Battery: Better to let charge run out once in a while?

Okay so my laptop is almost always plugged in. I usto just take the battery out until i had a bad power outage experience. Now i just keep it in there.

My question is, is it better to let the battery charge run out once in a while, or to always keep the wire plugged in and keep the charge at 100% while sitting at my desk?

Thx

 

Its good to let it run down once in a while. The idea behind it is to calibrate it, so its ready for use next time you are running on off the battery. Have a look at the Battery Guide for more information.

 

You'll lose a few charge cycles by keeping it at 100%, but as Zero said the Battery guide will have everything.
If you have any utility to tell your computer to stop charging at 80%, use it-- the battery will last longer.

 

I dont have any such utility i know of. Is htere some software I can get to do that?

 

To leave it plugged and charge it to 50% using the power manager application will extend the life of the battery.

Smart battery is in the control panel.

 

great tip. i never knew about that lol

 

How do you get this utility? I have an HP.. is it only available for Sager?

 

Is on the control panel, my laptop is a Compal.

 

must be a compal specific program. the screenie doesn't look like a MS made program either.

 

that's nice piece of software. any idea where we can get it? btw my notebook is an hp compaq 8510p and i'm very concern of extending the life of my battery

 

i think u guys are looking for this "Smart Battery Utility by Compal @ Intel"

For VISTA x32, x64 http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=2795&DwnldID=14719&lang=eng

For XP (ALL VERSION) http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProductID=2795&DwnldID=13363&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All Operating Systems&lang=eng

 

thats only for compal notebooks according to the website

has anyone tried it on any other notebooks?

 

whoaa, i followed the link and it says bios update. i don't think this is safe for non-compal notebook

 

i downloaded the utility from the intel download website i posted above, and it is working fine. im at work right now and using a Acer laptop with windows XP.

 

??? are you sure? it shouldnt say that, it should just bring u to the download page.

Vista download page

XP download page

 

so, have anyone knowest any different after installed the utility??

 

well, i saw it says " bios" so i'm quite hessitant to use it. but anyway, how's the installation looks like? does it really changed your bios or just installed just like normal software?
how's the performance of the battery utility in your acer?

Edit:

yup, the link goes to download page, thanks kvehh. I'm so excited i could have just clicked something wrong

 

the installnation is just same as normal program install. didnt change bios. is just a utility. so far i cant tell. maybe it'll show in long term

 

Do you have it on the extended battery cycle? I think that stops the charging at 50% because it's not good to let it charge past 100% while using the battery.

 

I just put smart battery on my comp and it works great!

 

Smart Battery is very useful, I never knew such a nifty software existed.

 

hey guys, how did you managed to work that nice piece of software in your computer? can't use this in my computer

 

Download the software and a new icon will be created in your control panel, use it there.

 

Lol, I have it since I got my laptop (8 months ago).

 

done that. the smart battery utility icon auto starts when i restarted my notebook. set to balance to make my battery charge keep on 70% as per manual but it charges until 100% and stays there. is there any additional driver that i need to install for this software to function?

 

Which option did you chose?

 

For those who didn't read the documentation:

 

used the balanced and extended battery life cycle but my battery status is still full and the icon shows that i'm still plugged in.

 

Dont be worried too much about charging the battery to 100%. Maybe it will prolong its life time if you charge it only to 50% while connected to the power supply, but how much does it prolong the battery life?

I only know that heat and deep discharge cycles are the most important battery killer.
Heat is a laptop design issue. If you have a poorly designed laptop then it will heat up the battery and shorten its life time. You almost can't do anything against it, except buying a properly designed laptop.
Deep discharge: Try to avoid this. It will only kill your battery. Maybe once in half a year you can do such a thing to calibrate the charging unit, but if possible try to avoid this.

 

same, the application has no effect on my battery charging even though i select the extended battery life option

 

i'm just really concercened about this battery cycle thing. now i'm using a rotary timer for my power supply. I set it to charge for one hour and run discharge ( turn off the power on my power supply suppl and let my notebook run in battery ) for two hours. anyway thanks guys for the info.
Hope that intel will also release this type of software compatible to all brands of notebook

Cheers.

 

It's not an Intel issue, it's HP's job to develop a good charging unit.
Fujitsu only charges the battery full if it is below 90%.
Lenovo has a similar feature. Well it's HP's fault.

And what do you mean with your rotary timer.
Do you charge your computer one hour, then discharge it two hours, then charge it one hour, then discharge, ... Really?!?

If you want a long battery life then try to not heat the battery up, try to avoid deep discharges and especially try to avoid many chargings.

 

Unplug the power adapter and let the battery go below 50%, then set the smart battery on Extended life mode.

BTW, if you need to go out with the laptop, there is a button on the left hand side that if you press it it will attempt to charge your battery at 100%. This button will only work if you have the Balance or Extended mode selected.

 

Was quite pleased when I found out about this program, however after installing, and running after a reboot, it doesn't work with my Dell Vostro 1500, after allowing the battery to run down to below 50%.

 

i don't necessarily agree that it's good to let the battery charge run out completely. i use to do that with my old toshiba and within a few months the battery couldn't hold a charge more than a 40 or so minutes. not a good outcome. with my latest computer i'm just trying to not ever run the battery down in hopes it will prevent this.

 

Batteries technology has changed, they used to suffer of what we call "memory effect", which means that if you didn't discharged them completely they would not charge fully neither, but now new batteries do not suffer of this, so no need to drain them completely.

 

Mate, you seem slightly confused as that button is only relevant to Compal notebooks, and the people having problems with the software are running other branded notebooks, for which this software wasn't intended for.

Looking at this thread, it seems there are some brands it works with, while others it doesn't, so possibly does it depend on the battery? additional drivers needed? would be great if we could find out how to use this software with any laptop