Ac Adapter after 100% charge

I didnt know where to post this , so i just did it in acessories
I have a question thats been bugging me since i bought a notbeook ..

Suppose that i plan to use my Notebook pc at a fixed location all day (i have a power outlet and dont need to move) . my battery is 40 % charged. and i plan to use my pc for 8 hours or so. Should i charge it to a hundred percent with my AC adapter, than let it discharge to about 20% (reasonable) and than charge again ? (because i read in help and support that the more the battery discharges the shorter its life gets ) or should i just keep the Adaptor attached when battery's fully charged and keep it that way for the rest of the day ? Does my pc start taking power directly from the outlet and stop using the battery when its fully charged ? It would be really helpful if you guys could tell me. Because many people say we should not keeep charging a battery once its fully charged ...
my notebook is an HP HDX 16T-1200 CTO

 

If you're going to be using your laptop for an extended period of time, your best bet is to just take the battery out altogether and run solely on AC. I always kept my battery in my laptop and while it could hold a charge of 2hr when new, now it only holds ~40min...

 

If you plug your laptop in to the AC adapter, then the laptop will simultaneously run off of AC power and charge the battery. When the battery charge reaches 100% charge capacity, then the laptop will automatically switch off the charging circuit. As far as you are concerned, just plug the AC adapter into the laptop, and forget about it. You don't need to do anything else.

I could go into specific tasks that you could do to extend the usable life of the battery, such as how to charge and store the battery when not in use. But to be honest, that is going into a lot of detail and extra work.

If you want to keep it simple, just plug the laptop in when you're near a wall socket, and run off of battery when you are not.

 

I know that when one plans to use it days on end, than you should just remove the battery and do it on The AC ADaptor power... but what about 3 to 5 hrs ?? For that i just keep the fully charged battery in AND keep the Adaptor attached ?? (the adaptor being attached to a fully charged battery for 4 hours ? ) , Doesnt that cause overcharge and screw the battery ??

 

You mentioned "overcharge". There is no overcharge. A properly functioning battery does not get overcharged. So I wouldn't worry about this.

When people say that you should remove the battery on AC power... the reason is to extend the usable life of the battery (not to prevent "overcharge"). Because of the chemistry behind a Li-Ion battery, the battery will lose charge capacity over time if you keep it charged at 100% capacity. So it does not matter if you keep the battery in the laptop plugged in or take the battery out of the laptop. If the battery is constantly kept at 100% charge capacity, you're shortening the life of the battery.

The ideal way to handle LiIon batteries is to get them to 40% charge, and then remove them from the laptop when not in use. When you do need to use the battery, put the battery back in, get it to 100% charge, and use the laptop on battery mode.

Some people like doing this, because they are obsessive-compulsive about their computer gear, and must have everything always working as perfectly as possible. Other people don't do this, and just leave the battery in the laptop all the time at 100% capacity, because it is more convenient.

If you choose NOT to do this, and just leave the battery in the laptop at 100% capacity, then nothing will "go wrong". Nothing will blow up, nothing will overheat. All that happens is that your battery wears out faster. You can expect to lose about 50% charge capacity after 2.0 years of constantly keeping your battery at full charge. When that happens, you can just go out, spend $80, and buy a replacement battery.

So it's up to you on what you want to do. Do you want to go through the hassle of dealing with keeping your battery at 40%, and keep removing/replacing it when you need it? Or do you just want to just use your lpatop in the most convenient way possible, and just buy another battery in 2 years?

 

All right ! Thanks kent

 

Batteries will wear down whether in the laptop or not. And saying batteries lose 50% after two years is an extreme exaggeration unless you have a really cheap battery or terrible battery management by the laptop. Last two laptops I've owned, Vostro 1500 is four years old, still has original battery, and has only lost 25% charge, and is plugged in 95% of the time (it was bought by a friend of mine since two years now).

My Sager NP8662 was about 20 months old when I sold it and only lost 3% charge and was plugged in 95% of the time.

Most reputable laptop sellers have good quality batteries with good battery management logic, which makes removal of the battery pretty much trivial.

So just use the machine and don't worry about it.

 

It might be because I have a cheap battery I suppose. I only paid $430 for my laptop brand new. All I know off the top of my head is that it's a Toshiba battery.

I tend to keep my laptop in "Power Saver" mode, with the dimmest screen option and some other things (I'll update this post when I get home).

I kid you not though; I really only get ~40 minutes on my laptop now

 

Well if you use your laptop on battery a lot that would be the reason the battery is depleted, not because it is plugged in all the time. Your battery loses maximum charge with every discharge/recharge cycle. Something like 500 before the battery is more or less dead.

 

I got my Dell M1330 in Aug 2008. 6 cell

Currently, afters 3 years, capacity is at 67.7%. I tend to use my laptop only with AC Adapter(battery is 100% charged, still plugged into the laptop), the capacity level does not vary. I shutdown before unplugging the AC

Only when I need to use sleep mode unplugged(battery being used), or on battery mode, does my capacity decrease

 

That might be it. I regularly take it to/from school and afterschool meetings without the charger. Eh, I looking to buy a new laptop soon anyway, so it doesn't worry me much. I'll pass my Toshiba down to my bother to use as an internet acees point or something.

 

it won't overcharge but it will "recharge". what it happens is that when capacity reaches 100% the battery stops charging. Then the capacity will drop very slowly to about 95% and then it will charge again to 100%. the process of always keep re charging the battery deeply impacts the battery performance over time. But there are also other factors like temperature etc.
If you plan on using the battery just charge it to 100% and remove it. if you don't plan using the battery anytime soon charge it too 40% and keep it in a cold and dry place.
Usually I keep my batteries (not only notebook ones) inside a sealed compartement that I store in my fridge. Just don't put them in the freezer (temps below 0ºC kill li-ion batteries completely).

 

That slight recharge will NOT deeply impact the battery performance. A battery that is being unused can take weeks to discharge 5% on its own sitting in a laptop, unless there's a short or something.

Battery discharge/recharge cycles are quite linear too, so a 5% discharge and recharge 20 times is pretty much the same as a single full discharge / recharge. If you never remove your battery, as long as the battery and charging logic are reasonable, you shouldn't lose more than a few percent battery life over the course of a year. It will get worse over time, but a battery that never leaves the laptop and plugged in more or less 100% of the time will not lose more than 10% over the course of two years, usually it's a lot less than that.

All the talk about batteries and their discharge are wive's tales left over from years and years ago. No longer an issue. In any case, if you DO use your battery regularly, which is the point of a laptop, you should still expect to use it on a nearly daily basis for two years before it loses significant charge.

So many laptops these days are moving the batteries internal, because that issue is not as significant as it used to be.