Comments on: How To Extend Battery Life For Your Gadgets When They Hit The Road

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 23:39:55 +0000

In reply to kent. Hi Kent, it's a little bit of both for a lithium-ion battery. You want to generally keep it charged 40-80%, but never 100% for days on end (plugged in). Unplug it regularly to let the battery drain about 50%, then recharge. Once a month, do a full drain and recharge. Obviously it's not always possible to do either depending on your circumstances but a good battery regimen to follow. Hope that clears it up a bit but do let me know if not.

By: kent

kent — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 23:29:17 +0000

Hi Anil, I am only discovering this post now about batteries, and I am confused about something. If you have a laptop with a lithium ion battery, are you suggesting to continually drain it and recharge, never to keep it at 100% for longer than a few hours?

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:25:34 +0000

In reply to JoAnna. hehe, thanks! That's him roughing the elements :P

By: JoAnna

JoAnna — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:11:11 +0000

This is really helpful information. I could actually afford to do more of these things at home, too.

(Also, the pup is looking as cute as ever!)

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:45:07 +0000

In reply to Someday I’ll Be There – Mina.

The long answer is that it depends on the type of battery but in most cases, leaving the battery in and following the advice above is ideal. The chemicals in any battery decay with time, whether in use or on a shelf. Also, most laptops are designed to use the battery as an extra ‘buffer’ (conditioner) for electricity coming into the laptop. That can extend the life of your laptop in case there’s an unusually large power surge (which is probably more common in places like, say, Egypt 😉

I would strongly recommend leaving the battery in your laptop 🙂 Hope this helps!