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Charging a Laptop tips?

post #1 of 9
8/7/08 at 2:46am
Thread Starter 
So I just bought a new HP laptop for college and I want to make sure I get the most out of it, including the battery life. My questions is whether you should leave your laptop plugged in for too long or charge it too much? Can it become overcharged and hurt battery life? Also, should you try to charge it and keep it fully charged or should you only charge it when the battery is draining? Answers to these questions would really help. Thanks.
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post #2 of 9
8/7/08 at 2:50pm
charge it fully, then let it die fully, charge it fully and then have fun

that is 1 comeplete cycle of the.......100's to come

do that about once a month and youre golden
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post #3 of 9
8/7/08 at 5:43pm
Here's the best tip for getting a battery that lasts forever:

NEVER leave the battery in unless it NEEDS to be in. Leaving it plugged in is like letting it constantly discharge and recharge which kills its lifespan....just use the AC adapter only. And you get cooler cpu temps when you take the battery out since it acts as a blanket to a certain degree.

No, with laptop batteries, it's impossible to "overcharge" them.

Don't charge the battery with the computer on unless you can't avoid this. The logic is that you want to have the battery hooked up to AC power for as little time as possible. Having your computer on draws more power from the battery making it take longer to charge.

I've heard it doesn't matter whether you start charging @50% or at 0% since Li-Ion batts don't have that problem with memory and whatnot.

Doing this, I think I've fully discharged and recharged my battery maybe 10 times in the last 8 months. Right now, I'm just hooked into the wall with my battery next to me in my backpack should I need to use my computer where there is no wall outlet.
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post #4 of 9
8/7/08 at 10:37pm
My battery life has dropped from over four hours to just over one hour with three years of owning it. I must have done something wrong. LOLOL

I leave mine plugged in 24/7. I leave the battery in it 24/7. I pretty much just "use" it. If the battery isn't all the way drained, I plug it in. If it is drained, I plug it in.

My PDA on the other hand is over five years old and the manual tells you to leave it plugged it 24/7. I have done that and the battery life is still almost the same as when I got it.

Not sure what to get out of that. I'll probably fork over $140+ for a new battery when this one dies.
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post #5 of 9
8/8/08 at 12:18am
i leave battery and ac pluged in for the most part

it never bothers me because if i get over 1 hour on battery im still ok because im not a big mobile person

leaving it in while a/c is on will bring it down a little, but it would honestly take years
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post #6 of 9
8/8/08 at 3:29am
But even so, you must still ask yourself, what's the point of leaving the battery in for no reason when it's so easily to just pop it out and in?

Here's some good info I just dug up: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...30314081843218

It says store it at 40% charge except what happens when I need my battery? I would have to wait a half-hour for it to charge which = screw that.
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post #7 of 9
8/8/08 at 10:30pm
I think power outages or blown fuses.is a good reason. Having my battery in has saved me a few times. But I'm with soulsaver on the whole "not caring about going mobile too much." As long as it can last half an hour, I'm happy.
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post #8 of 9
8/8/08 at 10:31pm
Yes, a battery will save you from a power outage, but those are rarities where I live atleast. Surges- a battery won't protect you. The "suggestion" is to run off battery only in a lightning storm.
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post #9 of 9
8/9/08 at 3:18am
yep yep yep. Me having battery "in" all the time, and using a fused power strip in case of "surges"

cheers ...
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