Laptops For Less Blog

Will Keeping My Laptop Plugged In Affect Battery Life?

How many times have you heard someone ask; “Will keeping my laptop plugged in affect battery life?” Maybe you have asked the same question…Everyone seems to have their own idea or opinion about what the real answer is. Some folks think that leaving a laptop plugged in to an outlet actually preserves battery life, others don’t.

So, what is it then? Does the battery lose or gain life by staying plugged in? Keep reading this article and discover what our extensive research uncovered.

What really slows down your laptop battery life? Is it overcharging? Some laptop users think so. Typically, these are users that keep their machines plugged in all the time. After many days and hours of use with electricity they choose to run their laptops on battery power. They discover that the battery does not last as long as it had before. The user assumes the battery must have “overcharged”. However, this is not true. As a laptop battery ages it loses runtime. Runtime is
how much time a battery lasts before it goes dead. Rechargeable batteries do not have a perpetual runtime. This is true of all rechargeable batteries. Ultimately, the battery will begin to fail and the laptop will require a replacement.

Many older batteries suffer from the memory effect. The memory effect is when a user runs a battery for only part of its charge before recharging. The battery “forgets” that it can hold its full charge. Let’s say you fully charge a battery and use only 50% of its capacity over and over. The battery becomes unaware of its extra 50% capacity. Eventually, the battery will use only 50% of its capacity.

The sure-fire way to avoid memory effect is to run the battery down completely before recharging it. This is common in NiCad batteries. Why does this matter? Now it doesn’t! Why?! Simply because these days almost all laptops run on lithium ion batteries. The idea of a laptop battery needing to use up its charge is a carry over from the battery days of old!

Lithium ion batteries are not susceptible to the memory effect. So, does it really matter if you run your battery all the way down before charging it again? No, you don’t have to run a lithium ion battery all the way down then recharge
it. In fact, manufacturers design lithium ion batteries for sporadic and irregular charging periods. Most portable electronic devices use these kinds of batteries. Sometimes people forget that laptops are just “high-tech” portable electronic devices that use a battery. Batteries are batteries, no matter what the device is. The laptop and the battery are two separate products.

Lithium ion batteries stop taking a charge after the charger detects that the battery is full. Once the charger detects a full battery the AC adaptor kicks in. The adapter then runs the laptop on electric power. You can run the laptop non-stop with an AC adaptor and it will not matter. You will not overcharge the battery. For the record, most manufacturers encourage users to keep their laptops plugged in all the time. Why? If you don’t keep it plugged in the battery will run down. Eventually, the battery will lose usability because it is always powering the laptop. Do yourself a favor and let electricity run your machine. It will extend your laptop’s battery life.

So, this article answered the question, right? Never worry about keeping your laptop plugged in. In fact, keep your AC adaptor plugged in as much as possible. Consider getting a few extra AC Adapters to place around your home and office. This will allow for portability without relying on battery power. Use your battery power only when you truly have to. If your battery has truly lost most of its runtime buy another one then follow the advice from this article. Your battery life will last much longer.

LaptopsForLess.com has a huge selection of laptop batteries in stock, at very reasonable prices [often a fraction of the cost of manufacturers’ own brand replacements]. We stock replacement laptop batteries from the following manufacturers; Acer, Apple, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and many more. We also stock a huge selection of AC Adapters from all the major manufacturers too!