laptop batteryIt is very annoying when the laptop stops working at the wrong time because of low battery. As you know, mobile computers are becoming more compact with every passing day. This also applies to their components as well as their batteries. Thanks to high technologies, the capacity of modern batteries has increased (compared with batteries offered on the market few years ago) as their size is hardly changed. Of course most modern laptops are equipped with high capacity batteries allowing your computer to work a few hours (usually 2 to 6) without the need for recharging. On the other hand I think a little more power will always be of use, especially if you work away from electrical sources where you can recharge your battery. Therefore, in this post I will try to give you several recommendations, about how to extend the operating time of your battery.

1. Battery Care.

Today all modern notebooks and netbooks are equipped with lithium-ion batteries. Along with their advantages over the other types of batteries, they have several characteristics that must be considered in order to preserve their nominal capacity for a longer period of time.

Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to ambient temperature. They may not be used at temperatures below zero degrees, since this significantly reduces their capacity.

Although lithium-ion batteries do not suffer from the “memory effect”, they still must be regularly “trained”. It means that you should completely dissolve and then recharge your battery at least every 2-3 weeks. In some notebooks for that purpose there is special function, accessible in the BIOS,but this can be done manually, by stopping all energy saving features and allow the laptop to completely shut down by itself.

If you are planning during most of the time to use your notebook connected to the AC adapter (e.g. use it as a desktop replacement) it is recommended to remove the battery (for example – when it’s half charged) and put it in place with low temperature and away from direct sunlight. Of course, you should consider that in case of power supply interruption you will lose your data.

Contacts of the battery could be oxidized, and even the thinnest oxide layer may reduce the transfer of power from your battery to the notebook. Therefore it is recommended to clean the battery’s metal contacts every 2-3 months. Unfortunately I can’t give you an accurate advice about how it’s best to make such cleaning, but however, do not use sandpaper. Maybe it is best to do that with rubbing alcohol on a damp cloth.

2. How to minimize the energy consumption.

The time for autonomous work of the laptop depends not only on the capacity of its battery, but also on its consumption depending on several factors such as characteristics of the computer hardware and software, and the system settings.

You must pay more attention to the hardware when purchasing you computer. If the requirement for maximum operating time of battery is critically important, maybe you should look for device equipped with more energy efficient processor and a solid-state storage drive, which requires less power, since there are no spinning parts. Moreover, the large amount of memory also saves some operations of the operating system, which reduces the unnecessary energy consumption. Additional time to work can be gained by choosing the optimal operating system. Of course the choice of operating system also depends on the hardware capabilities of your computer. According to unofficial data, portable computers with Windows 7 running about 20-30 minutes longer with a single battery charge, compared to computers running Windows XP or Windows Vista. Anyway, it is recommended that the operating system is updated regularly. Another important thing is the regular defragmenting of hard drive that must be made at least every 2-3 months. Defragmenting allows your operating system to rearrange the file fragments so they are closer together on the hard drive, decreasing the time your system must spend searching for files. That’s why an optimization of your hard drive can provide you with additional battery power.

3. Extension of the battery operating time.

Above methods are important for maintaining the good condition of your battery, but there are ways allowing you to keep its capacity while operating with the computer. You can use those tips below to reduce the consumption of your laptop to a minimum. This will help you not only to achieve long operating time on battery, but will also reduce cases of rapid depletion of capacity, which could harm the battery.

When switching to battery power you have to ensure that the appropriate scheme for power management is chosen. Use the power management settings built in your operating system.

It is important to keep the temperature regime, so avoid extreme temperatures.  Laptop must be placed on a hard flat surface for better access of air to the cooling fan. Your laptop will operate more efficiently when it’s cooler so make sure to clean out your air vents regularly.

Turn off all peripheral devices that are not currently in use (e.g, Wi-Fi adapter or Bluetooth) and unplug external devices such as a USB mouse or an external drive.

Configure your display to turn off when not in use. It is also recommended to set the minimum adequate levels of display brightness and volume.

Use energy-saving features such as Hibernate or Standby. Hibernating a PC will actually save more power than when in standby mode because its state will be saved as it is, but the computer will shut down completely.

Avoid multitasking and close all the applications that run in the background on your computer. Shut down everything that isn’t crucial and use only what you realy need at any given time.

You should also avoid using the optical drive if possible. Optical drives consume larger amounts of energy compared with hard drives, so if you need data stored on a CD or DVD it’s recommended to copy it to your laptop’s hard drive before traveling.