Posts tagged Live

by Charles Williams

Tips -(1)Long Live Your Laptop Battery!

Laptop batteries are like people–eventually and necessarily, they die. And alike people, they do not obey Moore’s Law–You can not expect the following year’s batteries to last twice as long as this year’s. Batteries engineering science might improve a bit over time (after all, there’s plenty of financial incentive for better battery), just, when interesting possibilities might pop up, do not expect major battery breakthroughs in the near future.

Though your battery will finally be die, right care your battery can put off the necessary. Here’s how to keep your laptop batteries working for as long as possible. With lucky, it could last until you need to replace that aging notebook computer (maybe with a laptop computer having a longer battery life).

I have also enclosed more tips on keeping the battery going longer between charges, so you can keep longer without AC power.

Don’t Run It Down to Empty

Squeezing every drop of juice out of a lithium ion battery (the type applied in nowadays laptop computer*) strains and breaks them. Doing these once or twice will not kill the battery, but the cumulative result of often discharging your battery will shorten its lifetime.

(On that point actually an exception to this rule–a circumstance where you had better run down the battery all the way. I will get to that later.)

The good news: You probably can not run down the battery, anyway–at least not without going to a lot of trouble to do so. Almost modern laptop computer* are designed to close down before the battery is empty.

In fact, Vista and Windows 7 go with a setting for just this purpose. To check it, click Start, type power, and choose Power selections. Click any one of the Change plan settings links, then the modify advanced power settings link. In the resulting dialog box, scroll down to and expand the Battery selection. Then expand Critical battery level. The setting will probably be about 5 percent, which is a good place to leave it.

XP has no such native setting, although your laptop computer might have a vendor-supplied tool that does the same job. Myth:  You should never recharge your batteries all the time.

There’s considerable controversy on this point, and in researching these article I interviewed experts . Just I have go down on the side of recharging all the way. The advantages of leaving home with a fully-charged battery–you can use your personal computer longer without AC power–are worth the slight risk of doing damage.
Keep It Cool

Heat can break the battery, and cut its overall life.

While you use your laptop computer,please be sure the vents are unblocked. Never work with the laptop computer on pillows or cushions. If possible, place it on a raised stand that allows for plenty of airflow.

As well, clean the vents every so often with a can of compressed air. You can buy this for a few dollars at any computer store. Be sure to follow the directions on the can, and do it only when the laptop is off.

Give It a Rest

If you will be working exclusively on AC power for a week or more, please move out the batteries first.

Otherwise, you are going to be wearing out the battery–constantly charging and discharging it–at a time when you do not want to use it at all. You’re also heating it up (see “Keep It Cool,” above).

You do not want it too empty while you take it out. An unused battery loses power over time, and you do not need all the power to drain away, so remove it when it’s at least half-charged. Never remove the battery while the computer is on, or even in standby or sleep mode; doing so will crash your system and possibly damage your hardware. Even inserting a battery into a running laptop can damage the system. So only remove or reinsert the battery when the laptop is completely off or hibernating. If you’ve never removed your laptop’s battery and don’t know how, check your documentation. (If you don’t have it, you can probably find it online.) The instructions generally involve turning the laptop upside-down and holding down a button while you slide out the battery. Myth: Refrigerate your battery. Some people recommend you store it in the refrigerator, inside a plastic bag. While you should keep a battery cool, the last thing you want is a wet battery, and condensation is a real danger in the fridge. Instead, store it in a dry place at room temperature. A filing cabinet works fine. You don’t want the battery to go too long without exercise or let it empty out entirely. If you go without the battery for more than two months, put it in the PC and use it for a few hours, then remove it again. Also, before you take the laptop on the road, reinsert the battery and let it charge for a few hours before unplugging the machine. Allow the battery time to get a full charge before you remove the AC power.

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