subject: The 4 Battery Lifecycle Tips [print this page] A friend recently asked me how hecould prolong the battery life of his dell notebook? As we often get the same question from our customers as well, I thought it would be worth sharing The 4 Battery Lifecycle Tips from Dell with you:
Some background information beforehand:
Each notebook battery gets used up like the brakes in a car. A battery with normal usage (office) has a limited lifetime of about 400 cycles (charge /re-charge). With each charge the battery capacity decreases by a small amount. In normal usage battery cells have a rest capacity of 60% after 400 cycles.
Charging the battery: A battery pack(such as dell Latitude CPi battery, dell Inspiron 8200 battery, dell Inspiron 8000 battery, dell Inspiron 8100 battery and dell Inspiron 4000 batterynormally consists of several cells. When the battery is charged, its temperature is increased due to chemical effects. Therefore it is mandatory to charge the battery according to the suppliers specifications. It is especially important that the battery cells are not charged too fast, otherwise the batteries are overheating this causes irreparable damage. Dell notebooks feature a patented battery charging technology which automatically charges the battery in an optimal manner.
Temperature of the environment/surroundings: The higher the temperature of the surroundings the faster the battery cells are used up.
Usage of the battery: If the notebook is regularly used with highest performance powering only by battery, the battery temperature will rise. The higher the temperature of the cells, the faster the battery is used up. Therefore, should the notebook regularly be used at the highest performance level, Dell recommends powering the notebook with an AC adaptor if available.
Sporadic notebook usage: If you dont use your notebook for a long period of time, Dell recommends to load the battery up to 50-70% and leave the battery with the notebook in a cold and dry room (around 10-15 Centigrade).
Please be aware that a battery is a consumer item and that you should not just think about how to best conserve it would you also try to conserve your brake pads by not using them?
