Battery Recalibration

[cygnus]

I just recently got a battery for my laptop (free) and I've noticed that it doesn't last nearly as long as my 3000 MaH battery for this laptop (I get about 3 - 3.5 hours depending on usage out of it). This new battery is 3800MaH and should last about 3.5 - 4 hours based on how much more capacity the battery has right? Wrong, this battery only lasts for about an hour and a half.

Now, I have decided to recalibrate the battery. That means, turning off all power management options and running the computer untill it just shuts off, not suspends or hibernates as this defeats the purpose. I have done that with this battery once already and got an hour and a half out of it (it was roughly 45 minutes before it got to 8%, yes it ran for 45 extra minutes after dropping below 8%) But, even after doing this, the battery meter still drops very quickly from about 75% to 8%.

Anyway, that's besides the point. I wanted to see how many people think a recalibration is a good thing, and how many think its a bad thing.

I'm going to say its a good thing, because, Li-Ion Batteries do suffer from the memory effect (From what I have seen, its purely experience). After cycles of charging them up from 75% to 100%, they eventually only last about 40% of their total capacity. So, running the computers until they just shut off, really does help fix the calibration in the battery. I have taken a battery from lasting 30 minutes up to 3.5 hours.

Also, some people say that deep discharging the battery isn't good for it, this may be true, but if you have to do it once or twice to get the battery back into calibration, whats 1 or 2 out of the projected 500 cycles it can handle?

Anyway, let's see what you guys think.

I think it works, just on some batteries though. I've only ever had 1 battery die on me for laptop/notebook computers. Thats out of about 10 I have had in the past.

Important things to remember:

The battery level will always drop faster on the top 30% of the battery or so, this is because the battery has a hard time maintaining a level of high charge. So the lower the battery level, the longer time you have between 1% increments. ie) A change from 95% to 94% could take 2 minutes, but from say, 50% to 49% could be 3 or 4 minutes.

Also, battery conditions do change over time, but you should be able to get about 2 hours from a battery that use to give you 3 or 4 hours a year or two ago. You will lose capacity in a battery, but if you maintain them, and take care of them, they can give you years of faithful service. I have batteries that are 8 and 9 years old that still work just fine (1.5 hours to 2 hours of life).

Safety: Do not short circuit a battery, this can cause a fire and it will reduce the life span of the battery drastically.

Edited January 3, 2007 by prx984

[NIM]

Nice post prx, (almost said cyg, LOL)..

TBH, I've never thought about battery life, since I'm using port replicator at home and at work, which means, myl aptop is constantly connected to power supply.

Laptop is nearly new and the battery is still preety good. But in some cases, when I'm working on battery power, Vista is draining power from the battery, unlike WinXP.

Maybe I could test my battery now with Windows Vista installed and post results here..

I've also put this poll at our portal page..

[cygnus]

I imagine that leaving your computer on AC power is OK for the battery. I don't think there would be much harm in doing that.

I've got a Compaq Armada 1700 (8 or 9 years old now) with original batteries and they both still work just fine. I don't use that computer any longer so I leave it on AC power all the time to keep the batteries in good order. I boot it up and run it until they die every once in a while (1 month or so apart) and they both still provide the computer with about 2 hours each, so 4 collectively.

I do imagine that Vista would drain more battery than XP because of how much more power than XP it uses (I'm unsure about the power reprocutions on it because I don't have a laptop powerful enough for Vista... yet ). I do know that XP doesn't last any longer on this computer than 98/2000 does though, I'm sure I would get better battery life, but I like XP so much now than I can't use anything else because I'm not use to it.

Oh, and thanks for the compliment

Oh, one question (to anyone), is there any good battery software out there that monitors battery life and puts an icon in the tray or something? Just to replace the Windows icon.

Edited January 3, 2007 by prx984

[NIM]

Ok, poll is published on our Portal HERE.

Rick, are you interested to write some reviews for the frontpage? :thumb_yello:

[cygnus]

Cool N1K, I see it now

[cygnus]

Ok, this is very strange. I have been running the computer for about 35 minutes now, and i charged it from Dead for about 5 minutes. I think its really out of calibration, so it needs more

[tbonej1018]

I havnt done mine in a while, and I've had mine for around 9 months, still getting around 3 on a 6 Cell.