| Author | Message | ||
     Slaughter |
All my prior laptops had removable batteries which I'd pull when fully charged rather than keeping the laptop plugged in and abusing the battery. Are there recommended tactics on a new thin-laptop with a battery not easily accessed? (or is it "smart" charger equipped?) HP Envy m6-p113dx | ||
| Greg_e |
My asus t100 cheapo tablet stops charging at full and switches back to battery drain mode. You have to pull the charge cord to put t back into charge mode, so I'd check what it is really doing when it hits full. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Leave them alone. I doubt you can buy a laptop these days that doesn't have a smart charger. And have you priced the replacement batteries? I just bought a set for an old Compaq laptop the kids still use (which won't even run without batteries in it). It's a pretty big battery pack. It was $13, with free shipping, from the US. On the topic (and I should probably start another thread on this) I've been playing with the now "becoming dirt cheap" lithium ion cells that are now everywhere. The 14500 is a 3.7v AA form factor cell that can produce something like 1 amp at 3.7 volts for an hour. For a couple bucks. The bigger cells (about 2x the size) that are commonly used in laptops are also 3.7v cells, and make a ton of power for a long time, are also very cheap and very easy to work with. The "breakthrough" thing is cheap smart chargers for them. I can get them on eBay (if I am patient on shipping) for about $1.50 per charger board (that has a micro USB port or takes 5v regulated). Works for either set of cells. The 3.7v is about the same as 2 alkaline batteries, or 2 NiMh cells. So you can take existing things, gut a lot of the battery stuff, and embed a LiIon cell or cells with that cheap dedicated charger and turn it into a LiIon setup. I just did it to a cheap but nice shop light that came with NiMh. It runs a bazillion white LED's for over an hour on one of those bigger cells. The AA form factor is nice as well, as you can get AA battery cradles for $1.50 to use, and swap batteries in and out easily. Anyway, I'd say just leave it be. I think they are better off staying topped off then self discharging, and even if they aren't, they should be very cheap to replace or rebuild. | ||
| Slaughter |
I have assumed that the thing has a smart charger of sorts. I just bought it at best buy in the reconditioned computers sale. For the last dozen years or so I have been using throwaway laptops bought on ebay for 25 and $35 for dyno tuning. Thanks for the input. | ||
| Froggy |
Yea I agree with Reepi on this. Even though your laptop does not have an easy to replace battery, it should not be an issue. By time the laptop gets to the point it won't hold a charge anymore, you likely will have replaced it first. | ||
| Robertl |
Agreed, old myth. Most chargers will stop when the battery approaches 100% (at least laptops). For example, my thinkpad stops at 97% and switches to a/c power only. Most of the mobile device batteries will begin to fade in about 1 yr. 2 yrs is what you should expect as reasonable life for a laptop battery. Sure many work past 2 yrs but you'll also be looking for a charger regularly. Technology is improving and some of this depends on use. I prefer Dells b/c they are usually easier to work on (aka take apart) and I used to work there. Full tear down manuals available online. I always bought refurbs from the outlet site. Parts are readily available. The Thinkpad line is similar, business focus, so they come apart in a similar manner but work owned so I let them deal with that. Batteries are readily available online though so if the battery life impacts operation, time to replace the battery or system. | ||
| Froggy |
I tend to agree with this, but for their business models (OptiPlex/Latitude). The cheaper home focused models are made with cheaper components, and are not designed to be easily disassembled. A screen replacement on a Latitude is only a few minutes, while the same job on a $350 Inspiron took the better part of a day due to literally needing to take apart the entire thing to get to the connector. Same goes for other brands, HP's Probooks tend to be better built and to work on than Pavilions, Lenovo's Thinkpads have a reputation for being soild as a tank, but I can't recommend anything from Lenovo these days due to being caught multiple times in the last year installing malware and rootkits on their devices. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I haven't found the laptop yet that I can't perform surgery on. Froggy's right though... some of the "home" models are put together like a chines puzzle box... gotta take every damn thing apart to get to a little plug. Or whatever tiny piece you need to get to. | ||
| Rsh |
Sometimes after my laptop battery is fully charged I still leave the charger plugged in, I don't believe the battery still charges after it's reached full charge. The charger and the battery are not warm to the touch as they are when the battery is actually charging. This is a Lenovo laptop | ||
| Reepicheep |
There is a specific charge sequence you have to follow for a LiIon cell. There are dirt cheap IC's that do it all for you now, you can get modules for $1.50 on ebay. Here is a nice detailed description: http://powersimtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04 /Tutorial-How-to-use-Lithium-Ion-battery-model.pdf Basically, you charge at a pretty high rate of X amps (where X is a function of the size of the cell and its peak output current capability) until it hits a particular voltage, like 4.2 volts or something, and then you ramp down the charge and keep stuffing electrons in there slowly ramping down. At that point, it is fully charged, and self discharging (slowly). But you can't tell how much from the voltage at the terminals while it is half discharged. So basically the circuits wait until it drops really low, like 3.2 volts, then recharge it from scratch. If you slowly trickle a constant current, even just a little, the cells will fail quickly (like in a few days). | ||
| Aesquire |
http://www.cnet.com/news/why-batteries-arent-getti ng-better/?ftag=CAD1acfa04&bhid=210427543778656397 31827326151938 |
