CF30 - Battery Charging ? ? ?

I regularly run my CF30 on battery for extended period of times.
Should wait till the battery is real low before I charge it? I usually plug in the
charger when it gets to around half power on the battery icon.
What's is the proper way to charge the battery?

 

No idea. Over the years I have read so many often contradictory recommendations (always charge to 100%, only charge to 90%, always drain completely before recharging, never drain below 10%, remove battery when charged and the computer is plugged in, removing battery is useless,...).

I followed some strict recharging regime several years ago. Maybe it prolonged the battery life for a month or two, but more often it meant the computer was not fully charged when I needed it. Nowadays I have stopped worrying, and I treat the battery as the consumable it is - I recharge it whenever I get the chance, never remove it, and the computer is always plugged in when I'm at home or at the office. A lithium-ion battery will die now matter what I do anyway. When the battery becomes too weak I'll get a new one.

 

Very well said Zakalwe

I will add that Panasonic recommends setting the temperature setting in the bios to ”high” if you leave your laptop pluged in all the time

They claim the battery will last longer

The downside of that is the battery thinks its fully charged at 80% and holds there
If you are using the laptop portable, you will have reduced runtime


Alex

 

I make it a habit to periodically run the battery until the laptop shuts down with Power Management disabled (no "forced shutdown" at X%); once or twice a month as I can remember to. This seems to ensure that Winblows keeps an accurate assessment of battery charge. Other than that, I just charge it as is convenient/necessary.

mnem
You are being charged with... failure to properly charge a rechargeable device, third degree. How do you plead?

 

Switching to HIGH in the BIOS just limits the processor to 80% capacity... Nothing more. Most of the Toughbooks I've bought from the police depts have them all set to high as they sit in cars all day. At 80% CPU capacity... They generate less heat... And run 20% slower.

If you leave your laptop plugged in all the time... Just use the battery recalibration once a month instead of the recommended 3 months... That will keep your battery in tip-top shape. It also, as Mnem says, gives you a more accurate "time remaining" for the battery.

 

Wait a minute...........Alot of contradictions going on here.

In the BIOS, and manual it says that if you set it to Auto it will automatically detect the enviroment and apply the proper setting. I have mine in Auto.

It also states that your not supposed to charge the battery more than once a day in order to prolong the battery life. That's where I am slacking for sure. I will have mine out of the dock in the car for a little bit, then stick it back in and it charges back up to full. I need to let my batteries discharge all the way down more often like what was described above.

 

Of course there is
Everyone has an opinion

Here is a quote from Panasonic

It has specified "50% or more of initial capacity can be taken out after charge electric discharge of 300 cycle."however -- as the factor which shortens the life of a battery except for a cycle-- Use under - high temperature (30 degrees C or more) low-temperature (10 degrees C or less) environment Preservation (especially under high temperature environment) in the - Full charge state - There is electric discharge at a high current rate etc.‚ and if used under severe environment for a battery‚ the life of a battery may become short earlier.

Is this any clearer now

Maybe it gets lost in the translation



ECO MODE EXTENDS THE BATTERY LIFE





Alex

 

I concur with your statement. I want to know if what TB said is true? If you set it at High, you max out your CPU at 80%?

What confuses all this is the fact that in the BIOS it says if you set it to Auto it will automatically detect your environment and charge accordingly. That is why I have always set mine to Auto. I would love to know the facts for sure.