A lithium ion battery should yield about 800 charge/discharge cycles which equates to around 2-3 years of life. Today, laptop batteries have different chemical compositions that do not need to be fully charged after fully discharging.
Charging a laptop battery
When first buying a laptop battery it will be completely empty and it is suggested by the manufacturers that it is charged for at least 4 hours before use.
It is also not suggested that you wait for it to be completely empty before refilling. This was once the process for Nickel Cadmium batteries but this is not applicable to Lithium ion batteries. When a lithium ion battery is at about 20% capacity this is the best time to recharge.
Manufactures suggest keeping the laptop battery cool at all times. A warm battery drains quicker. Keep your laptop battery at room temperature and don’t put it in the fridge as this will render it useless.
It is not advisable to keep your battery constantly pinned to an electrical supply as this will result in constant charging and discharging.
Avoid plugging in your battery while you are using your laptop adaptor
No matter how well you care for your laptop battery it will eventually age and die one day. These steps will help prolong the life of your battery, but they cannot extend its life indefinitely. It is advisable that you have an emergency backup battery on hand when you need one. However it is not advisable to keep it unused as it will die too. Alternate your laptop batteries if you can.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 10:00 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.