Proper battery care

[matter11]

what's the proper way to schedule charging/battery use to minimize battery degradation? I mean should you try to use the battery until it's at a really low level THEN start charging, should you charge it every chance you get even when it's full? or somewhere in between?

[Vandamguy]

Depends what kind of battery it is... Be more specific.

[kaese]

From what I recall, lithium-ion batteries (the ones that are rechargeable and in laptops, cell phones, etc)lasts longer when partially discharged. So I would go with charging the battery very frequently, as charging it when it's 50% drained vs when it's 90% drained should not affect the life of the battery very much. But remember to stop charging once you reach 100% because then the temp of the battery begins to rise and that affects the life of the battery and there's the chance that it might combust from the high temp.
I have a story about exploding batteries: At Rayovac, some idiot threw all the old testing lithium batteries into one of those large garbage bins. Somehow along the way, H20 was also thrown into the bin and moments later the garbage bin blew up onto the highway nearby. Li and H20 = not safe.

Lithium-ion batteries also have a lifespan of 2-3 years so it is more than likely that you will either have to buy a new battery or a new laptop once it dies on you.

I'll clarify some of this with my mother later today because I don't trust my knowledge of lithium-ion batteries.

[matter11]

Depends what kind of battery it is... Be more specific.

netbook battery.

And I don't keep it plugged in when it's fully charged but it's already at about 50% of its original capacity despite only being used for a little more than a month >

[Vandamguy]

It was.my understanding that you should charge laptop/netbook batteries as needed like 100 - 0 100 - 0? ?

[at0m]

That was the case with the old NiCd batteries, but I think the LiIon technology is memoryless so it doesn't matter. Or is that the whole discussion we're having?

[WaR1761]

Whats the brand/model of your netbook?

Across the board I would use either your systems battery managing utility or windows built in one. If you are using a Lithium-ion polymer(LiPo) battery which most reputable laptop vendors use now a days.

LiPo cells  are great compared to older Nickel-metal hydride(NiMH) and even older Nickel-cadmium(NiCd) batteries. Charging "Memory" was a huge issue with NiCd and a little better on NiMH however LiPo batteries aren't effected by it. Another benefit is that LiPo batteries can hold a charge longer then the other types, for example you can leave a battery fully charged for 2 months or so and it maybe loss about 1% of its charge. Another great benefit of LiPos is that their discharge rate doesn't vary much, this means you will have nearly the same voltage at the start compared to the end of charge. Voltage differences doesn't mean much for a laptop but it does for motors.

Some of the dis-advantage that LiPos have are that they have a limited life span in the sense that they are good for X amount of charging cycles before they die. Better quality batteries will usually have more cycles then cheaper versions. A LiPo batteries voltage range varries from 4.2v fully charged to 3.7v fully discharged. When the cells drop below 3.7v or otherwise fucked with is when shit like this happens:

LiPo-burning

You don't have to worry about this since your laptop manages how the cells are charged and discharged.

If you are going to do long term storage charge the battery to around 50% and store in a cool dry place. Keeping the battery at 100% is not the greatest for LiPos since you can run into some heat issues where you could end up with puffy cells and premature degradation of the performance. You shouldn't have to worry about this since your laptops power utility will manage it for you. For example my Thinkpad T60 I am on right now is sitting at 98% charge and won't charge up until it has dipped below 96%. If you want to be really anal you can remove the battery from the laptop when it is plugged in to any potential from running at 100% charge.

As for what Käse mentioned in regards to water exposure that isn't too much of an issue for LiPo batteries as it isn't as volatile as some other alkali metals. Not saying it can't happen, but just less likely due to packaging.

Finally my experience with the batteries come mainly from R/C Cars and laptop so there are differences between the two and the purposes.

[zaneyard]

do some research online, none of us are experts here

[KorJax]

Pretty sure most current lithium ion batteries are somehow polimer based and therefore don't have any real charging requirements. AKA you can leave it plugged in or run it down doesnt matter - they will generally start losing their charge at the same rate. Older Li batteries tended to degrade faster when constantly plugged in, therefore it was suggested to always fully drain a battery and fully recharging for best battery lifespan.