?

 

I have my battery thresholds settings to 36/40 and I've never had any battery heat issues; I'm plugged into AC about 95% of the time.

 

I simply don't get it? What's the point of even having the battery if you aren't using it? Why be so overly paranoid about it losing capacity over a year? It's a battery, get over it. Make use of it, and one day if it isn't giving you the capacity you need, replace it. It's so not worth the time and effort to keep it at 40 percent and then plan ahead to charge to 100 percent when you think you might use it. That defeats the entire purpose of having a battery. If you use it so rarely that you feel it's worth it to keep it at 40 percent then you've already wasted your money by spending the premium on a laptop. You paid good money for that laptop so use it like it's intended and in 1.5 or 2 years if you aren't getting good run time out of it buy a new battery.

 

infinus, have you not heard of a desktop replacement? Some people purchase notebook computers for many reasons whether it be weight issues, easy transport, desktop replacement, or space saving. It's just a few examples. And the concern here is battery life, I'm providing people with what they want to know, not what I want them to know or do.

Personally, I go to a University where I use my T61 as a portable all the time. But once classes are all set and done, I still like to use my charge thresholds and then charge my battery over night.

If you want to stick with your logic then why pay good money for a laptop that has this great charge threshold feature and not use it?

 

I think we are not on the same level of understanding here. I agree, the feature set in the power manager is great. I personally have mine customized to only charge once it gets below a certain level. It's a great feature for helping to keep the battery from being charged too often. It seems like people are getting a little too carried away with it however. Constantly changing the charge thresholds and manipulating the levels to only charge to 40 percent and then going through extra efforts like booting your machine first and then plugging it in just to be sure it doesn't charge one watt of power into the battery are a touch over kill. I know this is simply my opinion and I'm not saying you must use your notebook in any one way, but the effort wouldn't seem to be worth any savings you might gain in the long term. This would especially go for people who buy desktop replacements. Most desktop replacements aren't bought for battery life. So anyways, I'm just saying, seems worth stepping back and not over analyzing the situation. Set charge thresholds that are appropriate, and then leave it at that. You can't cry over every watt that's lost off your topend, that's simply the nature of the battery.