Constant power

I have two dells that have been running for about 7 months with only reboots for certain updates, they are still going strong.

Has anybody had any problems with leaving their Laptop powered up constantly? Specifically, any experience with the 8170.

 

wow tough dells u got there ive only gone up to 2 days on ac adapter no serious issues.

 

My old Clevo M570U runs since 6 years now without a hickup, and let´s say a third of that 24\7

...though i was forced to re-build it myself out of 2 broken systems (my original M570A and a smashed M570U from ebay...even had to solder a few chips back in...argh)
The official Clevo service Center Europe had failed in 5 attempts to get my original "DOA purchase" repaired.
It simply failed again after a few weeks...or was even send back dead with a "motherboard replaced" sticker...too bad that the motherboard already looked like someone was trained how to solder it himself out of spare parts... :-(

 

PCs specifically are meant to run 24/7 laptops shouldn't be too far behind. As long as the environment is dust free and heat is a non-issue then there's no "real" harm to having a PC/laptop running 24/7.

 

My T43P have been running for 24/7 for almost 4 years now, and it is only within the last month I can hear the fan making more noise than before.

 

You're more likely to run more stable 24/7 than intermittant power up/power down. Turning on and off machines is tougher on them (and specifically capacitors). That's why you can run a server for 4 years plus, then not have it work on reboot - it's never been power cycled, so the hardware just fails to come back up if it's failed.

I'd imagine you'd have fewer problems running the machine 24/7 as long as you kept it dust free and on a reliable power supply.

 

Just a thought ... for a laptop ... if you were going to leave it on 24/7 would it be beneficial to pull the battery first, and just leave the AC power plugged in? I would think leaving the battery in would degrade it quite quickly.

Just curious as I have my old Lenovo Y560 running 24/7 downloading away. I've left the battery in ... as the laptop as a whole is an utter piece of crap, and I'm just waiting for it to die.

 

With modern laptops/batteries, there is no need to remove the battery. And the battery works as a built-in UPS, making leaving it in a good idea.

 

You are the first person I've seen, actually say that. Congrats. People overlook the fact that these batteries are made so there is no need to remove them to save power. Those days are gone.

 

Cool ... Thanks for the info!

 

I have never pulled the battery from a modern laptop while using it.

 

Is the battery comment a proven fact?
I recently had to replace a battery at work on a notebook (Dell) that was plugged in for 3 years. When I unplug and take to meetings, it would run out in 15 mins idle, which was ridiculous.

I've read somewhere you should fully charge/discharge every month as maintenance.

Also, as for leaving it on 24/7 - is there any issues of fire hazard from sparks or heat?

 

If it was 3 years old that is possible to be normal.

A battery is only rated to last 2-4 years... YES some can go longer but the average is 2-4 years.

 

If the battery was 3 years old, it's most likely just at the end of it's lifespan. Most batteries only last about that long on average, so dying around then is not uncommon regardless of how you used it.

There aren't any reasons leaving on 24/7 would make it a fire hazard. It would be silly to make a machine that works fine for 8-10 hours of usage, but can catch fire randomly when in use for a day or two.

 

Just make sure you remove the battery.

My netbook has been running constantly for the past 2 years, however, the pin (Where the AC connects to provide power) failed after 2 years. It somehow melted a little. I was told that this was because of the battery.

So leave the battery out and you're good to go. Just make sure it doesn't get too hot and clean the inside once a while if you can, to avoid excess heat.

 

Well here is the down fall to leaving a battery in the laptop once it goes bad. (but just leaving it in itself is no different, either way it will go bad in 2-4 years, used or not.) Just keep the below in mind once it does go bad.

It CAN kill the onboard inverter or charging circuit SOMETIMES. This is because at some point the battery will dip to a point of no return, to almost death and the laptop will try to keep charging it though the battery wont hold it. It just depends what goes bad on the battery really.

If the battery is able to report that its new max level is X and laptop understand it once that low level is charged it stops charging saying its 100% (of the new max level), but I have worked on laptops of all brands, that the battery was bad and couldn't report anything anymore and the laptop kept trying to charge it always. This wont cause a fire but I have seen some minor melting of things, have had it mess with touchpads and mouses jumping all over on they own (prob from something with the bus) and a new battery simply solved it so long as the inverter or charging portion had no been killed already.

These should be rare but can happen.

If you really have no need for the battery than take it out when its about 70% charged and store it in a dry cool place. Maybe once every few months cycle it so it does not go to low as dead battery being stored is bad also.

 

Just thought I would add what the manual says:

Battery Life
Battery life may be shortened through improper maintenance. To optimize the life and improve its performance, fully discharge and recharge the battery at least once every 30 days.

We recommend that you do not remove the battery yourself. If you do need to remove the battery for any reason (e.g. long term storage) see Removing the Battery” on page 6 - 3.

New Battery
Always completely discharge, then fully charge, a new battery (see “Battery FAQ” on page 3 - 14 for instructions on how to do this).

So that should cover most things, like I said though, keep in mind once the battery is bad, its not good to leave it on the system anymore at that point. Ideally it would be replaced but if not at that point run without it to avoid other issue

 

I am hearing some potentially conflicting messages here...

As I've mentioned, my knowledge (from the manual & general reading) is that the life of the battery can be "improved" or "extended" through proper maintenance via charge/discharge cycles and NOT pluggin it in 24/7.

On the other hand, I am reading that batteries go bad in 3-4 years regardless since that is the life of the battery.

So, in short, should I bother with the battery maintenance or the heck with it since it'll die no matter what I do?
Has there been any evidence that by obsessively maintaining the battery we can squeeze 5-7 useful years out of it?

 

In short, with modern laptops and modern lithium ion batteries, conducting battery maintenance is really nothing but a waste of time. The maintenance methods the majority of people talk about worked for older battery types, but provide no real benefit to modern laptop batteries. The batteries are engineered to be used 24/7 in a laptop, and as such, battery maintenance is far more trouble than it's worth, for a very small benefit.

The battery is going to wear out and die, no matter what kind of maintenance, or lack thereof, that you conduct.

 

Maint is always better. Yes battery dies anyway but maybe without maint it dies in 2 years and with it dies in 4 years... Not everything is made perfect or a like. If manufacture says it helps I say do it...