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    Notebook Battery Guide

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by chrisyano, Dec 6, 2006.

  1. c0mplex

    c0mplex Notebook Consultant

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    I have a laptop that has a non-removable battery and my notebook serves as a desktop replacement (meaning that I use it for long periods of time on a daily basis). Are there any ways to prevent battery deterioration?
     
  2. davidfor

    davidfor Notebook Consultant

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    There is no harm in partial discharges of Li-Ion batteries. In fact, there is some evidence that avoiding the extremes of the charge levels (not fully charged and not completely discharged) will extend the batteries life. This is why many laptops can be set to stop charging the battery at not fully charged level. I have a Samung that can be set to a maximum of 80%. And, a common recommendation is not to run the battery down 10% or even 20%.

    Running the battery down to zero charge, won't harm it, but it you should not leave it discharged. The battery will continue to self-discharge, and it left long enough, this can let the battery voltage drop to a point that can be dangerous. If this happens, the protection circuit will prevent the battery from being recharged. This should take days to happen, but I recharge sooner rather than later.

    The only other thing for a full discharge is to recalibrate the batteries fuel gauge, This can stop reading accurately but a couple of full cycles should fix it.
     
  3. davidfor

    davidfor Notebook Consultant

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    Firstly, I am always of the opinion the battery should stay in the laptop. It is there to be used, so I use it. Also, it acts as UPS for those unfortunate times.

    There is no way to prevent the deterioration of a Li-Ion battery. It can be slowed, but not by that much. In your case, there isn't much you can do. It is a good idea to fully cycle the battery at least once a month. The only other thing is the temperature of the battery. Warm batteries age faster than cool batteries. If you know where it is and can see if it gets warmed by the laptop, improving the cooling to that area can help. Raising the back of the laptop could be enough, or a fan might be needed.
     
  4. fashion_m

    fashion_m Newbie

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    Where to find this setting? I have Acer Iconia Tab W501p, Windows 7 Professional.
     
  5. davidfor

    davidfor Notebook Consultant

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    In my Samsung, an R780, it is a BIOS setting, Samsung supply a utility to set this from inside Windows. I know some Acer laptops have this function, but I don't know how they do it. I don't know if the Iconia Tab does. It wouldn't surprise me if a tablet didn't do this, as I would expect them to be used in ways that want the maximum runtime when on battery.
     
  6. Accolade83

    Accolade83 Newbie

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    Glad I found this guide. I came here to ask advice on what to do with the battery for my new PowerPro R 12:17 and this was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
     
  7. arsenal71

    arsenal71 Newbie

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    hi there
    please let me know how you set the battery to 80% because i got samsung r 780 but i don't now how to do that

    many thanks
     
  8. davidfor

    davidfor Notebook Consultant

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    There are two ways:

    - Go into the BIOS as the system boots. I can't think of the name of the option.

    - One of the Samsung utilities will set it. I think it is called "Easy Battery Manager". This will actually changes the BIOS option and doesn't take effect until you reboot.
     
  9. JOSEA

    JOSEA NONE

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  10. arsenal71

    arsenal71 Newbie

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    There are two ways:

    - Go into the BIOS as the system boots. I can't think of the name of the option.

    - One of the Samsung utilities will set it. I think it is called "Easy Battery Manager". This will actually changes the BIOS option and doesn't take effect until you reboot

    thank you i found that in bios i cannot find that one in samsung utilities
    now if i want to go somewhere with the laptop what i have to do to charge the battery 100%? change the settings again ?
     
  11. arsenal71

    arsenal71 Newbie

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  12. arsenal71

    arsenal71 Newbie

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    thank you i found that in bios i cannot find that one in samsung utilities
    now if i want to go somewhere with the laptop what i have to do to charge the battery 100%? change the settings again ?
     
  13. davidfor

    davidfor Notebook Consultant

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    I had the name wrong. As someone else said, it is called "Battery Life Extender". It should be in the Samsung folder in the porgrams menu.

    Yes. Then you have to reboot and let it charge to 100%.
     
