• Hardware
  • life battery and on-going charging

Does leaving your laptop charged on all the time bad for you battery?
I read too much on this matter...only Apple meantioned the fact that you should an extensive cycle every now and then ( full discharge and recharge ) but other only mentioned the effect of temperature on the battery and its shelf-life .
What do you think ?!
Yes, and even more for Apple, it seems. I mean I've had a problem with an overcharged battery. The battery expanded with gasses. If it's an internal battery it can bloat the case of your laptop and change it's shape, and, AFAIK it has to be thrown away because the gasses it contains are dangerous (although I regret throwing it away now, it was working... only the shape had changed... I would have tried to fix it, although I do not recommend this to anyone)
yes you should constantly discharge and recharge and not leave it on the adapter 24/7 because the battery cells inside will die
but modern laptops are "intelligent" enough to stop recharging when the batteries are full right?
Tarek wrotebut modern laptops are "intelligent" enough to stop recharging when the batteries are full right?
My 2006 Macbook white was not. If I understood well, the charger "calibrates" when you charge and then discharge a battery. If the battery is always charged, then it looses this calibration. That's all I know.
AvoK95 wroteyes you should constantly discharge and recharge and not leave it on the adapter 24/7 because the battery cells inside will die
I don't think so. I think that will consume the battery life. A battery has a limited number of charge-discharge cycles. AFAIK you should completely discharge the battery from time to time (maybe once a month, or every couple of weeks, or something, or maybe every week... I don't know) to avoid overcharging.

If you're your laptop is constantly plugged in and you're worried about this problem, why not remove the battery and get a UPS - it will also avoid wearing up the battery. You can still put it back in when you need it.
now this is an idea ! hehe
depends on battery type, if its lithiom ion battery(which most current laptops are), don't over recharge, keep it cool, you have to completely discharge it every 500 cycles or so, else you should usually recharge it when 30-40% power remain, they have 3 year life , they age as soon as they leave the factory (even if they are not used)
they have a risk of explosion when overheating or overcharging, you should charge for 3-5 hours for the very first time for 3 times or so, then start normal usage
For Lithium-ion, it's not only overcharging...at temperature increases, the higher the sustained battery level, the shorter the lifespan. For example, a battery dies much faster @40C @100% than @40C @40%. When you're running on AC power, you can disconnect the charger and simply let the battery drain, and if you're worrying about AC power loss, then yes a UPS is the way to go. Also, be sure to select high performance if you're running graphics-intensive loads since battery mode will crank the frequencies down a lot.

Storing a lithium battery @40%, NOT @100%, is ideal, since the lithium battery runs a few circuits of its own that assure safety and operation, so it drains a tiny bit. Don't leave it for more than 3-6months (I think the latter is more correct? I'm not sure), as reaching 0% level damages the lithium battery. This is also the reason why lithium-running devices power down when they reach a critical threshold. This is to prevent battery damage. In those cases, you should NEVER leave the battery un-charged.

After, let's say 30 charge / discharge cycles, it is advisable to fully drain the battery then fully charge it. This is to calibrate the battery and ensure that its meter is not off, so it doesn't say 5% left when you have 20%, or say 100% when you only have 90%, for example.

Long, sustained recharges are better for lifespan than short, successive recharges. But you cannot always achieve with that. So it's better to follow the other instructions, THEN focus on this. This is because a battery is a convenience device, not a paranoia device.
Wow, so many conflicting opinions, and I didn't know we had batter experts here :-D
So, what we all seem to agree on, is that the battery needs a complete discharge/charge cycle from time to time, and if you want to store the battery, make sure it remains partially charged, ideally 40%.

@yasamoka if 40% is the optimal charge for preserving the battery lifespan, could they not be software that keeps the battery at this level even when your laptop is plugged in?
rolf wrote@yasamoka if 40% is the optimal charge for preserving the battery lifespan, could they not be software that keeps the battery at this level even when your laptop is plugged in?
Ideally, lithium ion batteries should not be able to overcharge, since it's dangerous. Supposedly, they have built-in circuits which shut off the current to the battery once it's reading 100% (note that this can be off, as I said). Now if you were going to limit charging to 40%, then you would need to throw off the gauge to read 100% and the battery level to actually be 40% (calibrate gauge by full discharge and recharge, measure voltage at 100%, measure voltage at 40%), which is quite tough since the battery will not shut off when it reaches 0%, but may shut off at a much higher APPARENT level, which means the system would shut down without warning, and would require close monitoring. This is also damaging to the battery, except if you manually shut it off at let's say 5-10% ACTUAL level (again, measure voltage at 5-10%).

Software does not interfere with battery operation. It merely reads the information the battery reports, that which can definitely be off. According to my knowledge, REGULAR lithium batteries cannot be calibrated nor manipulated by software.
Actually i'm using Sony VAIO E series, i can control the battery's charge activity. I'm limiting it at 80% so it will last longer usually if i don't use the battery, only electricity failure. {Battery Care Function} (Too bad i cant control it from Linux, hmm)
TPR0 wroteActually i'm using Sony VAIO E series, i can control the battery's charge activity. I'm limiting it at 80% so it will last longer usually if i don't use the battery, only electricity failure. {Battery Care Function} (Too bad i cant control it from Linux, hmm)
NICE! This is why I said "regular" lithium batteries. The Sony Vaio E batteries are probably specialized ones, or the charger passes through a laptop integrated circuit that carries out the shutting off functions, to the battery. So yes, it's the exception rather than the rule though.
thanks yasamoka! that saved me from writing an article about the battery :P
one thing though, if you won't charge more than 40% the battery will report wrong readings, so if it says 40% its not actually 40, it could be less, so my advice is to charge it fully each time you will use it, but not to discharge it fully either, as i read on other websites(or maybe i just confused the number) it was discharge every 500 cycles

edit:ok my bad, i confused it, it was 50 cycles not 500, or you could just do it once a month i guess