This isn't a Mint support question as such; more like improving my general knowledge. I hope it's not considered rude to post here,
What is the best way to treat a notebook/netbook Lithium-ion battery to achieve longest battery life?
I remember the days of 'memory effect' which I know is not a problem in Lithium-ion batteries; but old habits die hard. I still prefer to fully discharge my battery before plugging it in to the charger. My wife, on the other hand, keeps her HP Pavilion dv7 permanently plugged in to the mains supply because she only gets around 2 - 3 hours battery life (my little Asus EeePC 1005P gets up to 8 hours).
The (shamefully little) on-line research I've done has pointed to pages that are either too focused on selling me something (long on hype, short on detail) or too full of tech stuff (such as this one).
So, in layman's terms, what is the best way to achieve the best performance and the longest life from batteries?
EDITS= spelling/grammar
Battery Maintenance Strategy
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
-
odo5435
Battery Maintenance Strategy
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
-
Aging Technogeek
Re: Battery Maintenance Strategy
I read the article you cite and it is full of good information. In my youth, I designed Battery chargers and Power supplies so the tech parts of the article were familiar to me.
From this article, I gather that the best thing to do is not to deep discharge a Lithium Ion battery as it will shut down and not be rechargeable using most readily available chargers. The cutoff voltage is about 2.7 volts/cell or about 65% of full charge (4.2v/cell).
L-I batteries are also very sensitive to overcharging. This can cause battery failure including exploding cells and fire. For this reason almost all commercially available chargers are set to charge to 90-95% of max permissible charge. Leaving the battery connected to the charger for extended periods will not cause overcharging unless the charger's safety circuits fail.
From this article, I gather that the best thing to do is not to deep discharge a Lithium Ion battery as it will shut down and not be rechargeable using most readily available chargers. The cutoff voltage is about 2.7 volts/cell or about 65% of full charge (4.2v/cell).
L-I batteries are also very sensitive to overcharging. This can cause battery failure including exploding cells and fire. For this reason almost all commercially available chargers are set to charge to 90-95% of max permissible charge. Leaving the battery connected to the charger for extended periods will not cause overcharging unless the charger's safety circuits fail.
-
wyrdoak
Re: Battery Maintenance Strategy
Working range 4.30v-2.70v per cell, if it stays more than a week at 1.5v it will become unstable[don't try to charge unless you have a bag of marshmallows around]
Is best to turn off your laptop when recharging you battery.
Lithium-ion does not need to be fully charged; a partial charge is better.
Before prolonged storage, apply some charge to bring the pack to about half charge.
Over-discharged batteries can be “boosted” to life again. Discard pack if the voltage does not rise to a normal level within a minute while on boost.
BTW: I had to update my BIOs from the manufacturer when I started using Linux. Battery charger wasn't working correctly in Linux, was having to remove it when charged [getting hot] and still using the computer on AC.
Normally the charger will not overcharge the Lithium-ion battery.
IMHO this was part of the same overheat problem with the PCI that some computers were having were M$ wanted more control of what you do with you hardware[ Apple Thinking].
Is best to turn off your laptop when recharging you battery.
Lithium-ion does not need to be fully charged; a partial charge is better.
Before prolonged storage, apply some charge to bring the pack to about half charge.
Over-discharged batteries can be “boosted” to life again. Discard pack if the voltage does not rise to a normal level within a minute while on boost.
BTW: I had to update my BIOs from the manufacturer when I started using Linux. Battery charger wasn't working correctly in Linux, was having to remove it when charged [getting hot] and still using the computer on AC.
Normally the charger will not overcharge the Lithium-ion battery.
IMHO this was part of the same overheat problem with the PCI that some computers were having were M$ wanted more control of what you do with you hardware[ Apple Thinking].