Prolonging a laptop battery?

[Panter]

My Wife is diligently removing the power lead frm her laptop and allowing it to fully disharge before plugging it back in again to ensure she gets maximum life out of the battery.

I though though, that modern li-ion batteries didn't need that. Can she just keep it plugged in all the time?

It's a new laptop BTW

 

[CopperBrompton]

What she's doing is the quickest way to kill a li-ion battery:
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

 

[Panter]

Thanks Ben, seems it's a bit of a no win situation for laptops then, if the frequent disharges don't get it, the heat of permanently being plugged in will!

I'll see if the battery can come out on her one.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Leaving it plugged in shouldn't do it any harm at all. I've run laptops for years that are connected and running all the time they are in the office.

 

[very-near]

If you want maximum life from a battery, buy another extended life one from HK on ebay and swap it out until you need it.

My new battery cost £40 and lasts about 5 hours

 

[Blue Hills]

yep I know it's an old thread but on topic and saves a new one being started - I found this.
I have a new chromebook - has a longtime until updates expire so want to maximise the life of the battery.
As will be using it on tours a fair bit on the battery - and very impressively (weep you windows folk with hard disks) it currently shows a battery life well north of 15 hours, even 20 hours.
So when using it at home where it can be easy to plug it in, should I run it off the mains even when fully charged?
Part of the reason I ask is that I had the idea in the back of my addled head that even when plugged in some laptops may effectively be running from the battery (be kind with me if this is flannel) off the battery - laptop takes power from battery which is just kept topped up from the mains.

Also asking in case tech has changed since the original post, and the helpful link posted above no longer seems to be live.

 

[FrankCrank]

My cheapo Lenovo Ideapad is a couple of years old, and I mainly run from the mains. Sometimes, even when plugged in, it drops from 100% to 95% for a while, so I assume it has a built in battery life enhancer of some sort?

 

[HMS_Dave]

My cheapo Lenovo Ideapad is a couple of years old, and I mainly run from the mains. Sometimes, even when plugged in, it drops from 100% to 95% for a while, so I assume it has a built in battery life enhancer of some sort?

That is the battery protection circuits doing its thing. Laptop batteries while running off the mains will often stop charging and run down as far as 80% before charging again. This cycle is prolonging the batteries useful life. As a result, I'd have no worries keeping the laptop plugged in and letting the protection circuits do their thing.

 

[Blue Hills]

sounds like good advice so far - so unless anyone has a counter argument I will plug my chromebook in, sat as I am in my easy chair rather than on the road/in a pub.

I have no idea if my chromebook has any special battery conditioning process (my lenovo windoze beast did) but its diagnostics are currently showing

battery health:
100%

Cycle count
1

Current
325mA

 

[swee'pea99]

I leave mine unplugged between charges, simply because it's more convenient not to be wired. Battery life, TBH, is neither here nor there - I'm sure it'll last years, and given that I got it for less than £80, it's really not something worth bothering about.

 

[Blue Hills]

I leave mine unplugged between charges, simply because it's more convenient not to be wired. Battery life, TBH, is neither here nor there - I'm sure it'll last years, and given that I got it for less than £80, it's really not something worth bothering about.

Mm doesn't really address the question to be honest though does it?
I specifically bought this particular chromebook has it has seven years of updates ahead of it. I'd like the battery to still have a fair amount of juice at the end as i will be using it away from base a fair bit.

 

[swee'pea99]

Mm doesn't really address the question to be honest though does it?
I specifically bought this particular chromebook has it has seven years of updates ahead of it. I'd like the battery to still have a fair amount of juice at the end as i will be using it away from base a fair bit.

Fair enough.

 

[slowmotion]

I've always tended to unplug unless charging, mainly to reduce the risk of fubaring the DC power jack connector on the PCB. That can get blooming expensive.

 

[ColinJ]

I've always tended to unplug unless charging, mainly to reduce the risk of fubaring the DC power jack connector on the PCB.

I accidentally pulled my old laptop out of my hands once by treading on the cable when I stood up. It survived but easily might not have. I have a newer laptop now and am careful to arrange its power cable when using it so it is tucked safely out of harms way.

I normally use the laptop with the cable plugged in. It is a Lenovo with battery conservation mode enabled so the battery is kept safely charged to just 60% to minimise stress on it. I very rarely give it a full charge. A lot of trains now have power sockets so I wouldn't even need to use the battery when travelling.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Laptops rather than PCs are commonly issued in many offices. They have been designed to be plugged to the mains for days, months, etc. There should not be any degradation of battery life.

User manuals will advise on how to treat batteries when you first use it. Might want to read it as many of the old battery management routines are outdated.

Cold storage of battery run personal equipment however does require holding a charge of only 60% depending on vendor. Cold storage to be clear is switching it off and not using it for months on end. Not days or weeks.