The Gamers Arms

So my work laptop, Dell, battery died. I only had the laptop for 9 months, but then again it was a refurb (so its lifecycyle is probably a lot older).

By keeping it plugged in the mains (when not mobile) I thought I was not doing it any damage but it seems I killed it by doing just that. I read its good to let the battery run to low, than recharge, and then let run to low. I than read that this degrades the battery and that you should not do that as it shortens its life.

So...er...now I am confused. When I get a new battery this week and replace it, what is good practice.

When you work it out, let me know will you?

My understanding, with older batteries at least, was that they dried up / crystallised if they weren't used / run down from time to time. For this reason, it was supposed to be better to run them down, at least infrequently, so this did not happen to the battery duration.

However, with so many advances in tech in the last decade i've no idea where we stand on such things, reliably speaking.

I think the best comparison is a phone - how often do you run that down? My guess would be that it would be a similar approach. Of course, most phones run out of juice in a day these days...

https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/feature/l ... e-3462609/

Don't know if they're right but scroll down to 4.

Depends on the battery type. NiCd batteries are super old and would suffer a "memory" effect if you didn't fully discharge. NiMH ones don't have the memory problem, but can be damaged if you leave them sat around uncharged. They'll last around 500-1000 charges before they start to fail. Li-ion and LiPo batteries also don't have the memory issue, but they don't like heat and also will only last a finite number of cycles.

its a Li-ion

It seems it just ran through its charge up cycles. Hopefully the replacement will last longer than 9 months as this time I will not leave it on charge all the time

As long as you're not draining below the safe limits, which permanently fucks over batteries. It's just a recharge number game. Why don't you disconnect the battery when using the power cord though?

I am using mains. Getting a replacement battery this week. Just really wanted to make sure this one does not die as quickly as the original

Well I meant previously when you had the battery. Thought it might have been some weird power connector through the battery or something

oh - its internal. Good idea though