Laptop batteries

26 Jul 2005

Can anyone who knows about these things tell me what's the best way to treat your laptop battery, unplug it from the mains when it's fully charged and use it on battery power until it's almost ready to hibernate?
Or is it ok to leave the charger plugged in all the time you're using it? dunno

Thanks for any advice.
ES

26 Jul 2005

with new laptop batts it dont realy matter you can leave them plugged in all the time without doin too much damage. with older ones it is prob best to fully charge then run flat etc as older type (pre 2003) are a little more sensative
hope this helps biggrin

26 Jul 2005

Yup niceguy's got it in one pre 2003 ones you've generally to charge em up unplug them and run them on the battery BUT i've got a 1999 Toshiba Satellite 2060CDS ( 366 P1 chip with 96 meg ram and a 4gb H/D ) and that was run on the mains for about a year and has been on the mains most of the time i've had it. I tend not to use it now ( got a tower PC ) but if left unused for a week the battery is completely discharged and once its been charged up ( not switched on tho ) the battery still lasts about 2 hours which is pretty good going since it was only suposed to last for 2 1/4 hours when new.
Suppose it all depends on the manufacturer of the laptop I suppose.
Davie

26 Jul 2005

AFAIK if you have an "old fashioned" Ni-cad or NiMh battery then it's better to let the battery run flat b4 recharging. I'm told that for newer Li Ion batteries it doesn't matter if they're recharged frequently - no need to let them run down BUT it's important NOT to let them run completely flat or overheat as they have built in circuitry that might be damaged.
Bottom line - keep Li ion batteries at least 40% charged, don't let them overheat ( they can heat up to 40 degree Celcius when they're working or overcharged ) don't buy old stock however cheap they are ( they start to deteriorate from the day of manufacture ) and keep them in the fridge ( never the freezer! )
Can't remember where I got all that information from ( last week, I must be getting old! ) but I was convinced that the guy knew his stuff.

27 Jul 2005

My hubbie, who is a pc expert lol well he spends 60 hours a week building and maintaining them at work, told me when i got mine to charge it up and then take it off to use it, its ok to use it plugged into the mains when ur batterys low but u should let it run down every now and again cause keeping it full and on chagre all the time don't do it no good smile

so i do that cause he seems to know everything else about pcs so i take his word for it the know it all lol

27 Jul 2005

Quote by EagerSlut
Can anyone who knows about these things tell me what's the best way to treat your laptop battery, unplug it from the mains when it's fully charged and use it on battery power until it's almost ready to hibernate?
Or is it ok to leave the charger plugged in all the time you're using it?
Thanks for any advice.
ES

Er..... RTFM would be my advice.

27 Jul 2005

i leave my charger pluged in all the time!
louxxxx

27 Jul 2005

i always have my laptop connected to the mains, when i am at home...
i assummed when it got full the battery that is, is would kinda just run off the mains and not charge the battery any further!!
Is that incorrect??
biggrin

:D

27 Jul 2005

I believe this is correct. Most modern laptops will cut power to the charging circuit once the battery reaches full charge and run off mains power so as not to damage the battery.