WARNING: This article has a geekiness factor of 4 pocket-protectors (out of 5)
Lately, it seems, we Americans have divided our lives into two simple segments: work and sleep. About one in five of us work more than 49 hours a week, and one in twelve work 60 or more hours a week. Our laptops allow us to start the work day on the commuter train, to continue it past dinner and on the weekends, and even to pound away while on vacation. No matter when and where, we need to keep those hard disks humming and those LCDs glowing, and sometimes a source of external power just isn't available. Since Nikola Tesla's dream of broadcast power has yet to become reality, Laptop battery life is a major concern in fin de siecle America.
Our Tech support people get more questions about the laptop battery than we do about almost any other part of the laptop. So we've decided to run a series of posts regarding, yes you've guessed it, how to properly maintain your laptop battery for optimal performance and life.
The battery is probably the most fickle part of the laptop. If not coddled from the start it's life and it's capacity will GREATLY suffer.
Just like flashlight batteries, the laptop battery, believe it or not, is considered to be a consumable item that has a definite life span. In other words it will eventually die and have to be replaced. The key to maximizing the number of charges a battery will accept before it says "No more" is preconditioning.
Steps to Take to Properly Condition a Laptop Battery
The first three charges will determine, in great part, how long a battery will last. You will get the best results if you run the battery through three complete charge/discharge cycles before putting it in service.
- Place the battery into the computer (with the power switched off), plug in the adapter, and let it charge for 24 hours.
- Then, unplug the cord, switch on the computer, and disable all of its power-management routines.
- When the battery has run down completely, and the computer has shut down (make sure the power is off) plug it in, and charge it for another 24 hours.
- Three full charge/discharge cycles will let your battery deliver all of the performance designed into it.
And One More Thing...
While we're on the topic of preconditioning older batteries, let us add this tip -- don't top it off! Many, maybe most, laptop users run their machines on AC power most of the time, figuring that it's better for the battery. The battery will be employed, if at all, for a brief period -- maybe a 40-minute train ride on the way home form office -- and then plugged in again.
Li-Ion batteries don't mind this treatment, but NiCads and (to a lesser degree) NiMH batteries will eventually suffer for it through the dreaded "memory effect."
Simply put, if you "top off" a battery -- charge it before it's been drained (or nearly so) -- it will eventually forget how much capacity it has. A battery that, under the best of circumstances, delivered three hours of operation will begin to fade after two hours, or even one.
NiCad batteries are most susceptible to memory effect, but initial expectations that NiMH technology would put an end to the phenomenon turned out to be optimistic. Although less sensitive to topping off than NiCads, NiMH batteries will lose some capacity unless they are fully discharged regularly.
