Li-polymer Battery Charging Tips

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jozefrockz
jozefrockz Member Posts: 20 New User
in 2013 Archives

I just bought a brandnew Acer Travelmate x483 and the battery is built in. Says on the laptop it has 3-cell Li-polymer battery. Can anybody please clear out to me its charging times? I mean obviously I cannot remove the battery but I'm using my laptop is my main driver since I have no desktop.

 

Is it okay if its always plugged to the AC?

I knew from some other forums, its okay but you will have to atleast use the battery twice a week. I have also know that Samsung has this power management where it stops charging at 80% and just let us of the AC, does acer has something or similar to this?

Answers

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer
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    This issue is a can of worms to say the least.

    You will, no doubt, find many conflicting suggestions of how best to treat your battery. Even my Acer user guide contradicts itself!

     

    Many who are familiar with 'memory effect' of earlier battery technology may still fully charge a battery and run it until completely discharged before fully charging once more. While I don't believe this is necessary now, I still favour this approach.

     

    I tend to run for a few days while plugged in then power by battery only so it gets a full cycle about once a week or so. Am I doing the right thing? I have no idea but I feel happier adopting this approach.

     

    I would not run solely by AC power. I do feel that this would shorten the battery life.

     

  • jozefrockz
    jozefrockz Member Posts: 20 New User
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    @Alan-london:

     

    Thanks for the reply. I have found this software and currently using it, do you recommend what they are trying to claim like to re-calibrate your battery after 30 discharge cycles?

     

    here's the link: http://batterycare.net/en/index.html

  • anton_vn
    anton_vn Member Posts: 3 New User
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    The problem with having the laptop battery built-in, and you using it a lot on AC-power (like many do with offices), is the battery by default wants to be 100% charged. This is bad for the battery when you have this most of the time. When you leave your battery charged at 100% most of the time every year your max. capacity will DECREASE WITH 20-25%! Read battery li-ion science blog.

     

    I made a post about this with my recent Acer laptop over here. http://community.acer.com/t5/Ultra-Thin/Manually-control-charging-level-of-battery-Acer-Aspire-V5-573G/td-p/117925 .

     

     

    My solution is to let Acer make a BIOS update to set the maximum charging level, to lets say 70%. Other companies also provided this solution for this case, so why hasn;t Acer yet?

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer
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    jozefrockz,

    I cannot endorse any claims made for this software or any other. I suspect many recommendations are a matter of conjecture. You may well need to delve into scientific papers and manufacturers' data sheets to get a more in depth understanding. What we do know is that, from the date of manufacture, our batteries are dying! How long they last will depend on many factors such as the technology, quality of chemical compounds used and temperature etc.

     

    While recalibration may well result in a more accurate indication of charge level, it will not 'condition' a battery or extend its life. Think of it like a car fuel gauge, you would want the gauge recalibrated to accurately indicate 'full' if your tank were to become smaller! Battery capacity, over time, will reduce. 100% full today will unlikely be the same as 100% full in some month's time. Consequently, your battery running time will begin to reduce until, finally, the inevitable happens. There is nothing that can be done to avoid this regardless of the amount of 'snake oil' applied!!

     

    Finally, I would suggest that when the time comes to replace your battery you avoid the cheap end of the market. My limited experience here is that they are not cost effective.

     

    anton_vn,

    Each to his own of course but I fail to see any sense in effectively crippling a battery to 70% of its capacity (with correspondingly reduced running time) in the hope that it would last longer. While I can't say one way or the other whether this would make economic sense, this does smack of more 'snake oil' to me. For me, I would want the maximum battery performance when away from a power socket.

     

  • jozefrockz
    jozefrockz Member Posts: 20 New User
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    @Alan-London

     

    As for now I am just using that software above to remind me of the calibration after 30 discharging cycle. Also for the meantime I am charging the battery when it reaches 7% and then fully charge it then sit for another 2 hours after full charge then remove the AC and then let it reaches again 7% while using the laptop. 

     

    @Anton:

     

    I agree with you. I would also be glad if they can release a BIOS update for that matter. It may or may not be an economic sense to everyone but at least there's an option for the owner of the laptop to enable or disable it. 

  • akoker
    akoker Member Posts: 1 New User
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    can somebody help me to enable back the automatic off-charging? before this, it function very well, but after 2 months its gone. If the function isn't working, I afraid the battery would damage. thanks in advance

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