Laptop battery life

[rocketrazor]

Hi all,

what's the best way to improve battery life in a laptop?

1. Use it with the power plugged in most of the time

2. Use the battery, drain it and recharge it?

cheers

rocket

 

[Overdose]

You can never improve battery life, only prolong it.

If you are only ever going to have the power supply connected, it's performance in terms of battery life, is academic

In theory, leaving a laptop plugged in to a charger should help prolong the life of the battery, as it will reduce the cycle useage.

 

[bigboss]

You can never improve battery life, only prolong it.

If you are only ever going to have the power supply connected, it's performance in terms of battery life, is academic

In theory, leaving a laptop plugged in to a charger should help prolong the life of the battery, as it will reduce the cycle useage.

On the contrary, leaving the laptop plugged in results in continuous micro charges, so the cycle usage actually goes up.

http://www.wired.com/2013/09/laptop-battery/

 

[Lateralus]

In order to prolong battery life, it is reccomended that you discharge the battery fully (until it warns you to plug it in), plug and charge it to 100%, unplug and repeat. If you plan on using the laptop in a stationary position then remove the battery and leave it plugged in all the time.

 

[Dave_]

In order to prolong battery life, it is reccomended that you discharge the battery fully (until it warns you to plug it in), plug and charge it to 100%, unplug and repeat.

Not with modern lithium batteries it isn't

 

[bigboss]

In order to prolong battery life, it is reccomended that you discharge the battery fully (until it warns you to plug it in), plug and charge it to 100%, unplug and repeat.

Not with modern lithium batteries it isn't

Agreed. Ni-Cd, and to some extent, Ni-MH suffered from bad memory effect but not Li-ion.

 

[Lateralus]

In order to prolong battery life, it is reccomended that you discharge the battery fully (until it warns you to plug it in), plug and charge it to 100%, unplug and repeat.

Not with modern lithium batteries it isn't

Agreed. Ni-Cd, and to some extent, Ni-MH suffered from bad memory effect but not Li-ion.

Really? I didn't know that. Interesting.

 

[rocketrazor]

So am I right in think there is no correct answer?

 

[relocated]

From all the different 'experts' opinions that I have read,.

The one thing you don't do is leave the charger on if the battery is full and you are using the laptop.

There seems to be no concensus on the best charging method. Some say charge when down to 20% with the occasional full discharge to 'reset' the battery and others say always fully discharge and then recharge.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Having Googled to some length for Lithium Ion best to keep charge around 20% to 80%. An occasional 5%-100% cycle may be needed to reset the devices measurement software.

 

[Polleke_CGC]

A Li-ion battery has a rather short life-time. Between date of manufacturing till end of life is about 5-6 years. Even when you never use it, that is the case !!! So it's is far better to use it 😉...

So : you can't "lengthen" the term of use, but it is easy to shorten it :

Li Ion's can't stand overcharging, and also complete discharge. But a laptop is "clever" enough to make sure that you can't do such things. But it is a good praktise to charge the battery when it's almost empty. You can use that 20-80% rule, but it is no problem to make this 10-100%, because that 100% is never the real. maximum for that battery, because there is alway a certain margin calculated by the electronics of the battery...

 

[Overdose]

You can never improve battery life, only prolong it.

If you are only ever going to have the power supply connected, it's performance in terms of battery life, is academic

In theory, leaving a laptop plugged in to a charger should help prolong the life of the battery, as it will reduce the cycle useage.

On the contrary, leaving the laptop plugged in results in continuous micro charges, so the cycle usage actually goes up.

http://www.wired.com/2013/09/laptop-battery/

This entirely depends on the charging design, typically the charging system in a laptop (using lithium polymer batteries) disconnects the battery from the charge at what is shown as 100 %. This figure is not normally an actual electrical 100%, but one that lets you know the maximum capacity that is allowed has been reached, this is an optimised figure and is designed to be a safety stop to prevent overcharging and damage. At the point of disconnection, the laptop then runs on AC, therefore not cycling the battery at all. Other factors affect battery life, such as time and heat, but for day to day use, if a charging point is available, then it's best to use it. Storage of a battery is another matter, but my advice was given on the assumption that the laptop would be in continued use.

Edit: I wouldn't take the word of a journo, writing for an online gadget mag as gospel. There are better (more reliable, comprehensive and accurate) sources available.