battery dying out?

I have the 6-cell battery and use it all the time, only used the 9 cell twice. Now as time went by, I started noticing that the battery life is getting lower. has this happened to you? what could be problem? overcharging?

 

Batteries lose their charge over time... it's normal.

 

thanks,
after how long is normal? I bought this in late February, so let's say, 6 months total. battery won't last more than an hour. (that's just regular browsing and IM)

 

What kind of battery is it? NiCad, LiPo, Lion, NiMH? It's not normal after 6 months only. It depends on how you power cycled your battery (depending on how whether it wasn't defective or not and what type it is).

 

You lose battery life even if you leave your battery out of the laptop, and don't use it?

 

Yes, most consumer batteries have memory and their life dies a few percent every month when not in use for a long time. But it depends on the battery type.

 

I run my Lappie almost entirely on AC and rarely run it on Battery. Will this affect the battery's life??

 

If you're running the battery while on AC as well. You're losing battery life.

You should take a look at the battery guide in the forums it'll help a lot with prolonging battery life and explain why you're losing charge capacity. Best thing to do is to use one or the other to help your battery out. If you don't plan on using it for a long time you should put it in a sealable plastic bag and into the fridge. Keep it dry and cool when you're not using it, remember it's the chemicals in the battery that make it work, slow down the reaction and you'll slow down the loss of capacity when you're not using it.

 

if ur on ac then take the battery off and just use power directly from the outlet, u can also condition ur battery, let it drain down, and then charge it to 100% without using the comp

 

But if I remove the battery and run only on AC then a powercut might result in data loss.

 

Don't remove your battery if you don't want to, your right it is a great way to combat data loss frm an unexpected restart. When your battery is inserted while you are on AC it will charge but when itis fully charged, it will just sit their idle, their is no energy being used from the battery by the laptop at this point, the only thing that could make it decrease is the heat from the laptop or just the usual discharging a battery would do.
I would say that if your battery is dying after six months, contact dell for a replacement, the cover battery defects during the first year of warranty.