Taking care of Sager: remove battery?

According to this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=264311#conclusion

it says to:

Is this correct? I've never heard something like this before. I mean, I have to plug and unplug my laptop continuously??

Or...is it even possible to take out my battery and still use it? (never tried, just curious)

 

here's what I've heard:
Keep the battery at around 40% if you are not going to use it for a long time. If so, keep it somewhere cool. It's also true that you shouldn't overcharge it. If it's at 100%, just disconnect the battery and run on AC power or use the battery without the AC power.

 

If you read carefully jmoore, you'll have to do exactly that... charge and then unplug and then continue.

Just notice that the poster of the thread prefers to just leave the battery in. You'll end up having to buy a new battery within 2 years anyways. Don't be a hard-liner and just use your laptop casually, it might not be worth the headache.

 

Modern lithium-ion battery packs have built-in overcharge-discharge protection so this isn't necessary. Also, since lithium-ion doesn't have "memory" as the Ni-Cad battery does, periodic discharging is also unnecessary.
__________________

 

The battery life on these notebooks is so low, what damage can you really do by leaving it connected?

2hrs -> 1:50? Oh dear.

 

Lol my old notebook was 1:30 hrs -> 15 mins (after less than a year) bc of this I didnt mind it much tho as it was in the same position all the time and my laptop without a dummy battery looked like crap w/o a battery (front side open).

 

According to this guide the main issues with leaving the battery in the laptop while on AC power is higher temperature and loss of charge cycles (also see links to sources at the bottom of the guide). Personally I have never heard about the overcharging of lithium-ion batteries issue mentioned in your quote before, probably due to the overcharge protection wobble mentions. Unplugging and replugging the AC power every time the battery reaches 100%/50% seems like a huge hassle, and will according to the guide I linked to only cause it to lose charge cycles faster. Unfortunately I don't know which guide is right, but my research so far points to that leaving your battery connected while on AC power will not cause it to overcharge. If you want to be safe though, just unplug the battery every time you're on AC power.

 

for the np9262, it's alittle harder because it's screwed it. if it wasn't i would take it out when it is plugged in.

 

is there a software that would allow me to keep the battery charged at 40% instead of 100% when plugged in to AC?

that way I would get the best of both worlds... instead of storing it in the fridge at 40%, I would "store" it under my laptop at 40% and room temperature, but I would keep my backup power option in case i need to move my computer around or of a power failure

 

I am not making stuff up here tho if it isnt onvercharging then it must be "battery rot" from keeping it plugged on the power lol.
Keeping a battery in your laptop with the power cord in when it's at 100% will make your battery lazy.
Could be that the newer notebooks don't have this problem(sounds unlikely) and they have some anti overload thing build in, but it happened to me about a year ago.

 

Here's a pretty good "Wiki" on this subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery

 

its not about the overcharging .... its the lack of giving charge cycles if you constantly keep the system in the AC power.

some batteries are more affected than others.

a few notebooks (like Lenovo's) comes with a cool utility to automate the charge cycles when you are plugged in:


for everyone else thats plugged into AC 24/7, I recommend doing the following simple steps:
- each day, unplug the notebook while you are using it and let the battery discharge to under 40-50%
- then plug the power back in and continue what you are doing
- that's it

that will make sure your battery gets a charge cycle and will keep it healthy.

 

I have been reading about the proposed electric powered cars such as the Chevy Volt and the battery strategy they are using. One requirement for an electric vehicle is that the battery last 10 years before replacement is required. These electric cars use the same Li-ion batteries that laptops use-just a lot more of them.

In order to extend the battery life, the charge-discharge cycle is regulated so that the charge never exceeds 70% of full charge and is discharged to no less than 30% of full charge. This, they claim will extend the battery life to 10 years.

Of course the other factor that affects battery longevity is the number of charge-discharge cycles.

Electric vehicles have electronics that automatically control the max-min charge and discharge limits to within the 70-30 window. For now, to achieve this in a notebook, you have to do it manually. Someday, laptop manufacturers will follow suit and provide automatic charge-discharge regulation to extend Li-ion battery life.

 

Hey, that Lenova utility is pretty nifty. Are there any 3rd party apps like that for Sager?

 

bump... a 3rd party app would be great

 

I have been looking... those apps are very rare.

 

My 2096 came with 'Green Charger' software:



I'm a bit surprised it didn't come with your Sager?

 

W-What is this? I want this!

 

me to

where can i get this.

 

I dunno, I ordered direct from Sager around Christmas and that was one of the few things it came bundled with.

 

FOUND IT!!!

Seems that it might only work on Compal notebooks... but no harm in trying.

For XP:
http://74.212.252.103/ftp/misc/AP1_GC_XJHL90.exe

For Vista (32-bit & 64-bit):
http://74.212.252.103/ftp/misc/AP3_GC_VJHL90.exe

 

depends on the power supply itself..
in my country the power supply isnt reliable , so i prefer spoiling the battery rather than a $1600 notebook

 

Well, it doesn't really matter if it's from Sager, does it, as it's a Compal and not a Clevo?

