Docking Stations and Laptop Battery Life
June 22, 2007 7:52 AM   Subscribe

LaptopFilter: Am I decreasing the effective lifespan of my battery by using a docking station 95% of the time?

Yes, I've heard that batteries nowadays are smart enough to not "overcharge", but the last two laptops I've had have experienced battery death after almost exactly one year. I take great care to never half-drain or half-charge the battery. Would I be safer to remove the battery when I have my laptop docked? Would letting the battery sit around unused harm it even more?

FWIW: I just got a Latitude D630 and use the PR01X docking station.
posted by GatorDavid to Computers & Internet (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I used to be a believer in taking out the battery if you're going to be plugged in all the time, but (a)- I got that way from starting out with NiCd batteries, and (b)- I have read in some user manuals that this causes damage. (don't know if this is to the battery or to the charging system)
posted by MtDewd at 8:13 AM on June 22, 2007


Along the same lines of this question, is it bad for a laptop to be plugged in a lot of the time?

Sorry to piggyback, but I'm pretty sure those mean just about the same thing.

For the record, I've always thought you should let the battery drain once it reaches 100%, and then recharge from as low as you can get it. But I don't know if that still applies today.
posted by DMan at 8:14 AM on June 22, 2007


I know with Apple laptops, they advise to let it fully discharge once a month, other then that it is "smart" enough to fully charge, discharge a little then recharge again.
posted by ShawnString at 8:32 AM on June 22, 2007


let the battery drain once it reaches 100%, and then recharge
That was good advice for NiCads, but the D630 probably has a lithium battery. Dell insists the battery won't overcharge. This is fine while you're using it, but I'm not sure what happens when it's sleeping/hibernating...
posted by MtDewd at 8:35 AM on June 22, 2007


Best answer: Time to attend Battery University.

The biggest reason to remove the battery when using the AC adapter is to avoid heat exposure.
posted by deadfather at 8:44 AM on June 22, 2007


Yep. Read all about it here.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:32 AM on June 22, 2007


Best answer: Personally, I find that thinking of laptop batteries as consumables is a lot better than thinking of them as permanent parts. I have a couple of inexpensive laptops which have desktop Intel processors, and which are only going to get an hour and half on battery, at best. They're really more "transportables" than laptops, but they work very, very well, and to me, the battery in these machines is really the lightweight UPS for the system I'm carrying around. Mine cost about $100 to replace every 15 to 18 months, which is less than a cup of bad Starbucks coffee a week.

My advice? The extra life you might get by taking out a lithium battery from a plugged in laptop is rarely worth the hassle of doing it, and the risk you incur of crashing the system on power dropouts. What's the best you can hope for, in terms of extended battery life by doing this? 3- 6 months, on the back end where simple aging effects will have already cut the run time of the old battery significantly? Not worth it to me...
posted by paulsc at 11:32 AM on June 22, 2007


If you are using the laptop primarily as if it were a desktop, I think it'd be cheaper in the long run to buy a UPS to hook to the docking station, and store the battery in the fridge. My UPS batteries last three or four years, and cost around $25 a pop. If you are using it on the go all the time, that'd be silly though.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:29 PM on June 22, 2007


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