  14. arsenal71

    arsenal71 Newbie

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    yes i found it thank you verry much again
    how is better when is not use ,when is off to unplug it or just live it as it is
     
  15. HopelesslyFaithful

    HopelesslyFaithful Notebook Virtuoso

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  16. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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  17. beebo_cakes

    beebo_cakes Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ah, and this was why I posted a thread on my own about my issue with batteries. I read this guide and several other websites where people were saying it's bad to keep the charger in and where people say you should unplug the charger.

    Being that I have an Asus Zenbook, I can't remove the battery. So the battery degrades anyway even if I don't use it. But does leaving the charger in, make it degrade faster?

    Is it better to leave the charger in at 100% and just use it without the charger when needed, OR is it better to unplug at 100%, let it drain and then charge it again?

    And I read there's an option for some laptops that you can you disable battery charging in BIOs. I couldn't find that option for myself.
     
  18. HopelesslyFaithful

    HopelesslyFaithful Notebook Virtuoso

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    as i said before...don't listen to people that tell you to unplug it at 100%...that is terrible for the battery because your forcing the battery to cause unnecessary wear. plus its extremely inconvenient.
     
  19. JOSEA

    JOSEA NONE

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    1. No, it will stop charging when capacity is reached.
    2. You should drain it once in a while from what I have read.
    3. I have not read of any ASUS with that feature.
     
  20. Ferrari353

    Ferrari353 Notebook Evangelist

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    Are there any programs that counts my charge cycles and tells me when it's time to do a calibration?
     
  21. Gandalf_The_Grey

    Gandalf_The_Grey Notebook Evangelist

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  22. Maikky

    Maikky Notebook Consultant

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    I've also read somethings where battery stop charging at X capacity, but I've also read that the bat when plugged in will keep using some of the bat power and constantly charge to capacity . Do most laptops only run on ONLY AC power then plugged in ? or do they use some of the battery ?

    If so, is there anyway to shut off battery charging when AC is plugged in ?
     
  23. Moron Majorca

    Moron Majorca Newbie

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    hey man thank you very much for this value info u are battery pro :)...this information about battery isnt written in my laptob manual...thx very much
     
  24. SixAndNine

    SixAndNine Newbie

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    Interesting, thanks for the guide.
     
  25. PoppyM

    PoppyM Notebook Enthusiast

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    Has anyone else heard that to prolong the battery life on your laptop you should remove the battery from the laptop when it's plugged into AC? I always thought that so whenever it charged to full power I'd remove it and use the laptop without the battery.
    But somebody else has told me that it's actually worse for the laptop if you do that. Does anybody have some advice? Any info would be very much appreciated :)
     
  26. Jarhead

    Jarhead 恋の♡アカサタナ

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    The laptop itself doesn't care what you use or what you do, concerning that issue. Just so long as you don't cut power to it in the middle of operations, that is.
     
  27. PoppyM

    PoppyM Notebook Enthusiast

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    What about the battery though? i heard it lasts a lot longer if it's taken out
     
  28. Jarhead

    Jarhead 恋の♡アカサタナ

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    Possibly, though I never bother with taking mine out. I still get about 6 hours on a charge two years and a few months later (original charge was about 8 hours). This is with the battery plugged in while using AC about... 90% of the time of ownership?
     
  29. PoppyM

    PoppyM Notebook Enthusiast

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    Cool, thanks for the info! :)
     
  30. giorginho7

    giorginho7 Notebook Enthusiast

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    PoppyM it isn't bad to remove the battery from the laptop, in fact it's better than to leave it on all the time BUT DO NOT REMOVE the battery fully charged! This would in fact be bad!

    I would like to ask everyone who hasn't to take a look at the guide on the very first page of this thread here. This is where all the answers to questions such as PoppyM's are, and thanks to Gandalf's suggestion, you can now see where those 'answers' got me after 5 whole years of using my laptop while trying to preserve my battery's health! ->
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...te-data-battery-life-usage-3.html#post9347663
     
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