Laptop battery Lifespans

Nate · 21 Aug 2006 at 12:11

Basically i need a new laptop battery for my alienware laptop, i found i place that sells them but im just wondering what the lifespan is like. It is a LI-ION battery when does their life span start? When they are made? When they are first charged?

Just wondered if anyone had any insight into this?

Massive Attack · 21 Aug 2006 at 12:15

NaTe said:
Basically i need a new laptop battery for my alienware laptop, i found i place that sells them but im just wondering what the lifespan is like. It is a LI-ION battery when does their life span start? When they are made? When they are first charged?

Just wondered if anyone had any insight into this?

1000 charges/discharges is the usual lifespan of most LI-ION battries

Teal · 21 Aug 2006 at 12:19

The lifespan starts from when they are made unlike NiMH and NiCAD so it is better not to buy a spare and just leave it around unused.

'A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life span is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles. This drawback is not widely publicized.

At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the time at 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit, will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. However a battery stored inside a poorly ventilated laptop, may be subject to a prolonged exposure to much higher temperatures than 25 °C, which will significantly shorten its life. The capacity loss begins from the time the battery was manufactured, and occurs even when the battery is unused. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C/32 °F, 20% at 25 °C/77 °F, and 35% at 40 °C/104 °F. When stored at 40% charge level, these figures are reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery

Nate · 21 Aug 2006 at 12:56

so it is best to just store it somewhere cool at 40% charge when i dont need to use it?

Teal · 21 Aug 2006 at 13:04

Personally I don't keep a spare battery and just use the one until the capacity drops too low to be useful.

If you are buying a new one though do see if you can check how long ago it was made if you are buying from somehwere that may have had them in stock for a while.

Nate · 21 Aug 2006 at 13:09

im not going to have it as a spare it will be the main one. Ill have to try and find out when they were made. I enquired about them and they said

We do stock the battery that you need. We give a years warranty on all our products. We cannot give you a lifespan on that battery because it really depends on its use. We have no idea what the usage of the battery would be and therefore cannot begin to assume how long it will last. We do certainly expect it to last more than 1 year.