Laptop battery

[gustischafer]

Hey, guys! I have heard that when the laptop is plugged, it should not have the battery connected, because the battery - i don't know - like wears out or something. So should I disconnect the battery from the laptop when I have the laptop plugged? (sorry if I'm saying this wrong, I mean connected to electricity).

 

[AstareGod]

Depends on the battery, probably. Most batteries for laptops are lithium-ion. I've heard the same thing, but it probably has to do with not running the laptop on battery at all. If you only exclusively use your laptop while it is plugged in, the battery may lose performance because it remains at full charge and never depletes. Then you have to question why you have a laptop in the first place. Just unplug it and let the battery wear all the way down once in a while to keep it on its feet.

 

[Corny]

with batteries, if possible, you should always have a full charge-discharge cycle. charge the battery to full and as long as you are plugged to the ac, remove the battery. once you get off the plug, insert the battery. run the laptop on battery until it is really empty (1-3%) and then charge it until it is full again.

 

[gustischafer]

Thank you, guys, that really helped! So I guess I won't have any problem having no battery at all when my laptop is plugged in.

 

[blueyedvl]

You are better off leaving the battery in unless you plan on buying an external battery back-up. There are constant dips and spikes in your power lines, a good surge protector will protect against the spikes but can't do any thing about the dips in power. Your laptop will automatically pull the extra power from it's battery when those dips occur. If you remove that battery your preventing it from being able to do that, which could cause damage to the computers hard-drive.

 

[Atzesp]

I might also add that some new laptops come with softwares entitled to "protect" the battery. I have a Samsung, and it came with a "Battery Level Extender", which prevents the battery from getting fully loaded - it reaches only 80%, so that it doesn't fully charge.

I'm not sure if it works at all, but it is said to be done right for people who use laptops plugged in all the time. A friend of mine has a STi which came with a similar software. I'm not sure whether it really works or not, but I use it. But also, once in a while, I empty my battery.

By the way, I don't think that only because it's a laptop you are obliged to use it unplugged, only on the battery. My first laptop, for example, was bought because I wanted to get rid of that damned entangling wires! (LOL)

 

[Corny]

interesting, i don't know these. I just know some batteries that have a hardware chip that sets the loading current to a very low level once the charge nears a 100%.

never heard about the whole "power surge" story. maybe this is something about unstable american power grid? definitely not a problem here.

 

[trawler69]

If your laptop has a Li-ion battery, most these days do, avoid full cycles if possible. These batteries have a finite cycle life, say 500, but this is a complete cycle life so if you only 1/2 deplete before charging you will get 1000 charges out of it. Also modern laptops have much better battery management than older ones and are generally fine leaving the battery in all the time when on mains power.

It is the NiCads of the old days with their constant current charge regime and the supposed "memory effect" that caused the problems. Li-ion batteries have a constant voltage regime and also incorporate cell balancing circuits to ensure that the cells don't get overcharged and that all cells have an equal charge.