With or without battery when plugged in?

I just got my new NP8170 and it seems that Sager doesn't have a power management software that allow you to disable battery charging when plugged in or battery exceeds certain level.

Of course, I can always just take out the battery to avoid charging. But then I don't have the benefit of using it as an UPS...

Any suggestion?

 

I'd actually like to know about this. I posted earlier back but no one has any knowledge on this. I pulled my battery out and it seems to be fine, but theres a huge gaping hole in the corner of my notebook and I'm sometimes worried it'll tip over... although it hasn't... yet.

 

^ lol. I wanna know that too.

 

I am not surprised that ppl asked this before... many manufacture now days has a function in the power management for this purpose. Alienware even has a dedicated hot key to turn charge on and off.

 

I thought the battery doesn't charge once it is 100% right? I dunno, that's what I read from this site: BatteryCare - Proper laptop battery usage guide

 

You are correct. The battery will stop charging once reach 100%.

However, a fully charged battery will continue to release power when laptop is off or even disconnected, just not as fast as you are using it. As a result, a installed battery in a plugged laptop gets tickle charged a lot more often then you expected (99%->100% and repeat), which greatly reduce the overall life life expectancy of the battery.

To prolong the life of their battery, many laptop manufacture implemented a manual charging disable function into their power management software. So user who always use their laptop with AC plugged can benefit. I guess this is not the case with Sager notebooks.

 

Too bad that button doesn't work and the user has to turn that option on manually in the BIOS...

 

Ahh, so what you mean is that there is usually some kind of software that allows the user to stop the charging once the battery is at a certain percentage so that the cycles don't get used up as quickly (which will kill the battery faster) right?

 

also interested in this

 

I wish there was a solution to this too. For now, I discharge to 55% and take out the battery.

 

Somebody needs to make a dummy battery or just a cover to replace the battery when using as desktop.

 

Yea Where Can I Buy One Of Those

 

Again alienware has this but the notebooks buttons useless because the Fn+(whatever it was or is) doesnt work. Instead of doing that the user has to manually go into the BIOS and disable charging, EVEN then if the user plugged the charger out and back in they would have to go into the BIOS Again.

Would love to make a cover simply to balance out the notebook... Although it is pretty balanced don't want dust or stuff getting in there...

 

nothing wrong with using a laptop that is plugged in with a fully charged battery. The charging stops when the cell is fully charged and if laptop is plugged in then you're using the wall current and not the battery.

Batterys and their charging have improved in the last few years and the lithium ion cells you have now don't build up a "memory" like the older generations did. What you DON'T want to do is drain a battery. It has a protection circuit that disables the cell if it's drained and some makes of batteries won't "boot" back up when current is supplied.

Best practice is to use your laptop battery like how you think it should be used. Charge the battery full. when using battery never allow it to drain below 25-30% without charging it back up. If you're at a power source just plug it in...it will charge until full and stop by itself. If left plugged into wall the charging is disabled if full and current is being supplied by power cord.

If you find a need to store your battery for long term, drain it to 40%, remove it and put it into a ziplock bag and put in your refrigerator. If your laptop is actually a desk top replacement and you don't foresee the need of using the battery then long term storage is best option.

It's not a problem keeping a battery in the laptop while plugged in. The number one killer of this generation lithiums is HEAT!

 

false.. Unless you have something to prove me wrong... The notebook battery control you talk of are controlled by programs or hardware's, and only few companies have that. Apple is a company I know that does that and they allow the batteries to be held at 100% and switch over to plug for main battery, but with most notebooks and I'm sure with sager notebooks they continuously go from 99% to back up to 100%, this causes the cycles on the battery to ware down causing their battery life to drain down.

The only way to stop this is to take the battery pack out and use the notebook through the AC adapter... And even then the battery should be stored in a cool place with (what was it? not totally sure) around 45~55% battery charge.

 

I don't know which version or model you are referring to, but my m17x r1's (one of the earliest batch May, 2009) FN battery disable works perfectly fine. Well, some report a nvidia DLP issue on this model, which is also nonexsistence on my machine.

 

True that. Sony Vaio Z does it too for the brief time I have it. Under Sony's battery care software, the user can manually set the battery life to a certain percentage that the AC adaptor stops charging at, so I would manually set it to 90% or so. Li-Ion batteries don't take too well being stored at 100% charge capacity all the time.

40-55% is spot on in prolonging the battery's life, but no matter what, even in the best environment the battery will still deteriorate overtime that you will have to replace it in approximately 2 years anyway.

So basically without all that unnecessary hassle of having to care for the battery, just use the battery as you see fit and avoid the extremes. When a battery replacement is due after 2 years your laptop is probably obsolete as well.

 

Ah I shouldn't have made such a broad and general accusation but the m11x and m15x I've had didn't function as well as yours. Especially the m11x, and if you go on the m11x section of the forum I don't think anyone got their battery disable to work.

Wow Sony had such a program? That's actually awesome in my books. Disabling is one thing but to manage it at certain percentages?

 

I would definitely buy a dummy battery since I never use my 8130 without it being plugged in. It would also offer a nice savings in weight. Anyone on the forums have the resources to create a dummy battery?

 

^+1 to this for the NP5165

 

Yea Sony sure does! Here's a little (literally ) screenshot for you:

http://digitalpbk.com/files/imageca.../sony-vaio-battery-care-advanced-settings.png

 

Now if sager could take that and make the same mod for us...

 

It is not going to happen Sager / Clevo doesn't even support switchable graphic on capable models. What make you think they will put extra work toward this nefty feature?

"Innovation+Invention" and Clevo / Sager just don't add up in my brain Heck... they can't even come up with a lighted keyboard or at least a full size keyboard on the 17" (not using keyboard part form 15").

Don't get me wrong, I am not angry at them for being cheap and lazy... I want a cheap & powerful solution and that is why I went with Clevo & Sager.

 

any additional information on this?

 

What do you mean? Clevo is not going to have any smart batteries or battery care software. I imagine it is very low on their list of priorities and we won't see it for 1 or 2 years if ever at all.

I just take care of it myself. Take out the battery and leave it at 55% charge most of the week unless I know I am going to need a full charge ahead of time.