Do you leave your Laptop battery plugged IN or OUT

[JolyV]

always IN

"Charging will start when below 30% and stop at 99%, and every three months fully discharge"

[callan]

I bought a Dell Vostro 5 years ago (2.4Gig Core2 Duo), and decided to do an experiment.
Note: it lives %95 of it's life as a desktop in the library - it's the machine I do all my business work on.

I bought it with 2 batteries - an extended battery, and the standard one.
The standard one was left in the unit. (powered all the time) - gave about 3 hours.

The extended battery (which stuck out the back a bit) - I treated differently.
I charge it to %80, then put it in an airtight ziploc bag, with a small bag of desiccant, and keep it in the back of the fridge. Every 6 months or so (or when I need to use the lappy on battery) - I would take it out, leave it to warm up (to avoid condensation) - then remove it from the bag. Charge it to %100, and use it. (usually discharge it down to %20 or so.)
When I'd finished using it, I'd fully charge it, and then discharge it back down to %80, and put it back in the bag with some new desiccant, and back in the fridge.

After about 3 years the smaller battery was stuffed - I'd get about 30 minutes out of it on idle. I no longer use it, or have it plugged in.
The extended battery still gets 4+ hours of active use.

So:
1: Leaving batteries in a laptop kills them.
2: Keeping them cool and dry, and charging them gently makes them last a long time.

Callan

edit: I'm still using the notebook - it's quick, reliable, and runs Win7 a treat. Since I mainly use it for business applications and browsing (and MP3 ripping from CD's) I've no reason to replace it. I reckon it's still got years left in it.

[OnGsTa]

I've definitely read articles before stating that if you're running laptops off mains for extended periods then it's recommended that you unplug the battery. As mentioned above, the heat generated from laptop on a desk usually slowly degrades the battery.

I take out the battery when I "dock" the laptop and use it as my desktop replacement, and reinsert it before bed so it's fully charged and ready for the road the next day. I don't carry a charger around with me, the W110ER charger is almost the size of the laptop itself!

[oclockforlyfe]

This should be a poll.

My netbook is plugged in all the time, unless I need to use it away from the socket.

Every few weeks, I let the battery run down to about 5% before recharging.

[trackhappy]

I haven't got a laptop, but I know my iPhone is approaching 400 cycles, and only ever charges to about 82% nowadays, so I try and keep it plugged in as much as possible to avoid draining the battery as much as possible.

Not sure if there's any logic in that but seems to make sense to me.

[octagonalman]

I leave my battery in, set Thinkpad power manager to start charging battery when it drops below 40% and to stop charging when it reaches 60%. I think full charge/discharge cycles are only good to calibrate the readings otherwise it's just more wear for the battery.

[JolyV]

Originally Posted by callan

I bought a Dell Vostro 5 years ago (2.4Gig Core2 Duo), and decided to do an experiment...

.

Very interesting

[power]

charge often but always let your battery run down to some percentage but never completely flat.

If you have it on a desk unplug and run battery down to at least 60% at least once a week.

[glenpinn]

well to those who say leaving the battery in a laptop over a couple of years will kill it, i suggest that this may be the case with your own laptop, but i can assure you that it is NOT the case with every laptop battery.

i have a dell studio 1735 laptop with the big bulky 9 cell battery, it has never left the laptop in 3.5 years, and the power meter still has it at 90% of full charge, so i reckon thats pretty good, and 90% definately is not considered "dead"

i had a 18.5" toshiba qosmio for 1 year, and it had a 12 cell battery, again never left the laptop, which was always used as a desktop, and never used on battery power, and the battery lost 30% of charge in that time.

for mobility, i generally try to buy a notebook that has over 6 hours battery life, such as my toshiba T130 which gives me between 7 and 8 hours under normal use, and i always buy a 2nd battery to give me double the battery time for use on the road, but that battery will be used as my primary one while out and about, where the main battery is the one i use at home, so both get used.

im not going to go to the trouble of putting a battery in the freezer just to save it from losing power, i never know when i need to use that notebook so i just leave the 2nd battery in the carry bag.

im not paranoid, it doesnt bother me, just buy a new one if the old one dies or gets worn out.

also, i just prefer having my batteries in while on mains power in case we get a power outage, the battery kicks in and i can continue with what im doing, or save it and shut the laptop down.

there is no set rule, just use your battery the way you prefer to use it.

[chi]

of course there's no real set rules, there are too many variables at play, ie battery quality, charger quality, charging settings, usage environment, etc.

That toshiba qosmio battery is getting quite close to dead (my "dead" level is around ~40%) and its only 1yr with not actual real use. Does it run hotter than your dell?

Also, the windows battery meter doesnt seem that accurate (for me anyway), it'll read 100% but my battery only charges to 52000 mWh compared to 62000 mWh when it was new

[glenpinn]

Originally Posted by chi

of course there's no real set rules, there are too many variables at play, ie battery quality, charger quality, charging settings, usage environment, etc.

That toshiba qosmio battery is getting quite close to dead (my "dead" level is around ~40%) and its only 1yr with not actual real use. Does it run hotter than your dell?

Also, the windows battery meter doesnt seem that accurate (for me anyway), it'll read 100% but my battery only charges to 52000 mWh compared to 62000 mWh when it was new

i generally use CPUID HWMonitor to test temps and battery condition, but some laptop manufacturers have their own tool for testing hardware so it pays to run 2 battery tests at least.

i dont have the qosmio x500 any more, i sold that earlier this year so i cant comment on it now, but the buyer uses the laptop as a desktop, and even tho i made him aware of the 70% battery life, he wasnt bothered.

[electro rc]

I never used to leave it plugged into mains power but i got very very annoyed when ever time i went to use it it was flat. now i use it until i get the low battery warning and then plug it into mains power or if im in bed i plug it in (everyone knows how hard it is to do something like find a charger when your in bed, espescially in winter, haha). also my laptop hardly ever gets turned off.
my mum however NEVER unplugs her laptop (family pc) and leaves the battery in.

[SuiCid3]

I purchased a Sony FW46 about 5 years ago which was used as my main desktop.
Battery was never taken out. Charger was plugged in and charging about 95% of the time.
These days I would be lucky to get 20 minutes running standalone.

[TERRA Operative]

Everything plugged in here.

My eeepc never leaves my desk (maybe once every few months), so I don't care about the battery, plus I got a spare from a previous eeepc anyway.

If it prevents data loss in a power outage, it's done its job.