Category: BATTERY

8 Essential Tips To Keep Your Phone’s Battery Healthy

  1. Yes, you can leave your phone plugged in overnight.

It is not the end of the world if you don’t unplug your phone the second that it is charged. That charger is smarter than you give it credit for. Leaving your phone on the charger all night (or all day) is far better for your battery than running it down and charging it up.

  1. Charge a little bit whenever you can.

Lithium-ion batteries don’t respond well to being charged all the way up and then run all the way down. They take much better to little bits of charge here and there.

  1. Yes, you can leave your laptop plugged in all the time.

Don’t worry about overcharging the batteries in your gadgets, and especially don’t worry about overcharging your laptop. What we just said about phones applies here, too. And on and on top of that, many laptops (most, in fact) are smart enough to cut the battery out of the charging equation entirely once it’s full. The battery just sits there patiently until you need it or until it needs another little shock to top it off.

  1. But maybe pop out your laptop battery while it’s on the charger, if you can.

The biggest danger to your laptop battery—and your phone battery and your tablet battery—isn’t overcharging, but heat. And with that in mind, it might be wise to pop out your laptop battery while you’re plugged into the wall, if you can.

  1. Keep your batteries cool.

Speaking of temperature, make sure you don’t leave your phone in a hot car all day. Or place it on top of your gaming PC. Or use it in a sauna. Try to avoid wireless charging if you can, because the waste-heat those chargers generate will also bake your battery. Also, beware of quick chargers. While your phone and charger are generally smart enough to minimize damage from high-voltage chargers, a lot of power super fast can generate extra heat. And if you have to store a gadget or its battery for a while, do it in a cool dry place.

  1. Store batteries with a little bit of charge.

If you’re storing batteries, you give them about a half a charge first. They’ll slowly lose their charge over time, and if it drops into the true-zero danger zone, your battery will automatically trip its safety circuit and kill itself for real before it can become unstable.

  1. Maybe go replaceable if you can.

If you’re borderline insane about your battery life, consider opting for gadgets that have removable batteries when you can. For one thing, there’s no faster way to “charge” a gadget than by swapping in a fully charged battery. And if you can’t avoid these bad battery practices, at least you can start fresh by buying a fresh battery.

  1. Don’t let your battery rule your life.

If you follow the most basic rules of thumb—don’t go all the way from full to empty if you can avoid it and minimize the exposure to heat as best you can—you’ll be fine. It’s easy to obsess over battery care, to let charging superstitions metastasize into obsessive ritual. But just remember two things:

  1. Your gadgets and their batteries are designed to keep you from ruining them. Lithium-ion batteries today are better, smarter, and more resilient than the nickel-metal hydrides of yesteryear.
  2. Your batteries are going to die. No amount of obsessive care will save you from having to deal with a less capable battery a few years from now.

4 Ways to Take Better Care of Your Laptop’s Batteries

  1. Don’t get too attached.

When you plug your laptop in for the first time, you should make sure to fully charge it once to calibrate it. But after that, aim to keep it between 40 and 80 percent. Apple’s customer care says you should do this to “keep the electrons in it moving occasionally.” Wired has a better explanation of whyhere. But the bottom line is, doing this can help prolong your battery life by as much as four times.

I know that’s easier said than done. Just remember to keep an eye on your battery percentage (usually shown in a corner of your screen) throughout the day. If you leave your laptop at home, then shut it down, close it and keep it unplugged on a desk, not a couch.

You should also fully charge and discharge your computer’s battery at least once a month. Set a reminder on your phone or something. You forked over what I assume to be a ton of money for this thing, so paying attention to it once a month shouldn’t be a problem.

  1. Stay cool.

Most modern laptops are made with lithium-based batteries, which should be stored in temperatures between 50 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. You might not always be able to keep tabs on that sweet spot, so to make things a bit simpler, room temperature is fine.

That being said, there are a few ways you can make sure your laptop isn’t constantly having menopausal hot flashes. You should start by minding its air vents. Most MacBook vents are located on the back of the laptop, near the top of the computer. Whenever you prop your laptop up on your bed, couch or lap, you’re likely blocking the airflow. This, in turn, causes the computer to overheat. And overheating will screw up your battery life.

That’s not to say you should be completely paranoid about keeping it on flat, cool surfaces all the time. But maybe consider moving it to a desk before you fall asleep or head to work.

  1. Update, update, update.

Most companies are constantly looking for ways to improve battery life via software updates. In fact, it was one of the main things Apple touted in its OS X Mavericks release last year. You may fear change, but change can extend your battery life. So make sure you have the latest software installed on your computer.

  1. Don’t just leave it there.

Maybe you’re in trouble with the law and need to disappear for six months. We understand how these things go. But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for correctly storing your computer. You should store it with a 50 percent charge in a consistently cool area. Storing the computer with a fully discharged battery might ruin the battery forever. And storing it with an absolutely full charge might cut the battery’s lifespan short.

Laptop Battery Care

“How do I extend the life of my laptop battery?” is a question we are frequently asked. It’s a valid question since laptop batteries are usually expensive to replace.

First of all, how long should your laptop battery last? 2-4 years is generally acceptable depending on how frequently you use and charge the battery. If you travel a lot and use and charge your battery frequently then you might only get a couple of years at the most out of your laptop battery.

