• Have I got rechargable battery care completely backwards?
    6 replies, posted
I read that you shouldn't overcharge battery or leave them plugged in overnight, both of which I'd been doing regularly. So in an effort to change that today I've been contantly plugging in and unplugging the charger for my laptop whenever the battery charge got too high or low. But suddenly the battery life has plumbeted to basically nothing. I got it around 2 years ago and not changed the battery since but maybe I was doing something wrong in the first place? I'm not sure what sort of battery it is but [URL="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Compaq-Presario-CQ56-102SA-Windows-Premium/dp/B00440D8YC"]here[/URL] is the laptop's Amazon page.
I've heard it said that you shouldn't fully charge a battery, but that's rare. What seems to be universally agreed upon, though, is not to let it fully discharge more often than necessary.
[QUOTE=mattmanlex;46508679]I've heard it said that you shouldn't fully charge a battery, but that's rare. What seems to be universally agreed upon, though, is not to let it fully discharge more often than necessary.[/QUOTE] Oh, must have missed that part... It's been going into sleep mode often since it stopped warning me about low battery. Bugger.
I thought leaving it was a good idea, because you the battery to be discharging generally, if it's plugged in (and fully charged) is it not deriving it's power from the mains? This is important to me because I want to protect the battery life of my tablet, I try to make sure it doesn't get fully empty
What you were doing with your laptop is about the worst way you can treat a battery. Laptop batteries are only designed for a limited number of discharge and recharge cycles. Having the battery in a constant state of only being partially charged or at a low charge level is very hard on the battery and will only further accelerate wear on it. If you don't need battery power, you should always leave your laptop plugged in so the battery maintains maximum float charge. Laptop batteries have built in circuitry that won't allow it to overcharge so you should never have to worry about that. There are rare cases where batteries can fail and destroy themselves, but if you stay with a quality battery, you shouldn't have to worry about this. You're going to have to buy a new battery because the one you have is trash now. Amazon has a good selection of laptop batteries for good prices. [QUOTE=mattmanlex;46508679]I've heard it said that you shouldn't fully charge a battery, but that's rare. What seems to be universally agreed upon, though, is not to let it fully discharge more often than necessary.[/QUOTE] You should [I]always[/I] maintain the maximum battery charge when not in use. You should [I]never[/I] fully discharge the battery because it will be destroyed.
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;46508849]What you were doing with your laptop is about the worst way you can treat a battery. Laptop batteries are only designed for a limited number of discharge and recharge cycles. Having the battery in a constant state of only being partially charged or at a low charge level is very hard on the battery and will only further accelerate wear on it.[/QUOTE] That explains why my laptop battery went bad
Right, so I was told porkies then and was doing the ok thing before. Thanks.
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