Top Tips For Better Maintaining Laptop Batteries

Many laptop users do not take proper care of their laptop batteries and the result is an impaired user experience and frustration. Caring for laptop batteries is simple and needs the user to take a brief moment to understand how they should maintain and care for their laptop and its power supply. In the majority of cases it only requires a slight modification of user behavior to avoid problems.

Laptop owners frequently omit to read and care for laptop batteries and make two very simple mistakes. In the first instance they use the laptop battery power in continuous conjunction with the AC power supply. Eventually they find the laptop will not power up when they come to use it. The second instance is to use battery power with no regard to the effect of repeatedly discharging the battery only partially.

What do you do when you try to switch on your laptop and all you get is dead silence? First step: remove the battery and then connect to the AC power supply alone. If the laptop powers up you know you have a problem with the laptop battery. A process known as purging is often enough to resolve the battery issue and we'll show you what to do later on.

Failing to discharge your laptop battery completely will affect your battery life when you come to use the laptop on battery power only, typically when you are mobile. The issue is that the less you discharge the stored power in the battery when you are using it, the less it will take a recharge. This phenomenon is known as "memory" and results in battery "fade", that is where the battery has learned by partial displacement of it's charge that it needs only a lower charge and hence it's use becomes restricted.

If you have experienced a shortening of the life of your battery charge when it comes to using the laptop on battery power only, then you are experiencing battery fade. The question becomes: what can you do to ensure that you do not suffer from a restriction of the use of your laptop when you are on the move.

Here are a couple of tips to help you get the most out of your laptop battery and maintain laptop utility. First check whether you have Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) batteries or the Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) type, and take some time to read the manufacturers instructions for caring for them.

The first tip is to ensure that you completely discharge your laptop battery. You do this by powering the laptop up using battery power alone and with the AC power disconnected. Allow the laptop to run the battery down completely until you get the battery low warning. Reconnect the AC power and allow the battery to be recharged from this state, for the period the manufacturer advises for recharge (as long as 12 hours).

The second thing you can do is to purge the battery as we have mentioned before. Purging is where you allow the laptop to completely discharge the battery until the unit powers off completely. You do not connect the AC power supply until the unit has completely powered off and to ensure a full discharge you should disable the hibernation or any power supply sleep management function that the laptop has. Once the laptop has powered off, reconnect the AC power supply but do not switch the laptop on. Leave the laptop like this for 24 hours and repeat this process every month for NiCad batteries and every 3 months for NiMH.

These two simple procedures will ensure that you are able to prolong the life of your laptop battery and make sure you can get the most out of mobile computing. Reading the battery care instructions will take only a few minutes. The return on this simple investment is not simply the money you will need to expend to replace otherwise perfectly good laptop batteries but the enhanced use and productivity to be gained from using your laptop when you need it and wherever you happen to be.

Article Source: http://www.rightbiz.com

Additional reading: Discover more details about laptop service manuals and help for laptop repair - visit the links for more details.

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