save the laptop battery

ldr

just got a new laptop, and im just wondering how do ye use your laptops batteries.
had my last laptop for 4 years, and the battery today only lasts about 20 min. never really use it, the laptop is always plugged to the mains, but the battery is always left on it.

what are your suggestions? take the battery off, while plugged to the mains?

thanks

Alanstrainor

Being honest, if your laptop holds any charge at all after 4 years it's doing well. I've been using my current battery for almost a year now and it holds 94% of it's original charge. I do use it mostly in college away from the mains, but it could have a few days plugged in too.

I wouldn't worry too much about it really. Some batteries are better than others, some will last for years and some will not. The way you treat them has a quite small effect on that.

Kxiii

If the laptop is plugged in all day I would take the battery out. As the heat from the machine and the heat of constant charging are doing the battery cells no favours.

MASTER...of the bra

Kxiii wrote: »

If the laptop is plugged in all day I would take the battery out. As the heat from the machine and the heat of constant charging are doing the battery cells no favours.

yup, If leaving plugged in, take out battery.

When your charging and it tells you it's fully charged, take off mains. Also don't use up every last bit of power, when it tells you it's down to 10% or there abouts, plug it in. The done thing use to be to use it till it turns itself off.

These are the general guide lines on mine anyway.

celtictiger32

how much would you expect to pay for a new battery (for hp probook) i use laptop in work and have no access to mains for recharging so i only get a couple of hours life.

GarRoIT

Taking the battery out will help but its debatable about how much it will actually affect battery life. With the average laptop battery the optimal time to charge is when the laptop has 30% battery left. So if you are actually using the battery power try to stop using it by 30% as the quickest way to reduce your battery life is when it has less then 30%. I have my laptop set to warn me at 30% and turn off at 10%.

Overheal

at 30% i still have about 45 minutes left in mine. seems a damn waste to charge.

The laptop is pushing 3+ years... 4 this summer actually. It still retains several hours of charge, im willing to bet at least 70% of its original capacity. I dont bother worrying about it being plugged in a lot but i do, frequently, is deplete the battery before charging it back to full. Not always intentionally, but just out of habit of use. I've tweaked my battery settings to get the most out of a charge. my warning is at 10% and my critical warning is at 7%. On most plans it hibernates at 5% which is juuust enough juice to perform a hibernation when theres ~2GB in RAM. On my regular plan though I just let it ride out by putting the laptop to sleep at that point. it occassionaly never 'survives' in sleep mode overnight, but being in sleep mode means when it loses power you arent risking hard disk complications.

The real truth i am told is that your battery has finite charge cycles. lots of them, but theyre finite. i must still have plenty of cycles to go, but there are often times when i will go through a cycle per day. I think the kept-plugged-in stuff is a myth with current battery tech anyway. Just conserve your battery power, dont use up cycles you dont need to. use power when you have it available to you.

I just watched 2 episodes of dollhouse i streamed in HD on a 15.4" screen over wi-fi, browsed boards for about half an hour, and I still have 40% of my charge left. "Age" is nothing. Batteries will deplete from use. Use them a lot in 2 years and your battery will be used up in 2 years. Use the battery less often and it will last longer, comparatively.

Nothing to overstress though. Good batteries are good. And todays batteries are smart and have their own control-chips and whatnot. They know their ****.

rickyjb

Overheal wrote: »

at 30% i still have about 45 minutes left in mine. seems a damn waste to charge.
I think the kept-plugged-in stuff is a myth with current battery tech anyway. Just conserve your battery power, dont use up cycles you dont need to. use power when you have it available to you.

I just watched 2 episodes of dollhouse i streamed in HD on a 15.4" screen over wi-fi, browsed boards for about half an hour, and I still have 40% of my charge left. "Age" is nothing. Batteries will deplete from use. Use them a lot in 2 years and your battery will be used up in 2 years. Use the battery less often and it will last longer, comparatively.

Nothing to overstress though. Good batteries are good. And todays batteries are smart and have their own control-chips and whatnot. They know their ****.

My HP pavillion laptop (17.3" top spec one) is just over a year old and the battery is completely useless already, and has been since before christmas. I've never really used it much when it's not plugged in and I was aware that if it's fully charged you should remove the battery etc. but I didn't think it would have that kind of effect, it won't even have loaded up now before it dies unless it's plugged in. Very disappointing.

So hp batts clearly don't have any intelligence and do not know their ****:pac:

Overheal

Mine is an HP battery.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=hp+12+cell+battery+dv6&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=k9v&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&biw=1920&bih=833&bav=on.2,or.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=5210372753599187678&sa=X&ei=vwZwTZKmOs2gtwexwsWFDw&ved=0CHQQ8wIwBQ#

Perhaps being on the power for very long periods of time (Weeks, months) affected your battery's life somewhat. It's healthy for them to go through a few complete cycles between depletion and full charge on a regular enough basis. Mines never more than a few days before I have it disconnected from the AC to drain it's juice.

