Removing battery make it last longer?

[WatchTower]

I read somewhere that a laptop battery lasts about two years. Would removing the battery and connecting straight to the mains while at home make the battery last longer? I don't know if not using the battery will have any negative effects on the battery if not used for long periods of time.

 

[TheVoice]

If you're using it connected to the mains a lot, it's best to remove the battery, as this reduces wear and tear quite significantly. I always did this on my Dell 630m and when it came to selling it at 20 months old, the battery was still absolutely fine.

 

[Bigsy]

All laptop batteries have their own under/overvolt protection circuitry, if the cells are charged they're charged - having it plugged in will make no difference as the protection circuit isolates the cells. In addition to that, lithium cells have virtually no self discharge so once charged they stay charged, they don't gradually drop below the cutoff and charge again (repeating the cycle).

The above means that the cells don't really go through any charge cycle, thus not introducing wear.

However, capacity does suffer slightly with lithium cells when being fully charged, but this effect is quite insignificant imo, the quality of the actual battery completely over shadows this effect. For example my work sony laptop battery was still going strong when I left and that was over 5 years old and that was plugged in at my desk 95% of the time, where as my home cheapo acer laptop battery made it just over 1 year being treated much better.

I would say not to worry about it, unless you know your not going to need the battery for an extended period of time (like +6 months) then it is best to take it out but make sure you are storing it at around 50% charge.

 

[fini]

I thought laptop batteries trickle charged when plugged in - i.e. the battery powers the laptop with the power charging the battery as needed. I heard that this constant use/charge cycling diminishes the life of the battery.

 

[jimmy29]

The battery will degrade as it gets heat cycled by the laptop going on/off. Taking it out will save it, if you are that bothered then put it in the fridge when you take it out

 

[Aod]

I thought laptop batteries trickle charged when plugged in - i.e. the battery powers the laptop with the power charging the battery as needed. I heard that this constant use/charge cycling diminishes the life of the battery.

it might have done 5 years ago, but laptops are packed to the brim with usefull little electronic gizmo's that tell themselves when to cut the battery off the juice.

 

[TheVoice]

it might have done 5 years ago, but laptops are packed to the brim with usefull little electronic gizmo's that tell themselves when to cut the battery off the juice.

But batteries still get ruined these days by people who constantly run their laptops on the mains with no thought for battery health. Albeit often it's because people will turn off the mains power before the laptop has shut down, which means it's using the battery for a moment, which then means it has to charge it again next time it's turned on.