Notbook battery questions

Hey all knowledgable ones......

Curious if its better to run your notebook with the battery removed when its plugged in(if even possible).

I figure this would be easier on the battery, and help with cooling for the machine.

Fact, fiction, or just plain dumb????

thoughts, jokes, replies

 

It is possible to run the notebook plugged in and without the battery. I heard (and read) that doing so help preserves your battery's life; however, I don't know how true, if at all that statement is. I always had my old Dell 700m plugged in with the battery, and now is only lasts about an hour tops. I take the battery out whenever possible with my M1330.

 

hmm now ya'll have me wondering if running w/o a battery is a better option (in terms of increasing battery life.) I am almost always plugged in, so maybe I will start doing this

 

i only plug the ac when the charge is like 5% or so remaining.

 

I never take out mine except for cleaning the machine, and it's plugged in 90% of the time (my notebook stayes on for 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, i only plug it out to move to another room mostly). I used my old HP Pavilion for 3 years like that, and after that time i only got 10 to 15 minutes less battery time compared to when it was brand new. I took some temperature readings of the cpu, gpu, ram and hdd, and saw absolutely no difference in temps with the same kind of use with the battery in or out. So i don't see any point in taking it out really.

 

Yup! you should run without batteries when plugged into AC )unless of course charging).

My battery used to do 4hrs.......now..on 1hr grrrr i regret leaving my battery in!

BUT, when ever you battery is drain because its just left unused and drained itself, you should charge it full again! dont let you battery be left used for an extended period of time!

 

Batteries are programmed to not overcharge, so all I can say is take what you hear with a grain of salt. I've never taken my battery out unless cleaning for the past 2 years, I've used it 50-60 times(a full discharge while using it) and used it randomly for 1minute to 2 hours a few hundred times.

My battery was 4.5~ hours when I bought it, it's at 4~ hours now, so for 2 years of usage, that ain't bad. Of course, your mileage may vary, so its up to you. I keep mines in like a UPS, if there is a sudden power failure, I don't want to lose my work or whatnot.

 

This is what I found on a battery vendor's site a while back. Take it for what it's worth:

Rechargeable Notebook Batteries - Shelf Life and Notebook Battery Maintenance Tips


Lithium Ion notebook batteries wear down because of two factors: 1) active usage in your notebook battery and 2) natural aging of the notebook battery. Both will wear down your notebook battery over time; the trick is to minimize their impact while still getting the performance out of your laptop battery that you need.

The most important thing to understand about laptop batteries is that they are always losing a small bit of their charge. The hotter the temperature, the faster notebook batteries loose their charge. So rule number one is: keep your notebook battery cool. Notebook battery manufacturers store their products at around 60?F. (It doesn't help to put them in the refrigerator, and you can damage a battery by freezing it.)

The second most important thing to understand about notebook batteries is that their capacity decreases with each cycle of charging and discharging (or usage). By itself, this is not surprising - but when combined with the previous point, it leads to a surprising conclusion.

When laptop users leave their laptop battery inside the machine but leave the computer plugged into the wall, the laptop battery is going through a constant charge-discharge cycle. The notebook battery is sitting unused inside the notebook, discharging a little faster than normal because of the notebook's heat. Once its charge level drops to a predetermined level (which is different for each manufacturer), the AC adapter provides extra juice to "top off" the notebook battery. As the laptop battery gets older, it tends to self-discharge a little faster, which accelerates the process even further.

Lithium ion notebook batteries normally offer 600 to 800 charge/discharge cycles over 1? to 3 years of useful life. When you use your notebook battery as described above, you are needlessly using your supply of recharges.

One additional note: many people recall that older notebook batteries on early computers worked best when they were fully discharged before being recharged. While that remains true for Nickel Cadmium technology, today's Lithium Ion notebook batteries work best when they are recharged when they still have 10 to 20% capacity remaining. So if you are using your notebook battery on a long flight, try not to get in the habit of using the notebook battery until it has almost no charge. Your laptop battery literally won't be the same when you re-charge it the next time.

Some Guidelines for Notebook Batteries:
Remember that new laptop batteries generally arrive in a discharged state; you must charge them up for at least four hours before their first use.
Keep your laptop battery cool, but do not put it in the refrigerator or freezer
Don't use the notebook battery if you don't have to! Many people keep their laptop plugged in most of the time. They can preserve their notebook battery life by storing the battery outside the laptop in a cool place.
Try to avoid running your laptop battery all the way to zero
Don't charge your notebook battery before long periods of inactivity
Much as we'd like to sell you more laptop batteries, don't buy spare notebook batteries for later use. The longer you hold them, the less useful life they provide

 

^interesting read, t4p

Now, another question, will leaving those gold contacts exposed cause any unnecessary ill effects??

 

Doubtful...