Should I leave my battery in while plugged in ?

I always keep my laptop plugged in even if the battery is fully charged. But I do unplug it sometimes when I only use it for internet and when I sleep. Am I slowly killing my battery for leaving it on while plugged in ?

Please help.. I'm using Dell Inspiron 1545. I don't want my battery destroyed.

 

There's a battery FAQ floating around here somewhere with all that info and more. I personally do both. On my older system I keep the battery in as it doesn't last more than an hour anyways. On my newer laptop I keep the battery out and plug it in to charge when I anticipate I'll be taking it somewhere unplugged.

 

The general consensus is to remove the battery if you're going to use the AC adapter for an extended period because it conserves the life of the battery. However, I recently did some troubleshooting with a customer whose Compal HLB2 was shutting off after two or three hours of use. We discovered that the problem only happened when the battery was out and he was running on AC power alone. We came to the conclusion that the AC power was rippling for a just a moment and it was enough to shut the laptop down cold. In cases like that, it's best to keep the battery in as a back-up power source to prevent data loss due to unexpected AC adapter failures/unpluggings.

 

Is it ok to always leave the battery on 24/7 while not plugged in ? But only plug it when battery low ?

 

You're going to use charge cycles much faster that way.

 

What are charge cycles ? Is it bad ? If so, then how do I avoid it ?

 

I have been using my laptop as a desktop replacement for the last 3yrs, I have never taken out the battery while connected with AC and had zero issues what so ever.

 

and how long is your battery life now?

 

It all depends on the quality of the battery. Some wears of quickly, some don't. But they definitely wear off, so taking it out would perserve it. I personally take it out whenever I don't need it and that's almost always as I also use NB as a desktop replacement.

Every battery has a charge cycle. When battery charge level drops somewhere between 30%-50% it looses one cycle. A battery can have from 300 to 1000 cycles. Now you can do the math.

Anyway here is a very nice guide for you to read. Notebook battery guide.

 

This.

10Char

 

I have no idea because I don't use battery at all, this is what I get in my HW monitor.

 

it wont tell you anything especially when you never use the battery.
Try to use it without AC adapter and tell us how long it can lasts

 

Actually, it does sort of tell you. The design capacity is 43.2 Wh while the current full charge capacity is 37.12 Wh. Thus, the battery is at ~86% of its original capacity -- not bad at all for something that is 3 years old.

My current laptop is 2 years old now and its battery life is very close to what it was when I bought it. I never take the battery out unless I'm cleaning the laptop and it's almost always on AC power except for a meeting that happens once every few weeks. I'm pretty sure that if you have a high quality modern (i.e. less than 3 years old) laptop, you don't need to worry about taking the battery in and out anymore -- the machine knows how to behave properly when it's left in and the effect of temperature is small.

 

what I was saying is the wear level can be incorrect especially when it's on AC adapter all the time

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91846

 

Read thru the thread before posting. It was already posted.

 

Thanks for this very useful information for people those who monitor their battery life, as for me I'll dispose the battery safely when it kicks the bucket and continue to use the AC adaptor.

 

I always wonder this, but when I put myself in a situation like the one I am about to explain, it puts me off. Here it is:
"You get home from a long day of school, plug in your laptop, take out the battery, do your thing, THEN, you start your work and are nearly done, your parents come in and nag you to hurry up because we need to visit people, so of instinct, you grab your laptop and unplug it, then you realise, WAIT, ohmygosh, I didn't put the battery back in" and there you have it. I know, I know, what about recovery in Word etc. But still, if anyone else here is like me, I hate booting my computer, I really do, it just drives me nuts! and shutting your computer like that can't be healthy either.

 

You can leave your battery in indefinitely. As long as you remain on AC power, the battery will charge once and then not charge again, even if it slowly loses charge on its own. The reported charge will still remain at 100% but don't be fooled. Li-Ion batteries cannot be trickle charged to account for slow charge loss. They also don't want to show that your battery is slowly losing charge even if you aren't using it. If you pull the battery out and pop it back in it will charge, and if you take it off AC power and put in back on it will charge back up to 100%.

