My name is Patrick Allmond, and I own www.batteryfuel.com. We sell laptop batteries and power supplies of all sorts, and this is some of the best information I have seen online about batteries. I need to start coming back here more often to learn from you guys and share what I know.

Be more than welcome! I always "take shelter" on the notebook general section, so you can always find me there. I also recommend batteryuniversity.com , seems to be a consensus.

Thanks DDDa.! Why do you have to take 'Shelter' ?

this guide is great!

Any idea's on how to stop the battery charging while attached in the notebook?
I use my NB as a desktop and prefare to leave the battery in if possible but not at the xpence of having it charged up all the time...

just a joke... a very bad one, btw. it's a reference to the religious/political threads in off-topic. i like reading and posting on threads there, but if it's RP, i pass and protect myself on the noob discussions at notebook general.

::ask nbf gods to resist the temptations of posting in RP threads::

dumb u r, shut up u must

wots that got to do with batteries!!!?

Huh?!? I don't get it.

I mean, that's an area for you to put your image and any phrase you want. I just wanted to put as identification an image of Yoda (I'm a big fan) and a joke directed to forum trolls and other stupid people. Since I want the phrase to be related to the image, I wrote it in the same way that Yoda speaks. Isn't that what everyone does?

Look at D6400: he has a Dell as image, and a "cool", "funny" whatever phrase related to the image to enforce the "joke", "coolness" etc.

Another example could be the iSmurf: he has an smurf as image, with phrase "Pull my finger... punk".

I hear that when u first get ur laptop battery you should charge it to 100%, then completely let it run out. then charge it back to 100% again. This helps it remember its full capacity. Any other things like that that can help keep a battery life going strong?

batteryuniversity.com

I don't think LiIon batteries should be calibrated... I never did that since 2004 (when I discovered this great board)... with my new notebook, cell phones etc. and never had a problem. actually, after doing the right way, I did notice that my batteries lasted longer. The greatest example is my notebook's battery, which is almost 2 years old and is still good. Lost capacity, of course, but nothing to worry about.

Just my 2c worth...
I recently bought some brand new Li-ion batteries for my 8890's.
They were really *brand-new* as in they had *never* been charged at all.
The problem I had was that they would not charge until I discovered a trick...

The first time I tried to charge them the orange charge light on the laptop just started to flash rather than stay on. This indicated that the battery was not charging properly. The thing is most Li-ion battery packs contain smart chips in them that control the charge function. With a brand new battery this chip had not even been powered up to reset itself.

What I had to do was to leave the battery in the laptop with the flashing charge light going for about 2 hours. Then turn off the AC charger, press the on switch so that the battery tried to start the laptop. Because the battery was not charging properly it only had a miniscule amount of charge in it even after 2 hours, BUT it was enough charge to power up the internal battery smarts, reset them and THEN allow the battery to charge properly.

As recommended you should "condition" new Li-ion batteries by running at least 3-5 full charge/discharge cycles. This gives the battery chemistry a chance to permeate all the twisty little passages (anyone remember the maze in the old text based Adventure game or am I showing my age again?).

As to long term use on AC power, what I do is to use my older less capable batteries when I know I am going to have AC on for any length of time then insert my newer batteries a few hours before I need them on the road - this way they charge to 100% and don't get worn out by constant AC trickle charging.

Which trickel charge?

I don't know about your laptop but when my battery is charging the charge LED comes on.

When the notebook is left on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week the battery isn't being charged. It's just sitting dormantly in the NB.

Only when the notebook has been disconnected from the mains and re-connected the battery charge function springs into action.

As explained here in the thread, leaving the battery in the NB all the time could make it warm or even hot thus effectively reducing the battery life.

If you have a NB where the battery is sitting away from heat sources like in my Z83 (A7D/J) 17 inch Asus (the battery is up front) leaving it in won't harm it. Asus were always intelligent computer manufacturers.

But unfortunately more recent top of the range Asus NB models are following the other manufacturers by sticking the battery in next to the NB heat sources

For a battery that has been powered up at least once you will get the charge light staying on continuously until it it fully chaged. In the case of a virgin battery you may get the behaviour I explained.

I hate to burst your bubble on the battery not being charged whilst you are plugged in - it does get used. Without going into too much detail the battery circuit is wired into the power circuit via a reverse polarity diode. When the laptop sucks more juice the battery is the first place the juice comes from. Why? Delays in switch mode power supplies. The battery can provide additional current immediately whereas the switch mode power supplies (which don't have large capacitators in them) have to start chopping more of the AC line into the circuit - this has an inherent delay. It is only small but significant. The battery charge circuit will also notice this and start to top up the battery. This is going on all the time you use the laptop on AC power. Hence my recommendation to keep an old battery in place during extended AC power sessions.

As to disconnecting and reconnecting then the charge circuit kicking in - that is hysteresis in action. The battery charge circuit would be letting the battery drain a little bit before kicking in coloumbs. A power cycle would clear that hysteresis and then force the charge to load it to maximum before applying the hystersis again. Simple control theory.

Aha...!?!
OK, I've removed my battery!!

You are lucky you can do that.
The 8890 battery formed part of the chassis with one of the feet stuck on the outside of battery case. So if I take mine out the laptop I have to use italics to counteract the lean