Laptop battery advice
Discussion
Had my laptop over 2 years now and the battery now has no charge in it, doesnt last 5 minutes without the power supply.
I'm assuming I have not treated it properly to last such a short life?
Its always plugged into the mains so always on charge, its very rare that even when it was working at its optimum it was off the power supply, is that what has done it?
TIA
I'm assuming I have not treated it properly to last such a short life?
Its always plugged into the mains so always on charge, its very rare that even when it was working at its optimum it was off the power supply, is that what has done it?
TIA
Batteries in laptops don't seem to last very long at all these days. Strange really... I have some Dell and Sony laptops here that are only a couple of years old (or newer), and most of the batteries are next to useless now. However I also have a couple of 10 year old Dell laptops and they still run for 1.5 hours on their original battery.
Anyway, the cause of depleting a batteries life is due to heat. The following link can explain it better than I possibly could. Its a little long, but well worth a read. I can't remember if I found thae article in Google, or if someone else here supplied it at one time. Either way, it seems that if you're not using your laptop battery, charge it to around 40%, remove it from the laptop and keep it somewhere really cool.
www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
Anyway, the cause of depleting a batteries life is due to heat. The following link can explain it better than I possibly could. Its a little long, but well worth a read. I can't remember if I found thae article in Google, or if someone else here supplied it at one time. Either way, it seems that if you're not using your laptop battery, charge it to around 40%, remove it from the laptop and keep it somewhere really cool.
www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
I think it's time for a new battery to be honest.
What brand of laptop is it?
When you get your new battery, the following tips might help you. These are the top tips that my Lenovo ThinkPad gives me ....
Tips for Maximizing Your Battery Life
Your ThinkPad battery is a "Consumable" product that decreases in performance over time. However, there are several things that you can do to improve the performance and life of your battery.
Here are some tips to help maximize your battery life:
1. If your battery is left out of the system for a long period of time without charging, or if the system is not plugged in for several months, it will take longer to charge.
2. Make sure that you are using the correct AC adapter for your ThinkPad model. Using the incorrect adapter will prevent the battery from charging fully, and will cause the battery meter to display incorrect battery information.
3. Recondition your battery by letting your battery run to less than 3% at least once a month. Reconditioning the battery can restore some of your battery capacity.
4. If you primarily use your computer with the AC adapter attached and only infrequently use battery power, you can increase the lifespan of the battery by changing the charge thresholds.
5. When the computer uses a large amount of electricity from the battery (for example, for intensive calculations or high-end graphics applications), the temperature of the battery and the computer may rise. In this case, the battery might automatically stop charging to so that the battery operates at a level that ensures comfortable usage and normal battery life. If the battery has stopped charging, it might not start charging immediately when you plug in the AC adapter or it may take more time to completely charge. When the battery is restored to its normal temperature, the battery will start to recharge.
6. Do not place your battery or your ThinkPad in a high temperature environment, such as a car on a hot day.
7. Battery performance will be temporarily degraded if the battery is used in a cold environment.
8. When you store your battery outside of your ThinkPad Computer, store it with a charge of less than 50% to reduce the battery wear.
9. Use Battery MaxiMiser to select the best extended power scheme for how you use your ThinkPad computer.
>> Edited by Kinky on Saturday 3rd December 09:42
What brand of laptop is it?
When you get your new battery, the following tips might help you. These are the top tips that my Lenovo ThinkPad gives me ....
Tips for Maximizing Your Battery Life
Your ThinkPad battery is a "Consumable" product that decreases in performance over time. However, there are several things that you can do to improve the performance and life of your battery.
Here are some tips to help maximize your battery life:
1. If your battery is left out of the system for a long period of time without charging, or if the system is not plugged in for several months, it will take longer to charge.
2. Make sure that you are using the correct AC adapter for your ThinkPad model. Using the incorrect adapter will prevent the battery from charging fully, and will cause the battery meter to display incorrect battery information.
