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Battery care on an AC-only machine

post #1 of 10
1/29/06 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
My M170 never leaves the house. Never. It is not allowed.

Which means it's on AC all the time, with the exception of when I leave for work and shut off power to the wall plug.

What would you suggest for battery care? Should I charge it, pull it and pack it away? Or would you leave it on trickle charge all the time?

I don't know if this is a matter of opinion or if there's a clear-cut answer, but as always, your input is appreciated.
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post #2 of 10
1/29/06 at 4:05pm
This is how it was mentioned to me one time when I had the same question. The first thing he said, was why did I buy a laptop! Anyway, apparently you should leave the battery in, as it acts as a buffer to absorb any overvoltages or brownouts. Also, if you are ever using the system, and have a power failure, the battery takes over. Think of it as a UPS for your latop. Also, since installing or removing your battery while the system is powered on is not recommended, as it could cause a surge, it is once again best to leave it in incase you have a sudden need to move it to another location to show your wife that special download site.

Personally, I would leave it in. Hope I helped.
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post #3 of 10
1/29/06 at 4:07pm
Thread Starter 
Excellent points. Thanks.
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post #4 of 10
1/29/06 at 4:13pm
If your not going to use it take it out at @ 50% charge and store in cool place possibly even fridge. Theres a post somewhere here about battery care.
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post #5 of 10
1/29/06 at 4:27pm
why the hell do you people freeze your batteries?

good god.
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post #6 of 10
1/29/06 at 4:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by chevyrulz099
why the hell do you people freeze your batteries?
It's funny, but I first heard of freezing batteries from my grandfather. Apparently, even 50 years ago they used to put batteries in the 'fridge because it improved their life (the battery's life, that is ) He also put "dead" batteries in the refrigerator, to milk out that last little bit of power. I've tried it; it works. I've never done it with a laptop battery though.

It does seem to make sense to store it somewhere cool. Heat just is not a good thing for storing components, in my experience.
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post #7 of 10
1/29/06 at 4:42pm
Store it at 0ยบ C for 1 year at 40% charge and it will still be virtually new.





Of course, your mileage may vary....

Good article about battery care:

http://www.buchmann.ca/Chap15-page2.asp

Relevant thread:

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...t=refrigerator
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post #8 of 10
1/29/06 at 5:25pm
For everything battery related: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

Personally I don't care, by the time it really makes much difference this laptop with probably be equalising the legs on my desk...
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post #9 of 10
1/29/06 at 5:41pm
Yeah, I used to take my battery out. But on a few rare occasions, I needed mobility and had to hassle with waiting for it to fully charge.
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post #10 of 10
1/29/06 at 6:23pm
ok, i can understand your M170 never leaving the house, but i mean you don't bring it anywhere else in the house? you never even move it???
if so, sell that thing and buy a desktop man. if you think a desktop is big and clunky just hide it and get youself a nice LCD. You shouldn't be so overprotective of your laptop lol. I just throw mine in a regular backpack that i used in highschool, hop on my bike, goto the skatepark and use it in a super dusty enviornment, thats in the summer, in the winter its the same but i walk there in -30c temperatures with ice and snow everywhere , i even slipped and fell about a month ago and knocked the laptop pretty good. Still No problems whatsoever, and when i did the 7800gtx mod there wasnt even that much dust to clean out. These laptops are built to last, the only reason i can think of for not bring it out of the house is fear of theft...
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