Simple Things That Help Prolong Laptop Batteries

Neglecting the care and maintenance of your laptop battery will seriously impair the ability to use the laptop when you need it away from an AC power supply. Investing in a little time and effort will repay you many times over by prolonging battery life and laptop use while mobile.

Users usually make two mistakes with laptop battery care. The first is that they use the laptop continuously while connected to the AC supply with the batteries inserted in the laptop, only to be surprised to find the laptop will not power up at some point. The second common mistake is partially discharging the batteries.

If you find that your laptop will not power on when you come to use it, remove the battery completely and try to power on with the AC supply. If the laptop boots up then you have a problem with the battery. This may mean a simple "purge" of the battery or replacement. We'll deal with purging later.

Continuously discharging the battery without allowing it to exhaust its charge results in the battery gaining a recharge "memory". Effectively it fails to take a full charge and this results in less power being stored so the ability to use the laptop by battery power alone reduces. This defeats the whole object of having a laptop that you can use anywhere free of connection to a mains supply. This shortening of battery life is also known as "battery fade".

Many laptop users complain about how their battery does not power their laptop for very long when they are relying solely on battery power. These two issues are the primary reasons why this occurs, so how can you avoid falling into these pitfalls and start caring for laptop batteries to get the best performance out of them?

There are two very simple procedures for resolving battery life issues. How often you perform these maintenance exercises will depend upon whether you have NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries or NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) in the laptop. Check the battery itself and the manufacturers paperwork that came with your laptop.

The first tip is to ensure that you completely discharge your laptop battery. You do this by powering the laptop up using battery power alone and with the AC power disconnected. Allow the laptop to run the battery down completely until you get the battery low warning. Reconnect the AC power and allow the battery to be recharged from this state, for the period the manufacturer advises for recharge (as long as 12 hours).

The second tip is to purge your batteries. Purging is where you disconnect the AC power completely and also stop the laptops sleep or hibernation feature from being initiated. Allow the laptop to discharge the battery until it has itself powered off due to lack of power. Reconnect the AC power supply but do not power the laptop up and allow the battery to regain a charge for the next 24 hours. If you have NiCad batteries, perform this once a month and for NiMH every three months.

Following these two very simple procedures will prolong the life and utility of your laptop battery. If you intend to use your laptop while mobile, invest in 5 minutes to read and follow the manufaturers battery care instructions. Remember, laptop batteries are expensive to replace but so is losing use of your laptop when you need it, as well as the possible loss of work due to the battery failing. Looking after the laptop battery will enhance your user experience and functionality of the laptop with little real effort on your part.