Does keeping your laptop charger plugged in affect the battery life?

[darden]

I've noticed with a lot of newer laptops, they're smart enough to stop charging the battery once it's reached 100%

I leave my laptop plugged in all the time, and the battery tends to fluctuate between 96% - 100%

 

[Orlandude]

I leave mine plugged in all the time and it has never affected the battery or how long the battery stays charged.

 

[lambdaboy]

The one thing you must or should never do is unplug and allow it to go down to about 13% charged. If you do go on line there is something you do where the battery shows in devices and you can bring a new battery back up to charging.

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I should say just google my laptop battery wont charge you will find it.

 

[Alnitak]

Hot batteries at 100% is the fastest way to kill a battery.

Batteries last longest at cool temperatures and around a 40% charge.

I admit to carelessness with my laptop battery. At three years old, it lasts just over an hour depending on screen brightness.

 

[palbert]

From my experience (HP Pavilion dv6), no.

 

[star-warrior]

I ruined the battery of my first laptop computer (bought 2001) by having it plugged in nearly24/7. After a while, I could only get about half an hour usage before it needed recharging.

It's best to disconnect the power cable and run it on its battery until it discharges naturally to say around 10-15%, before reconnecting to recharge. If you do this regularly, it'll maintain battery life and maintain a long off mains usage.

 

[trawler69]

In the old days of Nicad batteries and constant current charging, leaving the charger connected all the time could easily shorten the life of the battery. With the new Lithium ion / polymer batteries the charging regime has to be much better controlled using a constant voltage with current limiting. The built in charging circuits are quite clever and the batteries themselves have over and under charge protection. Experience shows that these batteries do like a bit of "exercise" from time to time but that they are quite happy with shallow cycling ie. not a full discharge as used to be recommended for Nicads. I compromise by leaving the laptop plugged in generally when I am using it, but un plugging when not using and fully charged and sometimes using it a bit on just the battery before plugging it in. I have 2 laptops, one is 4 years old and the battery is showing that it still retains 90% of its original capacity, the other is 2 years old and is showing 98% of original capacity. In my work I deal with re-chargable batteries / cells of several different chemistries and capacities in a variety of different usage styles.

 

[cgymike]

I don't think it does but you could remove the battery when you are plugged in. But if you get a power cut your machine will die instantly. But it makes sense the battery would not be connected to the power supply at 100%. I may be wrong of course.
the bigger issue maybe laptop batteries in general. They are only expected to last a few years I think.

 

[dozyk74]

I think it does reduce the available time the battery can last but it takes years to have an effect. I am using a 6-year old laptop with the same battery and it's always plugged in. The other day I removed the plug from the socket, thinking it was for another device and didn't even notice until I saw the battery icon on the taskbar. I had been using it for about 3 hours at that point. Which is almost as good as it has ever been with this laptop.

 

[palbert]

I've noticed with a lot of newer laptops, they're smart enough to stop charging the battery once it's reached 100%

I leave my laptop plugged in all the time, and the battery tends to fluctuate between 96% - 100%

^^ This.

But I intentionally do run it down occasionally.

 

[Alnitak]

I've noticed with a lot of newer laptops, they're smart enough to stop charging the battery once it's reached 100%

I leave my laptop plugged in all the time, and the battery tends to fluctuate between 96% - 100%

Your laptop's temperature likely fluctuates throughout the day through a considerable range. Temperature affects battery efficiency.