Arrives tomorrow, pretty excited about that! Im gunna be installing linux on it (expect a thread in software). But I also have a hardware question.
Its a dell inspiron 1501, sounds pretty nifty, but im worried about the battery.
I heard (here i think) that if you leave your laptop plugged in all the time, the battery will die slowly, until eventually youll only get like ten mins of power out of it, something to do with it constantly discharging or soemthing?
Anyway, will this be an issue in my dell laptop, and what can i do to prevent it?
It varies by battery composition. Some of the new Li-ion ones arent that sensitive. The li-ion one in my Dell Latitude is five years old and still will power the lappie for two hours. If youre not planning on moving around for a while, pop it out if practical.
Ubuntu install guide:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=308165
Wait until the battery is charged and then pull it out. You can put it back in if you need to use it on the move.
What happens is the battery gets fully charged and then continuously bashes its power line against the max power level. This does cause problems. Some Manufacturers advise a maximum charge of 80% for a doubling of battery life.
Serious is sorta right. My battery died in less than 6 months because I left the laptop plugged in all the time. No longer would even take a charge, constantly read 0% never mind how much I tried charging it or let it rest.
Bought a new one, and religiously unplug the charger when it hits 100%, and plug back in when I get the low batt warning.
Its better to cycle the battery in this fashion, than it is to constantly charge it.
Quote from: M3ta7h3adSerious is sorta right. My battery died in less than 6 months because I left the laptop plugged in all the time. No longer would even take a charge, constantly read 0% never mind how much I tried charging it or let it rest.
Bought a new one, and religiously unplug the charger when it hits 100%, and plug back in when I get the low batt warning.
Its better to cycle the battery in this fashion, than it is to constantly charge it.
Is it better to use up the battery in that fashion, or to use serious Charge and then take out until you need it method?
Any ideas people.
Ps. thanks for the guide maxi.
The stuff I gave was the latest Panasonic advice. You can use it either way providing you dont leave it in for too long while its being used on the mains.
If you are going to use it mostly as a Desk Top Replacement then mine is better, if you are going to mix use or mostly on the go then M3ta7h3ads is probably better although you have to remember to pull the power and restore it.
It also depends on how easy it is to remove the battery, if its difficult then again use M3ta7h3ads, if it just un-clips and pulls out use mine. This is also probably the simplest choice ;)
ahhhhh so thats why my HP battery died so quickly!!
QuoteOvercharging lithium-ion cells can result in safety concerns if the voltage is allowed to go above 4.5 volts per cell. Generally lithium-ion cells will deliver the most cycles when charged to 4.1 volts. Cell manufacturers usually suggest charging to 4.2 volts to get the maximum capacity from the cell and still insuring 500+ cycles. Testing has shown that overcharging by 0.1 V or 0.25 volts will not result in safety issues but can reduce cycle life by up to 80 percent.
http://www.motorola.com/testservices/article1.htm
Li-Ion batteries also hate being hot, and they get pretty warm if left in the lappy all the time.
definitely best to remove the battery when running on mains juice.
Store it charged though, as Li-Ions also hate being dead flat. If they drop below a certain level of charge they wont accept a charge anymore. Most batteries have safety circuits to prevent them from going that low in normal use, but if you store the battery discharged it will eventually self discharge to the point where it breaks.
Quote from: M3ta7h3adSerious is sorta right. My battery died in less than 6 months because I left the laptop plugged in all the time. No longer would even take a charge, constantly read 0% never mind how much I tried charging it or let it rest.
Bought a new one, and religiously unplug the charger when it hits 100%, and plug back in when I get the low batt warning.
Its better to cycle the battery in this fashion, than it is to constantly charge it.
Problem with that is alot of new laptops do the stupid thing of whenever running off battery they slow down the CPU to increase battery life
...
Thats stupid? Most these days dont slow down to below 1GHz and that is still more than enough to use word or watch a DVD with....
In any case, any decent laptop will let you turn that off with software.