Here are a couple that I have found from gHacks.

http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/14/notebook-hardware-control/
http://www.ghacks.net/2007/12/01/display-notebook-battery-status/

Here is another one, though I don't think you can use it to change power profiles.
Original article found here, but no link is provided.

Link is here: http://osirisdevelopment.com/BatteryBar/index.html

You could always try Acer ePower Management. However, I would assume it only works on Acer laptops. You must first install the Acer Empowering Technology Framework, as specified, before installing ePower Management. It might be more of a hassle than its worth. http://support.acer-euro.com/empowering_technology/utility.html

http://power-management1.software.informer.com/ (IBM/Lenovo's utility Energy Management pictured earlier is in the list)
It is stated that "Energy Management, designed by the notebooks manufacturer Lenovo, is a power management utility specially configured to be used on notebooks. If you try to run it on a regular desktop PC, it won’t even open. You can use it on notebooks of any brand though." However, the screenshots do not look much like that in the previous post. You may need to scour for a different/newer version for Vista if the one hosted on the site is not it.

For those Linux users. http://projects.gnome.org/gnome-power-manager/, http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/power-management-guide.xml

This is interesting. http://downloads.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=876805

 

Just a bit of a bump, and hoping that people find any of these useful. I might continue the search, but it may be unnecessary if any of them work ideally.

 

I do the best thing possible,

I physically take it out of the laptop unless I need it, its only decreased about 2-3 minutes in total battery life in about 8 months

 

Isn't there some kind of issue with laptops being damaged if you just have AC plugged in? I'm not sure.

 

OK...I'm looking for help after all of the above suggestions were found too late to save my battery (9 cell Sager 2090), which now last less than 30 minutes. Has anybody else experienced this, and if so...any suggestions on replacement sources?

 

Damn, glad i read this. I'm gonna make sure i take my battery out when i plug my laptop in lol.


Edit: actually i read another topic someone brought up, i was wondering say i game for about 5+ hours then decide to get off. If i turn the laptop off and take out cord from the wall for the night or for a couple hours would the battery be okay?

 

It should be fine. It will probably lose a little charge to keep the battery maintaining your system time and all that stuff topped off, but not really enough to notice. The next time you plug it in (assuming you unplugged it at full), you'll probably notice that it charges the battery for a few minutes to get it back up to full.

 

I used to keep my Dell plugged in 24/7 and after 1.5 years, the battery life went from 2hrs to 6min (not even exaggerating). Now I discharge my D900T about every 1-2 weeks and recharge it.

I can't remove the battery altogether because one of the feet is on the battery.

Duane

 

Oh, I know how you feel. My old Compaq R3247US was the same way as your Dell. The thing was, I tried it both ways with that one. I used to leave it plugged in 24/7 and the battery poofed after about a year. I got a new battery, discharged and recharged it every month for battery calibration... and that one went even faster. I think the problem was that the Compaq was a pretty hot little system, and also the battery technology of the time (this was the era of the "exploding battery recall", if you remember back that far) was not nearly as good. My current Gateway NX860XL (which I should be replacing soonish, probably with a W870CU ) I leave with the battery in, and plugged in most of the time, and the battery (same one I bought it with almost 3 years ago!) lasts probably about an hour and a half under light unplugged usage, compared to the 2 hours it used to get. Actual battery life seems to depend heavily on the quirks of a specific model, but I don't think doing a regular charge/discharge cycle will do much to help beyond keeping your battery level indicator in better calibration.

 

my m860tu is a year old now and the battery died a couple of weeks ago.
i used to leave it in all the time but now its been replaced its sitting on the desk now and is only plugged in when im moving about.

 

'Compaq'? You mean before the HP acquisition? Haha, that's like an antique in computer-time But I agree. I'm pretty sure battery tech has evolved heavily; or maybe my battery was just a lemon. Either way, I don't take chances anymore

Duane

 

I have been thinking about this battery stuff for a while... but on my D900F my battery is not only screwed in with 3 screws..there is a rubber foot on the battery. So when I take my battery out, the whole front right side has no support and wobbles! Either way I'm screwed for taking my battery out with AC in and with a design like the D900F it makes me wonder... is this " take the battery out " stuff really a big deal now with Li-Ion? I use battery power like for moving to another room, or for a battery backup. Otherwise, no gaming power from a battery, I don't go anywhere without my powerbrick..so as long as the battery in the end lasts long enough to act as a battery backup... I'm fine.

 

Very possible.. As Devilcm3 mentioned, some countries have problems providing "clean" current, as well as older buildings. You could get around this by buying a UPS and putting that between the laptop and the power outlet, and even some surge protectors help normalize the current coming through. I've personally lost a desktop to this, the PS got fried as it was plugged directly into the wall of a pre-war building with questionable electrical wiring.

 

"The product can't be used on this laptop."

At least that's what I got my Dell..