[chingon7]

What is the best way to expand the life of a laptop computer? I've heard if you keep your lap top hooked up to the power cable your battery fries over time, also your DC jack craps out. So, is it best to keep your laptop hooked up to the power cable with no battery? Keep the battery in and charge it and unhook the power cable when charged? All in all I want to avoid crapping out the DC jack and battery.

[ITDave]

If you are using as a desktop all the time yes take battery out if not you charge it to the battery is full and take the battery cord out to it goes almost dead and then plug it back in (that I am doing)

[Leungwk01]

Like you've mentioned don't leave the power cable in when its at 100%.
Also in a heated environment it can decrease its battery life.

[Elvandil]

If you have NiCad, definitely don't leave it charging and be sure to "cycle" the batteries by letting them run down completely. If you recharge when they are half-full, they will "remember" that point as the empty point and only hold half the power from then on.

If you have Li or NiMH, the memory effect is not important, but they should not be charged too much. Take them off the charger when they are full.

The very best way to keep a laptop alive is to always keep it as cool as possible. Heat is the enemy of laptops and shortens their lives. If you can, get one of those commercial cooling pads to put it on while in use. Always make sure vents are clear and don't use it in bed with the blanket plugging all the holes.

[JohnWill]

Another thing that will prolong the life of the machine. Do NOT carry it around with any cables plugged in! I've had a number of machines show up where the delicate jacks for power, USB, and network connections have been broken or pulled away from the PCB because someone yanked on the cable or tripped over it. You only have to crack the case and look at the connectors used to see that they will not stand up to any abuse. There are whole websites dedicated to supplying replacement power jacks for laptops, that's how common this issue is!

When I use my laptop in the shop here, I connect the P/S to a UPS, set the machine on a laptop cooler, and I do indeed leave the battery out.

Most laptops nowadays use lithium batteries, it's been years since I saw a NiCad in a laptop. Do NOT deep cycle lithium batteries regularly they don't do well with that abuse! Lithium batteries don't have any memory effect, it's best to keep them fully charged. I routinely plug the machine in with it off to simply top off the battery. It is permissible to fully dischage a lithium battery perhaps every few months until the machine shuts off. This discharge/charge cycle allows the power monitoring circuit to calibrate the amount of charge in the battery. Usually, this procedure is detailed in your user's manual.

Finally, I store my laptops with the batteries removed, because the trickle draw of the laptop will run them down in a few weeks, and sometimes the machine doesn't get out for some time if I'm not traveling. If I suddenly pull it out of the closet and want to take it somewhere, I like to know that I have a charged battery.

[Elvandil]

"it's been years since I saw a NiCad in a laptop"

That shows how old some of the ones I have kicking around here are.

Some laptop manufacturers also have battery calibration programs available for download.

So, basically we are saying, charge the battery but then don't keep it on the charger forever afterward.

[JohnWill]

Yep, I don't recommend keeping the battery in all the time. It's not supposed to hurt a modern laptop, but I'm not sure I believe that.

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

Yep, I don't recommend keeping the battery in all the time. It's not supposed to hurt a modern laptop, but I'm not sure I believe that.

Same here. They claim to have chargers that reduce to a "trickle" when the battery is charged, but it has always seemed to me that the people who have batteries fail are the ones who keep it plugged in all the time. I know my own seem to last forever with a little care. And until they can come up with a really accurate battery level meter, I will always question whether they can "trickle" to a charged battery when I am not convinced they can even tell accurately when the battery is fully charged.

[JohnWill]

If you want to spend enough on the charging circuitry, you can indeed trickle charge them. I did some consulting for a company called Lithium Technology, they make really large lithium batteries for industry. They have developed very sophisticated charging circuits for charging large multi-cell lithium battery stacks. Interesting stuff, they even had battery power for unmanned aerial surveillance drones.

[Elvandil]

Yes, they have come a long way from the transformer-rectifier-circuit-breaker days. Those simple chargers were always over-priced.

Over the coming months (years?), I'm hoping to experiment a bit with some of those "desulfators" for lead-acid batteries. It has always bothered me that those car batteries quit so suddenly and are still so mechanically sound when they are in need of disposal. I also have lead-acid for a lot of other projects.Very reliable, if otherwise inconvenient. We will see, I guess, if these "oscillating" currents really can prevent or reverse the sulfation that kills most of them.

My friends call me "Mister Battery". I'm not sure if they mean it in a nice way, either. My lectures on battery care and feeding are legendary (or infamous). I asked for a pack of 100 NiMH batteries as a Christmas present. They think I'm a little nuts, until the lights go out.

[JohnWill]

I think you're a little nuts too!

[Pookie]

don't spill beer on it.

[LauraMJ]

Heat is the enemy of laptops and shortens their lives.

Does this include it sitting in a car all day when you have it with you and are out somewhere? Say if you go on a trip, then are out of the car all one day with the laptop in the trunk?

[JohnWill]

The trunk is the best place, since the car interior actually gets hotter than the trunk due to solar heating through the glass.

It doesn't help it's lifetime in any case.

[LauraMJ]

Now who's bright idea was it to make a PORTABLE, MOBILE unit that does not deal well with being IN the conveyance one actually USES to BE mobile??





Must have been some man.