Extending Laptop Battery Life

If you are interested in extending your laptop battery life the first thing you should do is upgrade your system so that it uses lithium ion batteries and a lithium battery charger. The life of a Lilon battery can be managed and extended much easier than if you are using the old nickel cadmium kind.

Extending the life of the newer Lilon batteries is different than extending the laptop battery life of the old nickel based NiCad batteries. In the case of the NiCad, extending the laptop battery life was a matter of never putting the batteries in the laptop battery charger until they were completely out of power. This shortening of laptop battery life was due to an effect called the “memory effect.”

In the case of the Lilon battery it is a better idea to put your batteries in the laptop battery charger before they run out. To extend this type of laptop battery it is recommended that you store them in a cool dry place and keep them charged to a level of about 40%. That way they are always available to use in case of an emergency (such as a power outage) and they will always bee guaranteed to work as well. The other good thing about this type of battery is that they do not experience the memory effect. Running them down tends to reduce the laptop battery life as opposed to extend, as was the case with the old nickel cadmium type batteries. One drawback of these new lighter batteries is that they will go bad no matter what after a shelf life of about two or three years. However the good news is that if you maintain them properly using a laptop battery charger and always keep them charged partially then they should live out their maximum life span.

To extend battery lifespan, make sure that you are using the right type of laptop battery charger to recharge your lithium batteries. This is because if you don’t treat them possible the volatile lithium metal inside them can explode or catch on file. So the laptop battery charger that is best for extending battery life will have an internal circuit to prevent overcharging (which would cause them to get too hot).

If your laptop battery charger senses the lithium battery overheating it has several ways of protecting your computer from damage. The best quality laptop battery chargers shut the computer off when the voltage drops. If a short circuit is detected, if a power surge is detected or if the laptop battery charger detects that the battery itself has become wet, hot or damaged in some way the computer will also be shut of. If you have bought a high quality laptop battery charge it will do all of the above. When shopping for laptop battery chargers look for these types of features as they will extend your battery life. Also, don’t make the mistake of charging them deeply or repeatedly or you could shorten their life.

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