Laptop first time charge

Hey guys

This may sound like a stupid question but just checking, i just bought a lenovo sl500 and on its first time charge ( the laptop itself is off) i disconnected it for 5 minutes and then re connected it to move it

will this cause any difference to its overall battery life or any difference at all?

Thanks

 

No.















P.S. It already comes half charged.
When you're using it on a daily basis just make sure you discharge the battery entirely and recharge it fully again once every month or every other month to recalibrate the meter. Then go about as you usually do.

 

Oh ok Thanks for that!!! i was really worried about it, but good to know i didnt screw it up just after getting it

THANKS HEAPS!!!

 

No problem. Enjoy your new computer

 

make sure it does not go below 10%.. maximum.

 

you haven't done any damage. Be sure not to make it go below 10% charge too often. It has an impact of the laptop battery life.

 

Why shouldnt you go below 10%? i run mine to 5% all the time and some times right into the ground at 0%

 

Because the li-ion cells become a little damaged each time. However it is needed to do so once in a while in order to recalibrate the meter, so you actually get to use it.
A "deep cycle battery" (think batteries used for campervans and boats) shouldn't go below 50, and even better not below 80 percent (which is next to impossible).

Anyway, once every month, every two months you have to run it all out, followed by a full charge to recalibrate it.

Personally, I don't care too much. It's there to be used, in my opinion. I am aware of it, though, and will unplug it and use some of the battery from time to time if I'm in a period where it's much plugged in. I will also plug it in before it goes to zero or close to zero if it's convenient.


I'm willing to have my battery life shortened by two weeks or a month or so for the extra convenience rather than going around thinking that you can somehow have it last forever. No matter what you do, it will soon hold only 80 percent of the original charge anyway (i.e. time to buy another and retire the original one as an extra or recycle it, imo).

 

That's the first time I have heard of the Li-Ion batteries to get damaged for such a reason.. But I will be cautious, I will avoid doing that.

 

I don't believe this is right. It is correct that if the voltage of the cells in a Li-Ion battery drops to low, they can be damaged. If this happens, the protection circuit in the battery will prevent the battery from being recharged. But, from what I can tell, this voltage is lower than what the battery will report as zero charge. That means that the battery should not be damaged when running it to zero.

Leaving it at zero is bad. The self-discharge of the cells will further drop the cells voltage and it could reach the damage voltage.

My take is that it is better not to discharge the battery to the point it reports 0%, but not harmful.

And that is exactly my attitude. It is there to be used. If I want to actually use the battery, there is nothing I can do that extends the overall life enough to make it worthwhile.

David

 

Well, if it's true that the "zero" is in fact not zero, but, say, 5% then calibrating your battery would be rendered useless. I wouldn't be surprised though, as running a li-ion to zero does indeed damage it a little each time.

When a battery is at zero, there are no voltages to drop further. That's the good thing about li-ions, it delivers almost the same voltage even at, say, 30, 20, or 5 percent, as opposed to lead acids, agms, NiMH or what have we.

Actually, if you want a li-ion to last as long as possible [i.e. shelf life], you would want to charge it to 80 percent and then keep it cool. Of course going for the longest shelf-life is utterly useless, as it's there to be used.
There is very little self-discharge over-all when it comes to Li-ions. Every discharge (i.e. usage) damages the cell, no matter what it does. Deep cycle marine batteries is more damaged the more you discharge them, and even though its different tech, Li-Ions is the same way. The cells themselves are damaged a little every time they're charged and and discharge. The lower you discharge them, the bigger damage. Zero being the worst.

What one should remember, though, is to not avoid a zero discharge at all cost, because without a full discharge followed by a ful charge once in a while, the battery will forget what it is capable of. THis, even though Li-Ions have no socalled battery memory (unlike Nimhs and so on). The problem arises the moment there's a meter on it. It's the meter that introduces this, even though the cells themselves don't have this problem, if that makes sense.

Yup

 

Going below 10% doesn't damage the battery at all. The 10% charge you're talking about is the battery charge. The 10% that you read from the battery meter is 10% of the usable battery life without damaging the battery. So... feel free to go all the way to 0% battery meter life. It's probably impossible to discharge a laptop battery under 10% charge unless you discharge to 0% battery meter and leave the battery under high heat condition for a couple of years to self discharge.

This is actually a myth. Li-ion battery do not suffer battery memory effect thus can be recharged at any given battery charge state. Charging around 10-30% will not extend the battery life. However, you may notice a decrease in battery life through the battery meter. This is due to the battery controller estimating the wrong battery charge. Overtime due to charge and discharge, the battery meter will be off by mAh up to couple hundred mAh in battery capacity. This error can be corrected by discharging the battery below 0% according to the battery meter.

A personal example that i've encountered:
I have an acer aspire one battery. It has been used a lot and the battery life according to the battery meter decreased about an hour. After running the battery empty (again according to the battery meter), I can continue to run the laptop at 0% or (0hours 0 minutes left), for another half an hour or so. After the computer shutdown because of the battery controler detecting li-battery low discharge voltage, the battery controller will recalibrate/reset. Now I have extra half an hour of battery life on my acer aspire one battery.

Here's some more information if people are interested.
-The drop in battery capacity is not due to/or not significantly affected by the obvious "drop in battery charge capacity". The battery life is mostly determined by the internal resistance of the battery. Internal resistance is caused by lithium oxidation caused by natural oxidation and normal wear and tear oxidation through charge and discharge cycles. It's the same concept as lead acid battery where the lead ions oxides and cannot stick to the lead plates as well as when it was new. A battery gives you considerably more battery when it's overheated. LOL. Heat=less resistance=a faster way to oxidize your li-ion cells. Less heat=more resistance=a slower way to oxidize your li-ion cells.