How do i preserve the life of my laptop battery?

BeatriceHill · 23 May 2012 at 16:53

How do i preserve the life of my laptop battery?
I've been told conflicting information. Do I plug it in whenever possible and only rely on the battery when I have to...OR...Do I treat it like a cel phone, let the battery run out and plug it in only to charge? Both sound reasonable to me. I'm new to my laptop and don't want to ruin the battery by following bad advice.

DB_SamX · 5 Jun 2012 at 13:19

I've always gone by the second one, but regardless of that, they've always stopped charging after a couple of years (if lucky).

andy_mk3 · 5 Jun 2012 at 13:25

I treated my last laptop battery the best I could. I always took it out when fully charged and only charged it when it was low. After 2 years the battery was pretty much useless, lasted about 10 minutes.

With my Dell laptop, which is now 2 years old, I never take the battery out. It's been left on charge for days and I've never really bothered with it. And even now it still lasts nearly 2 hours.

So, it might be a difference in the quality of battery, but treating it well made it last no longer than normal.

roughavoc · 5 Jun 2012 at 14:52

Just dont let the battery get hot, that is the major killer

wmb · 5 Jun 2012 at 16:53

1) Take it out when it isn't needed - run it off the mains.
2) I don't think Li-ion batteries like deep discharge - so charge it long before it goes flat.
3) And as already said heat kills them. Make sure it is kept cool as much as possible.

MikeHunt79 · 5 Jun 2012 at 19:09

wmb said:
1) Take it out when it isn't needed - run it off the mains.
2) I don't think Li-ion batteries like deep discharge - so charge it long before it goes flat.
3) And as already said heat kills them. Make sure it is kept cool as much as possible.

pretty much this, Li-ion doesn't like going below 50% charge, so keep it charged whenever you can.

Azuse05 · 5 Jun 2012 at 21:03

Some laptops (lenovos) come with decent energy management software that can be set to charge to 45/50% (depends on the battery) to prolong it's life if you mostly use it plugged into the mains.

dtective · 6 Jun 2012 at 02:14

BeatriceHill said:
How do i preserve the life of my laptop battery?
I've been told conflicting information. Do I plug it in whenever possible and only rely on the battery when I have to...OR...Do I treat it like a cel phone, let the battery run out and plug it in only to charge? Both sound reasonable to me. I'm new to my laptop and don't want to ruin the battery by following bad advice.

- Use a laptop cooler as often as you can. It will help to dissipate the heat not only from the laptop but the battery as well.
- Charge up to 80% only! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (this option may be in your laptop's battery settings, play with the software that came with your laptop)
- When the laptop is turned off, I find it helps to take out the battery and leave it on a cool surface, i.e. my window sill (never on a rainy day, you don't want it getting wet!).

After 4 years of following some of my own advice, my laptop battery still charges up to 100% but discharges in about 30-45minutes. It's been through hell, trust me. Replacing a laptop battery can cost about £50-100, so you want to avoid that.