Notebook computer batteries lifecycle

September 26th, 2007 at 22:40 · Filed Under Computing, General, Web 

I have heard from many vendors giving all sort of statement on how to care for your notebook computer or cellphone batteries. I have also searched the web and found countless number of articles about batteries.

One discovery I found out recently was when I acquired a new Apple MacBook two months ago. I installed a widget called iStat Pro.

At one of the section, I noticed an information about charge cycles. Whenever, I charged my MacBook’s battery, the charge cycle will increase by one. It will increase even though if I plugin external power for 1 second.

During charging, the positive active material is oxidized, producing electrons and the negative active material is reduced, consuming electrons. Every charge cycle will oxidize and reduce the positive and negative electrodes respectively in the battery. This is the cause of the degrading of the battery health. To maximize your battery health:

  1. Make sure your battery is fully discharged before begin charging again.
  2. Make sure your battery is fully charged before unplugging your charger.
  3. If you plan to use your notebook computer for a long time, make sure computer is connected to external power source even though the battery is fully charged. The charger in most modern equipment such as Apple MacBook has intelligent charger. It will stop charging when the battery is fully charged.
  4. If you plan to use your notebook computer for extended long period of time, charge your battery to full and unplug it from your computer and work with external power source.
  5. If you plan not to use your notebook computer for a long time (more than a day), charge your battery to full and power down. Do not put your notebook computer to sleep or hibernation. When the computer is sleeping or hibernating, it withdraw power from its battery to preserve the contents of its memory. The battery power will be drained off in a few days time.

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