 

I never take my battery out. I've also never used it more than an hour on battery, so don't really know if it lasts as long now as when it was new. But checking it with Battery Meter (I think that was the name of it), I still have 0% wear after one year. My 6 year old HP on battery still lasts about 45 minutes, but my 4 year old Toshiba only lasts about 20 minutes. I also never took the batteries out of those.

 

This is what I am told of my battery status, I'm going to see whether it's true by running my laptop on battery.

 

Well I've always been told to take the battery out if you're sitting at the kitchen table and plugged in. I'm guessing the same would apply whatever table you're sitting at.

 

I strongly believe that the advances of li-on technology has reached the point where removing the battery no longer provides all that much extended life vs. leaving it in the laptop and having a 24/7 UPS in case of power failure or whatever else.

The pros outweigh the cons of leaving the battery in. Only time I would take the battery out (and this goes for anything that uses li-on batteries) is during periods of prolonged storage.

 

Actually, a full charge cycle is when the battery has been completely discharged, and then recharged, or its equivalent. Thus, if you discharge a battery completely (this is not actually "completely", given modern batteries, unless you take some unusual steps, but let's not confuse the issue), and then recharge it, that is one full discharge/recharge cycle. If you discharge a battery to 50%, recharge it, discharge it to 50% again, and then recharge it, that is also one full discharge/recharge cycle (50% + 50% = 100%). If you discharge a battery to 75% and then recharge it to full 4 times, that is, again, one full discharge/recharge cycle.

Battery wear is _very_ uneven across notebooks, due to both design, and usage patterns. For a given temperature, it seems that probably the best sequence for extended battery life (while being used, not being stored) is one deep discharge/recharge a month for calibration/turnover (as there is some evidence that keeping a battery at full charge for extended periods also contributes to battery wear), and light/moderate usage otherwise. In the end, though, all Li-ion batteries will decay over time; this is simply an unavoidable side-effect of the technology involved. A general rule of thumb seems to be to expect about 2-3 years of life out of a battery before significant degradation for more recent batteries.

For storage, charge a battery to between 40-60% (full batteries tend to self-discharge a bit faster, and, as stated before, there is some evidence that full batteries contribute to wear), and store in a cool, dry area (people have been known to use sealed zip-lock bags and refrigerators, although that may be going a bit far). You'll probably want to check on it every once in a while (perhaps yearly) to make sure it hasn't self-discharged below safe levels.

 

lol look at Alienware's M11x battery.. Its built into the system, though removable by unscrewing it and theres a disabling power charge feature via the BIOS..

 

Great explanation. Correct too. I read somewhere all this. Guess I forgot. I was partially right at least.

 

Both of my HP laptop batteries had to be replaced because I left the battery in while it was plugged in. Word to the wise.

 

What system and after how long?

 

What HP laptop and how old. Because this shouldn't even be an issue. I had a Sony laptop for seven years. It was plugged in 95% of the time. I had to replace the battery after four years, well needed it after three. But just the nature of the beast.

It is a good idea at least once a year to fully cycle your battery from 100% to 5% (or when windows auto shuts down) to recalibrate your battery though.

 

Different manufacturers take different approaches to the battery issue, so the question of whether or not it's bad to leave the battery in depends largely on the brand.

Some laptops depend on the battery, so removing it will adversely affect performance because the AC adapter alone can't supply enough power to run the machine at full load, but on the other hand other laptops won't even charge the battery past 80%

 

When I got my dell 1505 I always left my battery in while plugged in. After a yr I lost about 65% of the full battery life. Now with my xps 1530 I take out the battery when its plugged in. I had my xps for about two yrs now and I only lost about 10%.

 

Seems odd. I have my Sager plugged in probably over 90% of the time with battery in 100%, and its seen extended periods (like months) without being unplugged. It's about 9 months old, and I use it for gaming periodically too, so it sees some increased heat. 1.3% wear only after 9 months:



Saying one laptop lost a lot of battery life and then a completely different laptop did not doesn't prove anything. You may have had a poorly built battery or charging problem. Or Dell was just using cheap components. Also, show me any user guide that recommends removing your battery if plugged in. They recommend if you're storing your laptop for an extended period, but they also recommend you charge your battery every couple of months too because sitting too long can cause issue.