recharging a li ion battery

iamskippy

How low should one let a li ion battery go in a laptop before recharging. I have seen 50% on one site. Any advice on this is welcome as there seem to be differing views. Some say let is discharge completely before recharging.

Thanks

biko

I let it drain completely occasionally.
Some info here www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

iamskippy

You must be psychic i was on that page and going to link it here.;)

I always thought the reason i ruined my last battery was because i would leave it in laptop when on power or change to power shortly after booting. Apparently it is the heat that cause the most problem. i will be removing the new one when on power

Voodu Child

iamskippy wrote: »

How low should one let a li ion battery go in a laptop before recharging. I have seen 50% on one site. Any advice on this is welcome as there seem to be differing views. Some say let is discharge completely before recharging.

Thanks

Only let it drain as much as necessary (ie for as long as you need to use the laptop unplugged). As soon as a mains socket is available, use that. No sense using the battery if you are sitting beside a mains socket.

The reason for this is that the primary factor that degrades lithium-ion batteries is use. Just normal charge/discharge cycles - every time you recharge it the battery loses a little capacity, and a full recharge (from empty) is twice as damaging as half a recharge.

You should give it a full discharge every now and then (if you're not doing it normally) to calibrate the battery meter.

Apparently it is the heat that cause the most problem.

Heat is a secondary factor (and there are others - age etc) but charge cycles is the main cause of capacity loss.