Tech Question: Battery Life

[AyiosYiorgos]

With a few techie's on this site, want opinion on laptop battery life
To get the maximum battery life

1. Would you have the power constatnly plugged in, so battery is constatnly charging
2. Take the power out once battery is fully charged and let the laptop run on the battery till it gets down to a certain % then recharge again
3. Mixture of both
4. Who knows it is equivalent to the bermuda triangle?

 

[Cobretti]

well batteries like to be charged so I would leave it plugged in.

The more times you discharge the batteries the less they are able to hold their charge.

Ideally you should let your batteries discharge maximum 50% it helps prolong the life.

 

[Wheeldude]

I think I need a new laptop battery...this thread is a good help...

From what Dominik says I've been treating my battery very badly...

 

[Cobretti]

Well I should add lithium-ion batteries which are used in laptop will degrade as well when fully charged, because you are still trickle charging the battery. So deposits still build up on the cathode preventing electron flow.

This is why these type of batteries last about 5-7 years if topped up.

If discharging them maybe 3-5 years.

It all depends how heavy use your laptop goes through. Like mine it is on 24/7 lol. I bet if I took the power cable out it would turn of cause the battery is most likely dead or last maybe 20mins.

Led Acid Batteries (which are not practical for electronics for obvious reasons) will last about 10-15years if left topped up with good maintenance cycles.

 

[GiRDS-]

if you leave it plugged in too long the batteries 'overcharge' which shortens the overall life so next time when you charge it to what you think is 100% in reality its only 97% charged if you get my drift.

if you dont understand have a look at this screenshot i took. next time i fully charge my battery to 100% its still only 91% of its original capacity when i first got it, which is mostly leaving it charging all night (6 hours) when it only takes 2 hours to charge.

also not to mention the fact that leaving it plugged in will cause the transformer in the charger to blow and leave you needing a new charger.

 

[Cobretti]

GiRDs

discharging the battery will cause the maximum capacity to shorten too at a faster rate.

I don't know how mac's work but a PC laptop will run on ac power when it is connected and switch to battery when it is not. I can unplug my battery now and my laptop will still be running.

My laptop has been on for the last 3 years directly on AC power. and my transformer is yet to blow. So I don't know what kind of crap Apple makes.
It will not over charge as the circuit will switch in and out when battery reaches full charge. At best it only trickle charges whilst the battery is loosing stored energy at a extremely slow rate. (ie rechargeable batteries charge them up and leave them on the shelf for a month, they will be almost flat without even using them).

 

[GiRDS-]

ok then might just be my mac. but ive had a few transformers blow with being left in the plug for high periods of time.

 

[Cobretti]

ok then might just be my mac. but ive had a few transformers blow with being left in the plug for high periods of time.

Don't take it the wrong way, but apple are known for making nice efficient products when they work. However recent years with more factories in China and more focus on iPhone their computer line has suffered.

If apple had computer gaming from the start in the 90s I would of been an apple user.

 

[Wockrog]

Leave mine plugged in 24/7 if I go portable I take my power inverter with me. as far as running flat quicker well that would depend on what you are doing with it.