HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR LAPTOP'S BATTERY LIFE

[wjli2]

i think you overdischarge the battery.

[rnssww1]

thank you for responding. 

I was able to get the laptop up and running.  I took out the battery from the laptop,  cleaned it (wiped it off) and air sprayed connections.  charged for awhile longer and it started........right up........(there was really no rhyme or reason for it to start).  But very happy to be up and running again.

Thank you again.

[wjli2]

Apparently that is what Mark_Lenovo advise people to do with overdischarged battery, so it is good that battery came back to life, otherwise you will have get a new one. Next time change your computer's Thinvantage Poiwer Manager to shut off the computer at 5% battery level, and automatically hibernates at 10% level.

[TomTrottier]

More advice from MS for XP:

 Strategies for Conserving Battery Power

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/stayconnected/battery.mspx

[sitzikbs]

hello, My battery has this problem that it stops charging after a while (like at 20%) and after a few minutes the meter shows 100% charge. if i unplug it it goes down from 100% and then all of a sudden drops down to 5%. how can i fix that? anyone knows the reason for this problem?

thanks 

[chpvikram]

hello evryone...

i am having a query.

i am using my laptop on both battery and power. so how will this affect my laptop's battery life?

when the battery is fully charged i'll run it on battery, when the charge falls below 35% i am recharging it and again using on battery when it got recharged to 100%. can u pls suggest me how this affect its life and how i need to manage this?

[Nicolas]

you don't need to unplug your laptop to run it on its battery when the battery is fully charged : Because the electronic circuitry inside the power supply can detect the battery is fully charged and stops charging it.

Moreover, doing what you do will shorten your battery life because a battery is "programmed" to make a certain number of discharge-charge complete cycles. Each time you use a cycle (i.e. using the laptop on its battery and then charging it again), you "eat" one credit.

Please anyone can answer and say if I am wrong or right.

Nicolas

[arial]

hi. i've bought lenovo g550 about a week ago, and i'm just curious about something - when battery is about 10% full, my laptop turns off and wont 'recover' till it's charged. is that normal?

[Hellover]

"Memory Effect

First of all it's necessary to unfold a myth that persists in many peoples head.
The battery memory effect.

In lithium-based batteries this is in fact a myth, it only applies to older Niquel-based batteries. So fully discharging and charging the battery is completely useless and even harmful as we will see below. 

The modern lithium battery can be charged regardless of its current percentage, given that it has absolutely no negative effect in its performance.

Should I remove the battery when A/C is plugged in? Many laptop users have this question and we will answer it right now: The answer is: YES and NO, it depends on the situation. Having a battery fully charged and the laptop plugged in is not harmful, because as soon as the charge level reaches 100% the battery stops receiving charging energy and this energy is bypassed directly to the power supply system of the laptop. However there's a disadvantage in keeping the battery in its socket when the laptop is plugged in, but only if it's currently suffering from excessive heating caused by the laptop hardware. So: - In a normal usage, if the laptop doesn't get too hot (CPU and Hard Disk around 40ºC to 50ºC) the battery should remain in the laptop socket; - In an intensive usage which leads to a large amount of heat produced (i.e. Games, temperatures above 60ºC) the battery should be removed from the socket in order to prevent unwanted heating. The heat, among the fact that it has 100% of charge, is the great enemy of the lithium battery and not the plug, as many might think so. Battery discharges Full battery discharges (until laptop power shutdown, 0%) should be avoided, because this stresses the battery a lot and can even damage it. It's recommended to perform partial discharges to capacity levels of 20~30% and frequent charges, instead of performing a full discharging followed by a full charging. Laptop batteries contain a capacity gauge that allows us to know the exact amount of energy stored. However, due to the charging/discharging cycles, this sensor tends to be inaccurate overtime. Some laptops include in their BIOS, tools to recalibrate this battery gauge, which is nothing more than a full discharge followed by a full charge. So to calibrate the gauge, it should be performed, in every 30 discharge cycles, a full discharge non-stop , followed by a also, non-stop, full charge. An inaccurate gauge can lead to the fact that the the battery capacity values are are wrong. The battery may report that it still has 10% of capacity when in fact it has a much lower value, and this causes the computer to shutdown unexpectedly.   Discharge (or charge) cycles consist of using all that battery charge (100%) but not necessarily all at once. For example, you can use the laptop for some minutes in a day, using half its capacity e then fully charge it. If you did the same thing in the next day, it would be counted a discharge cycle and not two, so it may take several days until a full discharge cycle is completed. How to perform a calibration (full discharge)? The most adequate method to do a full discharge (100% to about 3%) consists of the following procedures: Fully charge the battery to its maximum capacity (100%); Let the battery "rest" fully charged for 2 hours or more. You may use the computer normally within this period; Go to your Power Options in the Control Panel and configure the automatic hibernation to hibernate the computer when it reaches 3% of capacity; Leave the computer discharging, non-stop, until it hibernates itself. You may use the computer normally within this period; When the computer shuts down completely, let it stay in the hibernation state for 5 hours or even more; Plug the computer to the A/C power to perform a full charge non-stop until its maximum capacity (100%). You may use the computer normally within this period. Prolonged storage To store a battery for long periods of time, its charge capacity should be around 40% and it should be stored in a place as fresh and dry as possible. A fridge can be used (0ºC  - 10ºC), but only if the battery stays isolated from any humidity. One must say again that the battery's worst enemy is the heat, so leaving the laptop in the car in a hot summer day is half way to kill the battery. Purchasing a replacement battery If you intend to purchase another battery, it's recommended that you do it only when the current battery is very degraded. If it's not the case, the non usage of a battery leads to its degradation. If a spare battery is purchased and won't be used for a long time, the above storage method should be used. Besides that, when purchasing a battery you must pay attention to the manufacturing date." Source

[nolanjsmith023]

Hello,

I have a problem with my laptop's battery life. It displays the lifetime of the battery to be more than 3 hours long, and I unplug my laptop every once in awhile because I ha ve to. But while I'm in the middle of doing something like checking my email or watching a video, the battery shuts down. So naturally, I go plug it back in. When the screen comes back on, it says that the laptop is down to 5% battery power. I don't know what's going on. Can someone help me please?

Thank you,

Nolan