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    Brand New Laptop - Initial charge?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by bizres, Nov 14, 2013.

  1. bizres

    bizres Newbie

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    Hi,

    I've just bought a Gateway NV56R14u laptop and while I've not used it yet, need to do the initial battery charge.

    Am not sure how long the initial charge is to be done - usually when I buy a mobile phone or tablet, I'm advised to do a one-time over-charge (approx 6-9hrs).
    Is this the same with laptops? How long should I do the initial charge?
     
    bizres, Nov 14, 2013
    #1
  2. MrDJ

    MrDJ Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    plug it in and forget about it and enjoy your new laptop.
    ive never done an initial charge and my 6 year old clevo still has a 6% wear level.
    my 1 year old clevo has 0% wear level.
     
    MrDJ, Nov 14, 2013
    #2
    maverick1989 likes this.
  3. ajnindlo

    ajnindlo Notebook Deity

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    Don't worry about it. The batteries don't need a special initial charge to be done by the end user.
     
    ajnindlo, Nov 14, 2013
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  4. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    That, and there is never an "over charge". It just stops charging once it hits 100%.
     
    HTWingNut, Nov 15, 2013
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  5. niffcreature

    niffcreature ex computer dyke

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    My understanding is that if anything you'll want to discharge it completely, after you've charged it once.

    I don't claim to know the logic behind that, but I just got a new laptop and the battery was acting weird - it said 100% and then 97% as soon as I unplugged it. Discharging it as much as possible (by setting critical battery level to 2%) seemed to fix it.
     
    niffcreature, Nov 16, 2013
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  6. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Sounds like you need to discharge the laptop all the way (well to 5%), because it isn't calibrated properly. Don't speed drain, like play a game or anything, just use it normally, until it hibernates or turns off (whatever "critical battery action" is set to). Then plug it in and charge it 100%. Then your wear level and capacity level will be accurate.
     
    HTWingNut, Nov 16, 2013
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  7. ajnindlo

    ajnindlo Notebook Deity

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    Discharging fully does not help the battery. In fact it hurts it, but not to worry, good laptops don't let the battery fully discharge. In other words, when it says empty, there is still juice in the battery.

    As HTWingNut said, a full discharge can help the battery meter calibrate itself. As batteries age they hold lower amounts of charge. The battery meter may not know how much this has changed, or may guess wrong. Fully discharging can set it correctly. Same can happen if you never fully charge it. You may need to fully charge it to set the battery meter.
     
    ajnindlo, Nov 16, 2013
    #7