pc-level.com

The first and maybe most important thing to know is that no matter how trying to save the life of your battery, sooner or later you will need to replace it with new one. You should also know that today’s technology still doesn’t allow the production of durable batteries whose characteristics do not change over time. Manufacturers of batteries use different innovations to reduce the effects of the negative aspects of technology used to produce this type of batteries, but generally, lithium-ion batteries have some unavoidable shortcomings that limit their lives within a maximum of about 2-3 years. This is the normal period of use, after which you can use only part of the initial capacity of the battery.

Typically, manufacturers provide between 6 months and 1 year warranty for batteries, that includes their normal operation, but doesn’t refer to the reduction of the working time of a battery due to its wear and reduced capacity because these factors are highly dependent on how the battery is used. In addition – in the cheapest laptops you will not find the best quality batteries, because the manufacturers’ choice of batteries depends mostly on the  cost of final product. You should also know that the quality assessment of the batteries is impossible without special laboratory equipment, so it is advisable to choose batteries with a longer warranty.
If you travel frequently and you have to use your laptop mainly for work on battery, my advice is to always have a spare battery, with a higher capacity (if possible). It should be noted that finding batteries for brands like HP, Toshiba, Lenovo and Dell is relatively easy because these manufacturers have established themselves as leaders in the production of mobile computers and already have authorized service centers and stores worldwide. In fact, except at the official distributors, batteries for almost all brands of laptops can be found at ebay. The good news is that there you can find non-original batteries (these are not produced by the manufacturer of your laptop) as very often their price is times lower than the original price of batteries offered by distributors. Of course, this doesn’t apply to the specialized batteries that are found in most expensive laptops but I think it makes no sense to pay over $ 100 for a “regular” battery, as there will be hardly a difference in the quality of the original and non-original batteries in most cheaper notebooks.

Capacity of the Li-Ion Battery.

In most cases, the battery capacity indicated by the manufacturer is very different from what Windows, or any standard software can see and use. According to Windows, 0% of capacity, actually means that the battery has a minimum balance of energy which is necessary to be maintained, because otherwise it will stop functioning. My advice is to not store batteries with such a minimum charge for a longer period of time, because there is a real danger that the battery could be discharged completely, and this can be fatal for it. The maximum capacity is theoretical and it will change over the time – it’s an inevitable part of aging of the battery, but its effects can be minimized. Moreover, the maximum capacity generally ranges – i.e. battery with capacity of 4200 mAh could easily be over 4500, but may be 4000 mAh. Of course this can not be measured in advance and is a result of the production technology of these batteries.

Working conditions.

Lithium-ion batteries do not like high temperatures. If the battery operates at 0 degrees celsius, the discharge time will be longer than if it operates at higher temperatures, but at 0 degrees will be difficult to charge the battery. Temperatures over 80 degrees are  potentially dangerous not only for the battery, but also for the device powered by it. Operating temperature is important because these batteries produce heat when discharging (i.e. when used), which increases their internal resistance and reduces the output voltage. This process accelerates the discharging of the battery, leading to a reduction of its working time. In laptop, batteries are usually located at the bottom of the device near heat sources, which makes their cooling a little more difficult.

Li-Ion batteries are strongly influenced by the ’strength’ of consumption ( i.e. the rapid discharging caused by high load shortens the time to work). Therefore, manufacturers use batteries with more cells, because the speed of increase of their internal resistance is less than the speed at which this happens to batteries with a smaller number of cells.

It is more practical to use your laptop in power saving mode not only because it will work longer due to decreased energy consumption, but also because of reduced power requirements – more intensive use of the CPU greatly reduces the time on battery. This means that it is not a good idea to play games while running on battery because the laptop thus consumes more power and the stored energy is going faster.

Storage method of Li-Ion Batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries have very low self-discharge rate – this means that under ideal conditions, battery charge decreases very slowly until exhausted. This self-discharge depends on the ambient temperature and is lowest at lower temperatures. It also depends on the level of charge which means that if the battery is fully charged, its self-discharge rate will be higher. The experts recommend a level of charge for storage of approximately 40% and storage at temperatures below 10 degrees.

Recharging Li-Ion batteries.

Unlike other types of batteries, where every charge ( regardless of how much charge is in the battery ) is called a”cycle”, because of the way of charging in lithium-ion batteries, a “cycle” means the sum of charges, during which the battery charge has reached its total capacity. This means that whatever the level of charge, one “cycle” will be made only after the battery was discharged and after that recharged to a total of 100% of its capacity. In other words, every recharge by itself does not represent a complete cycle. The sum of these charges, which form a 100% charge, may be identified as a “cycle”. Recharging is also important for the battery life duration, because it should be performed in several stages, which are sometimes skipped by manufacturers in order to accelerate the process, by using higher voltage during the charge. This does not concern you, as ordinary user, because typically you can not control it – the laptop manages the voltages for charging by itself.
Unlike old NiCd or NiMH batteries, Li-Ion batteries do not suffer from the “memory” effect, that limits their maximum capacity. As you probably know to eliminate this effect manufacturers recommend an occasional, complete discharge of NiMH batteries followed by a full recharge. Fortunately this doesn’t apply to the lithium-ion batteries. This advantage, along with the reduced weight and better capacity, is one of their main advantages, which makes them relatively easy to use, especially in devices like laptops and phones, where you have no control over the recharging process. Anyway, I think it is almost impossible to completely discharge your battery, because Windows will usually indicate that the charge is running low when its value reaches 10% and computer will be shut down upon reaching the 5% charge in order to avoid any loss of information. However, you will not lose anything if you perform the above recharging process every 2 months.