How to prevent battery wear?

[ricehero]

i was just wondering how i can prolong the life of my battery. its mostly plugged in but ocassionally i bring it to school or work. i have had this laptop for maybe 3-4 months (2373-9fu) and according to CHC i have 1% battery wear. is that normal? how can i prevent future damage?

[bill bolton]

There is a "wear and tear" component in any battery technology, even if you only use battery power occasionally. If you only have 1% wear over ~4 months you are doing fine.

Cheers,

Bill

Sydney, Australia

[deviousalex]

within a few weeks i had 1% battery wear which i find odd. does unplugging the machine when it's turned off help prevent battery wear? also, what does the "battery reset" do?

[jdhurst]

The only thing worse than automobile deprecation is battery life. It starts expiring (if only by a bit) before you take delivery. It is just the way it is. You might just as well use your battery and enjoy for you cannot save it. Eating my own dogfood, as it were, my T41 battery is now almost two years old, needs replacing, and still delivers 1.75 hours before complaining badly. Good enough until I buy a new battery. ... JD Hurst

[krma-thkpds]

You guys should be happy about you wear. I got it 7% weared in 2 months.

[ctbenski]

I got 16% wear in ten months, but have seen it fluctuate a few times. after running down and recharging it was once 13%, then again 14% and now back to 16%.
However, as Jdhurst wrote, if you look up some information on the technology of Li-ion batteries, regardless whether you use them or not, they start wearing down the day they are manufactured.
So use it and stop worrying

[AIX]

Heh, I got ~ 40% wear in 17 months/ ~150 cycles.

[krma-thkpds]

Looks that time is causing more wear then large number of cycles.

Heh, I got ~ 40% wear in 17 months/ ~150 cycles.

I have my laptop for about two moths and usually run it on batter power so I 100 cycles and wear of 7%.

[Aroc]

i was just wondering how i can prolong the life of my battery... how can i prevent future damage?

The simple answer is charge the battery to 60%. Take out said battery. Store on a cool, dry shelf and do not use it. Anything else is going to cost you more battery life plain an simple. Batteries don't like being topped off at 100%. And conversely they don't like being deep cycled either. So you can't win. I say just use the [censored] thing. But don't run it down to near zero if you can help it. I expect to have to replace mine at least every two years, if not every year. It's just the cost of doing business in my mind.

[pae77]

. . . But don't run it down to near zero if you can help it. . . .

So based on that would you recommend not ever following IBM's advice about deep cycling the battery?

[RDKirk]

i was just wondering how i can prolong the life of my battery. its mostly plugged in but ocassionally i bring it to school or work. i have had this laptop for maybe 3-4 months (2373-9fu) and according to CHC i have 1% battery wear. is that normal? how can i prevent future damage?

This is the best information on rechargeable batteries on the Web: www.batteryuniversity.com

Isidor Buchmann is the president of a Canadian company that makes analyzers and rechargers for industry and government.

The bottom line for LiIon batteries is that they start dying the moment they come off the assembly line. They will lose practically useable capacity sometime in the third year no matter how well you treat them.

Like lead-acid batteries (the kind in automobiles) LiIon batteries don't mind being topped off when only slightly used. They don't have a memory, so they don't need to be discharged at all (however, many laptops have battery power meters that do need to be cycled every now and then).

LiIon batteries can be seriously damaged by a deep discharge, however most devices -- including Thinkpads -- are designed to cut the power 'way before that point, so you can't actually perform a dangerously deep discharge of a Thinkpad battery in the machine.

LiIon batteries are also very vulnerable to heat damage, and that's the most likely source of damage in a laptop. Using a laptop on your lap or on a soft surface like a bed traps heat and damages the battery. If the fan vent is blocked, again, you're damaging the battery. Often what looks like overcharging damage is really heat damage because the laptop is being kept in an area with bad ventilation. Notice that Thinkpad docking ports often raise the computer off the desktop with a bit of air space underneath--that's a good thing.

[Thinker]

I second jdhurst on this. Don't expect a battery to remain in top shape for a long time. The paradox here is that in order to maximize battery life you must not use it (which doesn't do you any good, since it is still degrading slightly and you are not getting any benefit from it). Another paradox is that if you want to maximize battery life while using it you should never charge it fully or discharge it completely (as I understand, although I have seen conflicting information on this). Which means, you are only using around 60% of the battery capability.

Batteries are consumables, so my advice is just to use it reasonably but not to be too paranoid about it. Replace it only when the remaining capacity is not suitable for your purpose.

Also, if you use your Thinkpad on a desk mainly, you don't need a battery.You just need a reliable UPS with a battery on it, and to configure your thinkpad to shut down after a period of inactivity less than the capacity of the UPS battery.
You then can just use your Thinkpad battery when you are on the go, or when you need to recharge it.
(On second thought, this might not be advisable, because AC connections do get loose and AC adaptors break down from time to time )

[embguy]

How to get the % wear & tear from the thinkpad?

[GomJabbar]

If you have a T42 or later model, click on the green battery icon that shows charge percentage in the System Tray. Choose 'Battery Information' from the pop-up menu. If you don't see the green battery icon, go to Start > All Programs > Access IBM > Battery MaxiMiser Wizard. Follow wizard and be sure to check box to put icon in the System Tray.

Regarding older ThinkPads, I am not sure how much information you can get.

[Greg Gebhardt]

Just use your laptop and enjoy it. No matter what you do your battery will decrease over time. Are you going to let this ruin your laptop enjoyment? After a few years, if you still have your laptop, buy another battery.

Just enjoy your ThinkPad!