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    Charge battery to 100% or a little less, say 97%?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by pnm, Jul 21, 2009.

  1. pnm

    pnm Notebook Guru

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    Which way to recharge is better for prolonging the battery lifespan? Do you always charge the batter to full 100% to use? Or leave a little room, just charge to 96-98%? (Could it, on the other hand, reduce the capacity, if you don't charge to full 100%?)
     
    pnm, Jul 21, 2009
    #1
  2. moral hazard

    moral hazard Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I think it's better to charge to 96-98, that's what I do.
     
    moral hazard, Jul 21, 2009
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  3. Soviet Sunrise

    Soviet Sunrise Notebook Prophet

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    The battery's PCB won't allow the cells to charge to true 100% capacity. They will always be ~95% despite being reported as 100% by the ACPI.
     
    Soviet Sunrise, Jul 21, 2009
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  4. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Thinkpads and Sony Vaios have a feature to charge only to 80%. I think that is best.
     
    Phil, Jul 21, 2009
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  5. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    depends on the battery chemistry.

    LiPoly, LiIon, NiCd. There are some zinc/air batts out there as well.
     
    newsposter, Jul 21, 2009
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  6. pnm

    pnm Notebook Guru

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    If you always charge less than full, could the battery lose the ability to get fully charged?
     
    pnm, Jul 21, 2009
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  7. Soviet Sunrise

    Soviet Sunrise Notebook Prophet

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    Soviet Sunrise, Jul 21, 2009
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  8. usapatriot

    usapatriot Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Thinkpads have Power Manager software that let the user specify the max and min charge thresholds.
     
    usapatriot, Jul 21, 2009
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  9. Fragilexx

    Fragilexx Get'cha head in the game

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    You'd be hard pressed to find Nickel Cadmium or Zinc batteries for laptops nowadays I think.

    Have a read up at the battery university - specifically this page which is related to the charging and discharging of lithium based batteries http://batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm
     
    Fragilexx, Jul 21, 2009
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  10. deputc26

    deputc26 Notebook Consultant

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    no, that does not happen with li-ion chemistries.
     
    deputc26, Jul 21, 2009
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  11. IntelUser

    IntelUser Notebook Deity

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    The issues with batteries are so stupid. I mean look at this hypothetical example.

    "New laptop with 9 hours battery life"

    Real testing with idle-8 hours
    Real testing with light websurfing-6.5 hours
    Intensive apps: 3.5 hours
    Gaming-2.5 hours

    but that's not the end...

    Since Lithium Ion batteries don't like full discharge, you really only have 80% of the capacity as the ACTUAL usable capacity. Or else in 2-3 years you'll need a new battery.

    So its really

    Real testing with idle-6.5 hours
    Real testing with light websurfing-5.2 hours
    Intensive apps: 2.8 hours
    Gaming-2 hours
     
    IntelUser, Jul 22, 2009
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  12. ajreynol

    ajreynol Notebook Virtuoso

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    ^ some netbooks have a video drain test life of 4-5 hours. if you're going hardcore like that 100% of the time, no computer will satisfy you without an A/C adapter.

    even better, my Vaio allows me to charge to 50%. this battery will last a long, long time.
     
    ajreynol, Jul 22, 2009
    #12