Notebook Battery Preservation
Storage
Never store the battery fully discharged. Apply some charge before storage. A 40% charge is good for storage and then remember to fully charge before use. Store in a cool dry place.
Use
Higher heat lowers life. Being plugged in raises temperature. So, if you are always using your notebook plugged in, it is often wise to remove the battery and plug it in batteryless. Be careful if you run your notebook without the battery that you prevent dirt and dust from getting into the battery area.
Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion battery does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is more likely because of heat rather than charge cycles.
Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.
Troubleshooting Boot Failures
Sometimes notebooks refuse to boot and need to be reset. There is a switch that cuts off power when the battery power gets too low. So, if you left it unplugged for a week or two and it ran down then perhaps that switch would flip and it would not start. This prevents battery damage, but of course it can be irritating.
- Remove the battery.
- Unplug AC power cord.
- Hold power button down for over 45 seconds.
Then plug-in AC adapter with no battery and see what happens.
If it works, then shutdown and put battery back in.
More Information
Check the Battery University for more in depth battery knowledge.
Date: March 2010