Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-54T8: Battery life ; constantly plugged in vs always using it from 40%-80%.

EvilHamster

Hi everyone. 

 

I know that this question is being discussed all over the internet. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a clear answer, since people seem to talk the opposite of each other.

 

Given the following 2 options, which one is preferable?

 

1. Plugging the Laptop in the AC at all times during use (with a discharge cycle every 10 days-2 weeks).

2. Always keeping the battery power at 40%-80%. That is, use the laptop on battery power untill it gets to 40%, than charge it up (in use) to 80%, disconnect the AC and drain again to 40% etc. 

 

Common sense seems to say 1. But, I don't have the best trackrecord for battery longetivity in Laptops. However, the battery of my smartphones seems to experiene no wear over the years. In the case of phones, I (as most people) use option 2 without even thinking about it.

 

 

So which one is preferrable? 

Cheers.

brummyfan2

Hi,

I prefer keeping the AC adapter connected all times except when I take my laptop away from the desk, less battery drain and recharge may be better for the battery longevity, it's unfair to compare smartphones and laptops for battery wear as both are different products.

EvilHamster

Thank you for your replay.

 

The reason I am asking is because:

 

1. I have heard people say that when it is plugged in, some batteries will drop the charge to 99% fairly fast, and some laptops will then recharge immediately to 100%. This is apparently quite bad, as the batteries is constantly charging from 99%-100%, which can wear out a battery very very fast.

I was wondering how this particular model handled that. At what % does it recharge? (does anyone have a quote from a manual or something?)

 

2. I think Smartphones and Laptops are very similar. Essentially, they are both PC's nowadays and they both use Lithium Ion batteries. I don't see why they should be some different. Fair enough, Smartphones charge with a lower Volt, (which makes you wonder why I can not charge PC's with a lower Voltage, would be soooo much better... I suppose profits?), but other than that, they are both essentially the same, no?

 

Cheers.

brummyfan2

Hi,

You can check your battery performance by installing HWMonitor, it will show you the battery wear level, I don't think that the battery discharges while connected with AC adapter, once the battery is fully charged it stops charging and when you remove the AC adapter, laptop start using the battery.

First snip is my laptop reading(always connected with AC adapter) and the second one my daughter's laptop reading(often discharge/charge)

EvilHamster

Thank you for the replay.

 

I have HWinfo installed. Problem with that is that, it only gives of reading from what the motherboard tells it. So, if the battery is not reporting accurately, it will not give accurate info (this is not so important here,  but, when the battery is actually acting up, it is more important). 

 

Anyway, HWinfo is reporting 11.5% wear, which is quite a lot, considering I have never used it on battery power and have it only for a week or so.

 

One explanation is that it is capped at 90%, which would be great, but I would like to see an official referrnce that they do it, if someone has a link.

 

Ultimately, I am just trying to get a semi-official answer, which is better for this particular laptop. The answers given to this question (battery-care) are many. But they are usually jus copypasted, without any thought as to what they are saying. They are just cklickbaits with no information... and usually outdated. Further, it really depends on the model.

 

So the main quesiton here remains, what does the battery do when it gets to 100%? How often does it need to top up again? Once an hour? Once every 3 hours? Once every 3 minutes?

I would really appreciate an answer with an offical link, or something like that. A real reference on how this particular model, at least how this particular manufacturer handles it in general.

 

Cheers.

brummyfan2

Hi,

No problem, could you please wait for someone else to chime in.

EvilHamster

Sure, it's not an urgent question by any means. I just want to know it in general.