Either way, whatever you did didn't work and whatever I did clearly has.

GarRoIT

I suppose it could also depend on how the laptop is wired. When the laptop if fully charged it can A remove the battery from the circuit or leave the power passing through the laptop. The latter I think would reduce the battery life more. I have no idea how it acutally works, just guessing and pointing out the some laptops would be different to others. Also from what I've been told Heat is a major factor in battery life.

delw

my laptop just over a year old & battery feckd,"consider changing your battery" coming up over battery icon :rolleyes:

I-Shot-Jr

rickyjb wrote: »

My HP pavillion laptop (17.3" top spec one) is just over a year old and the battery is completely useless already, and has been since before christmas. I've never really used it much when it's not plugged in and I was aware that if it's fully charged you should remove the battery etc. but I didn't think it would have that kind of effect, it won't even have loaded up now before it dies unless it's plugged in. Very disappointing.

So hp batts clearly don't have any intelligence and do not know their ****:pac:

I work with quite a few different models of computers (testing and low level maintenance) the issue with your particular machine is quite common to 17" screen laptops with high spec hardware - It seems to need more juice than their smaller counterparts. Just a casual observation I've noticed on many different brands of laptops, not just HP.

rickyjb

I-Shot-Jr wrote: »

I work with quite a few different models of computers (testing and low level maintenance) the issue with your particular machine is quite common to 17" screen laptops with high spec hardware - It seems to need more juice than their smaller counterparts. Just a casual observation I've noticed on many different brands of laptops, not just HP.

But I wouldn't mind if it just didn't last that long, the point is that it's completely useless, it even gives me an error message when it starts up telling me I should replace my battery. It obviously doesn't have the chip that tells it not to charge when it's full, which is poor for such an expensive laptop in this day and age. I don't suppose I'd have any comeback from HP? Wouldn't mind a new battery.

I-Shot-Jr

rickyjb wrote: »

But I wouldn't mind if it just didn't last that long, the point is that it's completely useless, it even gives me an error message when it starts up telling me I should replace my battery. It obviously doesn't have the chip that tells it not to charge when it's full, which is poor for such an expensive laptop in this day and age. I don't suppose I'd have any comeback from HP? Wouldn't mind a new battery.

Batteries are generally classed as consumables which makes it trickier to make a case against a manufacturer, especially after one year which tends to be the cut off point for manufacturer's guarantees. Your best bet would be to contact them directly and see what they say, if or when they say no they'll more than likely try to fob you off and encourage you to buy a new battery, you could always make the case that the battery they sold you wasn't fit for its intended purpose and you could make that case at the small claims court, ultimately it all comes down to if you're prepared to go that far. I have seen people do this and the process can be long winded.

rickyjb

I-Shot-Jr wrote: »

Batteries are generally classed as consumables which makes it trickier to make a case against a manufacturer, especially after one year which tends to be the cut off point for manufacturer's guarantees. Your best bet would be to contact them directly and see what they say, if or when they say no they'll more than likely try to fob you off and encourage you to buy a new battery, you could always make the case that the battery they sold you wasn't fit for its intended purpose and you could make that case at the small claims court, ultimately it all comes down to if you're prepared to go that far. I have seen people do this and the process can be long winded.

I absolutely wouldn't be prepared to go that far but I might ring them and "threaten" them anyway, can't hurt. New batteries are fairly pricey, 150 euros from the hp shop! To be honest it's rare I'd use it when it's not plugged in but still.

delw

I-Shot-Jr wrote: »

Batteries are generally classed as consumables which makes it trickier to make a case against a manufacturer, especially after one year which tends to be the cut off point for manufacturer's guarantees. Your best bet would be to contact them directly and see what they say, if or when they say no they'll more than likely try to fob you off and encourage you to buy a new battery, you could always make the case that the battery they sold you wasn't fit for its intended purpose and you could make that case at the small claims court, ultimately it all comes down to if you're prepared to go that far. I have seen people do this and the process can be long winded.

if you took out a warrenty when buying laptop would the warrenty not cover battery replacement?

Overheal

delw wrote: »

if you took out a warrenty when buying laptop would the warrenty not cover battery replacement?

Unless its specifically mentioned, it does not. Some warranties do, but in general this is uncommon. Toshiba/Radio Shack Warranties cover 1 fresh battery every year of the warranty. at $150 for 3 years or $220 for 2 year warranty+accidental, its actually a damn good deal.

ldr

thanks for all the replys.

i suppose if the battery is not on the laptop and constantly being charge, you`re only prolonging its life

GarRoIT

Taking the battery seems to be the best bet, even if it doesn't help it wont do any harm.

I-Shot-Jr

delw wrote: »

if you took out a warrenty when buying laptop would the warrenty not cover battery replacement?

As the poster who replied to you says unless its specifically mentioned, it tends not to be the case, many large retailers offer their own extended warranties that lack the facility to replace batteries. And others do. It comes down to finding the right combo of retailer and manufacturer.