proper usage of a minidock

Hello!

I have a T61 and I recently bought a minidock (for the dvi).

I was wondering is there a "proper" usage of it, I mean like you have with the battery for example (plug it in (ac) when the battery is @ 20% and after x cycles let the battery go down to ~0% for longer battery life and so on).

Are there any types of "rules" that apply here?

PS: I noticed that @ the power manager > remaining battery, after a while it drops gradually from 100% > 99% > 98% and so on. This happens after several days, weeks of usage, gradually. Since I have the minidock I used the laptop attached to it (ergo plugged in to ac). I took it off one time and used it on battery when I got curious about the battery life meter thing. I used it till it reached the 20% then attached it back to the dock. it got recharged and I had the 100% for a week or so but now for example it displays 99% since the day before yesterday. I'm not worried or anything but I'd like to know if it's ok or am I the only one with this or is there something I don't know about the "proper usage" of the minidock?

Thank you in advance everybody!

 

anyone?!?!!?!?!?

 

If you've not received a response it might be due to people not understanding what you're asking.

Could you ask your question in a different way that might be easier to understand?

 

I think you are asking a battery maintenance question correct?

It is common for Li-Ion (or any rechargeable) batteries to lose a little bit of charge daily even if unused, so don't worry about it dropping from 100 to 99 to 98 etc.

If you leave your laptop plugged in most of the time, you should adjust the charge thresholds (advanced tab in power manager). If you keep a Li-Ion battery close to full charge, and especially if it gets hot (attached to a running laptop), you will lose battery capacity (it won't charge as high in the future). The generally accepted ideal for storage is around 40%.

You can try a 30-50% charge threshold. This will always keep your battery near the ideal 40% and help prolong its service life. This threshold will cause your battery to be idle if you plug it in when it is above 30%. If you plug it in when it is below 30%, your laptop will charge to 50% and stop. You can manually adjust the threshold later when you want to top off the battery for extended use away from the mains (it should take about 90 minutes to go from 40% to 95%, or 120 minutes to reach 100%). I use a 60-95% threshold on my laptop to strike a balance between battery maintenance and useable life away from power on demand.

 

what i was asking is: if i use my laptop attached to a minidock and the minidock is constantly connected to the power outlet is it ok? or is there a routine i should follow?

 

so if i use my laptop 90% of the time attached with the minidock and the minidock is always plugged into power it's ok? there are no routines concerning the usage?

 

I have a dock with T61p, my experience with this and other laptops, is that it's not worth worrying about. Maybe meticulous care of the battery would make it last... an extra few minutes per charge after several years of usage, when it's about to be replaced anyway?

For me, it's not worth constant surveillance.

 

so you don't know of any routine either. thanks!

 

Yes, the dock can always remain plugged in. That's kind of the whole point of the dock; leave it plugged into everything and then you just dock / undock the laptop.

I recommend setting up battery parameters like you would if you used the AC adapter 90% of the time -- see the thread previously referenced.

-- Lew

 

thank you