laptop battery

[askcv]

Can someone help me to get more life from my battery? It is a lithium type and after a year of use it is lucky to last 45 minutes. It gave me 2 hours when new, but has been deteriorating. I was told there is a way to re-set it, but cannot find any way to do so.

[Office Update]

12 to 15 months is great for a notebook battery! You have done well.

[touch&go]

Everytime you charge the battery there is a reduction in life of the battery, some batteris have a 200 cycle life, so a new battery will fix your problem.....I know this will cost you a lot.

Giving the Battery a good discharge every month will also help maintain the battery,

[ShyTorque]

My BIOS has a programme built in to clibrate and reset the battery; yours might also have one, have a look.

Even so, mine also needs a new battery after nearly four years!

[BALOO]

askcv
Does your battery show 100% when fully charged? If it does then I think you'll have to accept that it may be time for a new battery. However, if the problem is that it will not take a full charge then you can get a small program that will fix the problem.
I left my laptop on and completely ran down the battery once and when I went to recharge it, it 'stopped' around 70%. Over a couple of weeks this reduced to around 40% max charge. Following a phone call to the manufacturers tech helpline, they E-mailed a 'fix' which worked a treat! However, as I nearly always plug into the mains I can't say for certain that the 100% time is the same as it was - but it's certainly more than when it was showing 40%! (I always say in this forum that I'm no computer buff - so check with an expert, but I hope it helps)
:)


[This message has been edited by BALOO (edited 09 June 2001).]

[askcv]

Thanks for the help. Appreciate it..

[BoeingBoy]

Gateway have a BIOS program called a battery learning cycle.

My two year old 12 cell lithium batteries are both still doing 2.5 to 3 hrs of use without fail.

I make sure that both are dischrarged every so often and once a year or so use the floppy disk to recycle the cells.

I am pleased with the results but the alternative is £70 plus for a replacement.

[johntrav69]

I have a digital camera and mobile phone with Lithium battery and I thought I could just recharge as and when. Am I doing the wrong thing by 'topping them up' and should I be completely discharging like the old nicads??

[HandyAndy]

Guys,

Having read this thread and knowing my laptop battery (LIon - three year old machine) had deteriorated to the extent of only getting fifteen minutes out of it, I decided to run some tests.
I charged the battery to an indicated full charge and then booted into the BIOS (did not boot to Windows) and disconnected the mains. I noted at what percentage of battery condition I got the first warning ("beep") of low battery and then at what percentage the machine "ran out" of charge (I had to sit by the machine whilst doing this).
The first cycle was 90% and 70% respectively. Clearly the battery or its reporting mechanism was way off so after reconnecting the mains (without booting) and charging I repeated it, booting to BIOS setup each time and running it down. I noted the readings each time and with each cycle the battery condition reporting and life improved to the extent that I can now get at least an hour plus out of a full charge and the machine shuts off at 0%. I ran this cycle a full six times and it took a full day.

The battery is still down on what it should be but it gives me a bit of breathing space before I'll have to replace it.

Clearly, the battery dislikes being "topped up" all the time ( I am usually plugged into the mains most days) but it is not practical to run the battery right down and recharge each time (particularly if you are working in Windows). I don't think any of us are doing the wrong thing by topping up - it is just unavoidable but the above may be of use to anyone who has battery condition problems and give you a bit extra life out of the baby.

By the way, I had to disable the "critical suspend" option in the Power section of the BIOS to stop the machine going into "suspend" mode when the battery got too low. Check your documentation.

Best!
HA

[Hobbee]

12 months and jobs done otherwise it will let you down when you need it most.