3. Recondition your battery by letting your battery run to less than 3% at least once a month. Reconditioning the battery can restore some of your battery capacity.
4. If you primarily use your computer with the AC adapter attached and only infrequently use battery power, you can increase the lifespan of the battery by changing the charge thresholds.
5. When the computer uses a large amount of electricity from the battery (for example, for intensive calculations or high-end graphics applications), the temperature of the battery and the computer may rise. In this case, the battery might automatically stop charging to so that the battery operates at a level that ensures comfortable usage and normal battery life. If the battery has stopped charging, it might not start charging immediately when you plug in the AC adapter or it may take more time to completely charge. When the battery is restored to its normal temperature, the battery will start to recharge.
6. Do not place your battery or your ThinkPad in a high temperature environment, such as a car on a hot day.
7. Battery performance will be temporarily degraded if the battery is used in a cold environment.
8. When you store your battery outside of your ThinkPad Computer, store it with a charge of less than 50% to reduce the battery wear.
9. Use Battery MaxiMiser to select the best extended power scheme for how you use your ThinkPad computer.
>> Edited by Kinky on Saturday 3rd December 09:42
Kinky said:
4. If you primarily use your computer with the AC adapter attached and only infrequently use battery power, you can increase the lifespan of the battery by changing the charge thresholds.
Round these parts it seems quite often that the ones that fail first are the ones that never get used on batteries at all, just AC all the time then one day they try the battery and get two things, one of which is Jack.
One word will explain the short lifespan of modern batteries: LiOn.
They deliver one hell of a charge for hours but they do have a lot of flaws (10% max capacity loss every year or so, sometimes sooner being one I've heard about). However they are as touch as old boots and a lot of the old NiCad care stuff won't do any harm to them (probably won't do any good either but).
IBM have been using the same slimline rear mounted battery pack for ages (we could swap out batteries out with something as old as an X22 if we wanted) so you should have no issues find a new battery from IBM/Lenovo themselves, or hunt on ebay/google for someone selling them straight from the factory.
They deliver one hell of a charge for hours but they do have a lot of flaws (10% max capacity loss every year or so, sometimes sooner being one I've heard about). However they are as touch as old boots and a lot of the old NiCad care stuff won't do any harm to them (probably won't do any good either but).
IBM have been using the same slimline rear mounted battery pack for ages (we could swap out batteries out with something as old as an X22 if we wanted) so you should have no issues find a new battery from IBM/Lenovo themselves, or hunt on ebay/google for someone selling them straight from the factory.
From what I understand about laptop batteries, a battery's life is measured on charging cycles. When on mains, as the battery reaches full charge, the charge cycle cuts out, but as the power level drops by just a few percent (which it will do even when on mains), it kicks in again. So when on mains you are continually performing many recharging cycles hence shortening the battery life dramatically. Over time this will also effect capacity. Batteries do need to be regularly run down to maintain maximum capacity - they call it conditioning. If a battery is going to be out of a laptop for a period of time it's best to remove it when about 50% charged.
Hope this helps.
Roy
Hope this helps.
Roy
roy the boy said:True
From what I understand about laptop batteries, a battery's life is measured on charging cycles.
roy the boy said:
When on mains, as the battery reaches full charge, the charge cycle cuts out, but as the power level drops by just a few percent (which it will do even when on mains), it kicks in again. So when on mains you are continually performing many recharging cycles hence shortening the battery life dramatically.
Wrong for LiOn. You get far more cycles (10's to 100's) if you don't totally discharge the cell. The rated charge cycle number is the number of full charge/discharges.
roy the boy said:
Over time this will also effect capacity. Batteries do need to be regularly run down to maintain maximum capacity - they call it conditioning.
You can't condition LiOn's
roy the boy said:
If a battery is going to be out of a laptop for a period of time it's best to remove it when about 50% charged.
True. Also it's best to recharge at aronud that point to get the best life out of them.
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