Laptop batteries

[cazzz1975]

Is it true that in order to lengthen the life of your laptop battery, you have to unplug it if you are using the laptop off the mains ? and never have the power cable plugged in at the same time as the battery unless you are charging it?

I have never heard of this and I dont know anyone who disconnects their battery when they are using the laptop on mains power..

[ummmm]

I don't think so. I remember asking Chuck a question about batteries and I'm almost sure that he said it was fine plugged in but you should let the battery run down every now and then..

I think :-/

[cazzz1975]

a friend of mine has bought an acer laptop and apparently its in the user guide, news to me though, I doubt anyone does that, it seems so fussy

[AlBags]

Hi
Permanent trickle charging is not good for any battery. Even with 'memory-free' designs, many will not be happy giving out full capacity discharge, than if they are 'excercised' by discharging and then fully charging. That's maybe the reasoning!

[craft1948]

I've never disconnected my laptop battery.........I don't even know where it is.

[ChuckFickens]

All modern laptops have intelligent charging so they will stop charging the battery when they are full, so leaving it plugged into the power should do no harm to the battery.

Common opinion is that you should run your battery down to around 20-25% occasionally to keep it in condition though.

[AlBags]

Thinking good Ummmm xx

[cazzz1975]

thanks chuck, acer imo have made a big deal about it, typical, its probably the first time in her life she has read the user guide to a laptop and she wants to follow it to the letter :S

[gingejbee]

Agree; the best way to treat a rechargeable battery is to USE it. Occasionally it should be discharged and recharged to prevent it from "forgetting" that it is a battery.

[ummmm]

Yay...Still dementia free for the time being :-)

[AlBags]

Turning off at main switch maybe the best .. as most laptops have crap sockets on them .. which WILL break sooner or later.

[seadogg]

I thought that deep cycle charge and discharge was mandatory for nicads only Albags so useful info.

[Sqad]

Useless piece of information for you all...........I always unplug my laptop from the mains as I am scared of lightning damage.

[ummmm]

They're crap. Why are they so crap?

[Sqad]

Zippy.....I plug it back in, in the morning........unplug it at night ;-)

[seadogg]

Unlike desktops the average laptop gets a lot of physical disturbance which the power input jack plug doesn't like. similarly the connections on the power supply unit are at risk.
I always secure the leads with cable ties. As a radio ham I don't mind resoldering but prevention is best

[Sqad]

Zippy....LOL I know.

Last thing at night, I unplug my laptop from the mains.
It is unplugged all night.
First thing in the morning I plug laptop into the mains again.

[AlBags]

Electronic consumer equipment socketry is always pretty cheaply made Ummmm .. At lot of them will break after continued plug/unlplug.
If you are unlucky, they are connected to an internal board .. and this can be damaged. So the answer is use as least as possible and treat sockets carefully : )

[Dris]

lol^^

Bizarrely this came up in recent posts just as I was told I had 12% remaining -didnt have it plugged in right.
I only unplug to move rooms -we're joined at the hip :)