Posts Tagged laptop battery

Problems with Laptop Battery Charging

Posted by admin in Batteries, Laptops on

Troubleshooting for your laptop battery that would not charge should be done before bringing your laptop to a service center, or buying a new laptop battery. Just follow these instructions below to pinpoint the cause of the problem in charging your laptop batteries.

First, make sure that the problem is not with the laptop charger. Remove the laptop battery from the laptop. Plug in the laptop charger directly into the battery-less laptop and try to see if you can power up the laptop. If it does not power up, and not even a single indicator light turns on, then the problem is with your laptop charger. If you have a voltmeter, test if there is power being produced by the laptop charger. Also, test if the power cord has no breaks along the line, and that power is not disconnected from the power source up to the output plug.

If the problem is not with the laptop charger, then try considering a software problem. Sometimes the problem can be caused by a software-related issue. And the laptop is not reporting the correct status and power charge of the laptop battery. Try to read up on you laptop’s user manual to determine if the problem is not software-related.

If the battery charges but would not complete itself up to its full capacity of 100%, it might just be a problem of calibration. If this is the case, it is necessary for you to drain the power off your laptop battery completely. And you can only do this by turning your laptop power on until it dies off. It would not happen if you have automatic hibernation mode activated when a certain battery level is reached. O to your laptop’s Control Panel first. Then go to Power Management. From there, adjust the setting on when the laptop automatically hibernates. Usually it is set at around 3%-5% so that laptop users won’t lose the information they are working on if the battery dies up while they are still using it. Adjust that setting to zero. And leave the laptop on until the battery is drained. When the battery dies up, recharge it. See if the procedure has recalibrated your laptop battery, and would allow your laptop to be charged to full capacity at 100%.

Sometimes power resetting the laptop solves the battery problem. You can do this by unplugging it and removing the battery. Then hold on the power button of the laptop for one minute. This would make sure that there is no power remaining within the laptop’s motherboard when the battery went down causing the problem in the laptop battery charging. Return the battery and plug the laptop charger and see if the battery charges now.

If the above solutions still do not work, then the problem may be with you laptop battery itself. It is best to replace your laptop battery with the specific battery that is provided by your laptop manufacturer. Contact your laptop dealer and see if they still have stocks of the said battery. Otherwise, you can also order from online shops offering various types and brands of laptop batteries. Just make sure that you get the right kind of battery which fits the specifications of the original laptop battery.

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Laptop Battery Care

Posted by admin in Batteries, Laptops on

Laptops which are manufactured nowadays are most likely to come with Lithium-Ion batteries. This type of battery suits the typical usage of laptops where frequent charging occurs even if the battery has not been fully discharged yet. However, this is not to say that laptop users can use and abuse the Lithium-Ion batteries of their laptops. Proper care for laptop batteries should still be observed.

Below are a few tips on proper laptop battery care.

  • When you purchase your laptop, the battery that comes with it is usually empty. Charge the laptop battery as long as possible before using it. It is advisable to plug in the laptop without using it for at least 4 hours
  • It is advisable to keep or store your laptop battery in a cool and dry place. Heat hastens the deterioration of battery life. But this does not necessarily mean that you should store your laptop battery inside the refrigerator or freezer as this can also deteriorate the quality of your laptop battery.
  • When using your laptop at home where you have easy access to a power outlet, remove your laptop’s battery while using it. Use the power of the AC adapter for your laptop. Using your laptop while charging it should be avoided if possible for it will contribute to the overall deterioration of battery life.
  • It is not advisable to buy a back-up battery if your purpose is to prolong the battery life of your batteries. Lithium-Ion batteries have a functional lifetime whether you use it or not. You can only prolong its life up to a certain level through proper care. But using two laptop batteries alternately will prove to have shorter combined life compared to purchasing the second laptop battery when the first one is already showing signs of deterioration.
  • Do not always wait for the laptop battery to fully discharge before recharging it. You may be confusing the laptop battery with another battery type (Ni-Cd) where a complete charge-and-discharge cycle is needed to prolong its life. When your laptop charge falls to 10%-15%, you can already charge your laptop battery
  • The optimal level of leaving you laptop with a charge is at 40%-60%. Studies have proven that batteries normally left with this amount of charge have longer battery lives. Charging your batteries fully-charged all the time before storing it is not exactly optimal for battery life. Of course, you should take into consideration your foreseeable immediate usage when charging batteries. If you know that you shall be using you laptop on batteries the following day, the normal thing to do is to fully-charge it to avoid batteries getting drained while you still need to use it.
  • Allow your laptop battery to fully discharge when you notice that it is not calibrating correctly. When you notice that the battery life being rated by your laptop does not represent an accurate estimate of the actual power remaining within your laptop battery, just do one complete discharge up to the point where the battery is fully drained. Then recharge it fully before using it.

Just try to follow the above tips for laptop battery care and it can help prolong the life of your laptop battery.

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