Should I leave my laptop plugged in and charging when not out and about? What’s best for batteries? This is a tough question, and there is a lot of conflicting advice. Let’s take a look below!
You can’t overcharge your laptop’s battery
It is important to understand how standard Li-Ion and Li-Polymer batteries work in modern devices. There are a lot of myths about batteries out there. There is no way to “overcharge” these batteries. When you reach 100% charge and leave the laptop plugged in, the charger will stop charging the battery. The laptop will run directly from the power cord. After the battery is slightly discharged, the charger will turn on again and turn off the battery. There is no risk of damaging the battery by exceeding its capacity.
All batteries wear out over time
The more you charge the battery, the more it wears out. Different batteries have different ratings, but you can generally expect around 500 full charge cycles.
This doesn’t mean you should avoid discharging your battery. Storing the battery at high power is not good for it. On the other hand, letting the battery drain completely every time you use it sucks. On top of that, high temperatures also drain the battery faster.
In other words, if you’re going to keep your laptop’s battery in a closet somewhere, it’s best to keep it at around 50% charge capacity and make sure the closet is fairly cool. This will prolong the life of the battery.
If possible, remove the battery to avoid heat
If your laptop has a removable battery, you may need to remove the battery from the laptop if you plan to be plugged in for extended periods of time. This will ensure that the battery is not exposed to all the unnecessary heat.
But should I plug it in or not?
It’s not clear which is more bad for the battery. Keeping a battery at 100% capacity shortens its lifespan, but so does running it through repeated discharge and charge cycles. Basically, no matter what you do, your battery will wear out and lose capacity. That’s how batteries work.
Apple used to advise against leaving MacBooks plugged in all the time, but their battery advice page no longer has that advice. Some PC makers say it’s OK to leave a laptop plugged in all the time, while others advise against it for no reason.
Apple used to recommend charging and discharging laptop batteries at least once a month, but it doesn’t do that anymore. If you’re concerned about keeping your laptop plugged in, you may want to charge it once a month to be on the safe side. But whether this will help depends on the device and its battery technology, so there’s really no one-size-fits-all answer.
Discharging and recharging occasionally can help “calibrate” the battery
Giving your laptop an occasional full charge cycle can help calibrate the battery on many laptops. This ensures that the laptop knows exactly how much power it has left and can show you an accurate estimate. In other words, if your battery isn’t properly calibrated, Windows might think you have 20% battery left when it’s actually 0%, and your laptop will shut down without giving you much warning.
This calibration process doesn’t prolong the battery’s life or make it hold more power, it just ensures that the computer gives you an accurate estimate.
Your laptop’s battery won’t last forever, no matter what you do, its capacity will gradually decrease over time. Of course, even if the laptop’s battery capacity drops, you can still keep using it while plugged in.
>>>>>>>>>>>>Laptop battery
Thanks for reading, hope it helps!
Friendly reminder: If you need to replace the battery of your device, this battery store will be a good choice: www.batteryforpc.co.uk