Laptop batteries are usually made with Li-Ion batteries and the very nature of Li-Ion batteries is that they have about 300-500 charges and last at most about 4-5 years (shelf life). They also have a self-discharge rate of about 1% per day so you need to be sure to charge them at least every 6 months.

So how can you care for your laptop battery to get the maximum life out of it?

1.) Always use your laptop on a hard surface.

Laptops are portable and it’s easy to set your laptop on your lap or on your bed and use it at your lesiure. That’s one of the benefits of having a portable computer. Flexibility. But if you want to extend your battery life you have to watch out for overheating your laptop.

Heat is one of the biggest obstacles to battery life longevity. Your laptop computer fan cannot circulate the air properly when your laptop is sitting on soft surface.

2.) Do not keep your laptop battery installed when you use your laptop on AC for an extended period of time.

While your laptop is undoubtedly using a smart charger to charge your battery even a constant trickle charge over months can reduce your battery life. For best results, only charge your battery when you need to charge it, don’t leave the laptop battery plugged in all the time.

More importantly than the trickle charger affect is the ‘storage’ of a Li-Ion battery at elevated temperatures. The optimum storage temperature for a Li-Ion battery is at 0 deg. C. The optimum storage charge level is about 40%. Unfortunately we tend to store fully charged and at the temperatures found in a running laptop you’ll find a significant reduction in battery performance after only 12-18 months.

3.) Use a full charge cycle before recharging

Li-Ion and NiMH batteries (which most laptop batteries are), do not have a memory which you might find in NiCad batteries. However, each chemistry has a limited number of charge cycles, so use a full charge cycle before re-charging to maximize your battery usage.

Because this may be very difficult to manage, you’ll need to consider the cost-benefit ratio for keeping track of how far discharged the battery is before you charge it again.

4.) Be careful where you store your laptop

This goes back to the heat issue. Don’t leave your laptop in the car where it can get very hot. Batteries hate heat and your laptop battery will go on strike permenantly if you expose it to too much heat.

Remember that all laptops are not created equal. You may have gotten 4 hours from your last laptop while on battery, but your new laptop might pull more juice to run that gaming quality processor, or the power hogging programs you’re running now. Read your owner’s manual to find out what you should expect from your laptop battery and be sure to compare apples to apples when purchasing a replacement battery. Not all laptop batteries are made to the same specs. We recommend buying a battery that has at least as much capacity as your original battery (that’s the mAh rating), and preferrably the same chemistry as well.

If you simply aren’t sure what to get, check with a professional. Our customer service staff are trained to know how to compare batteries and they are happy to help find the right fit for your laptop.

How to improve laptop battery life

There are things you can do to extend your laptop’s battery life. Some you might be doing already, but there are others you may not. Here’s how to improve laptop battery life.

  1. Dim the screen

By far the biggest power drain on most laptops is the screen. Or, to be more specific, the screen’s backlight. This is what enables you to see the colours on an LCD screen, and some older laptops have power-sapping fluorescent backlights. Modern laptops have LED backlights, but even these use a fair amount of juice.

Dimming the screen brightness can add 30 minutes or more to your battery life. Virtually all laptops have keyboard shortcuts to adjust the brightness. Typically, you’ll hold the Fn key and press one of the function keys in the top row, or one of the cursor keys labelled with a sun symbol.

If not, hold the Windows key and press X. This will open up the Mobility Center where you can change the brightness, and this works in all versions of Windows.

  1. Change the power settings

By default, your laptop might be set to Windows’ ‘Balanced’ setting rather than Power Saver. In the Control Panel search for Power Options and check which Power Plan is selected. Don’t forget that Windows uses different power and performance settings depending on whether it is running on mains or battery power.

You should find a battery saver option, and it’s simply a case of selecting it and closing the window. If not, click on ‘Show additional plans’. If there’s still nothing, you can customise a power plan by clicking Change plan settings next to a profile.

You should set the screen to turn off after a couple of minutes, and set the laptop to sleep if nothing appears to be happening after five or 10 minutes.

If you delve into the advanced power settings, you can tweak things to your liking, setting when the system hibernates and which components should use their maximum power saving profiles (including, on some laptops, the graphics card and Wi-Fi adapter).

  1. Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

If you’re not using them, disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Both radios can use a fair amount of power, so it makes sense to turn them off when you’re on battery power. Most laptops have a switch or key combination to disable Wi-Fi, but Bluetooth can be trickier.

  1. Don’t leave your laptop on permanent charge

Lithium-ion batteries are relatively clever in that they can’t be overcharged, but it’s not good for the long-term health of your battery to leave your laptop always plugged in to the mains. Some manufacturers (including Sony and Lenovo) provide a utility which limits the battery from fully charging.

This helps to prevent battery degradation and means you can leave the laptop always connected to the mains. When you want to use your laptop on battery power and get maximum battery life, disable the limiter and allow the laptop to charge to 100 percent.

  1. Disconnect remove unnecessary peripherals

Leaving a disc in your DVD drive is a sure way to reduce battery life, as it might spin up whenever you launch a Windows Explorer window or access the Save option in an application.

Any USB accessories you leave connected, such as portable hard disks or USB web cams will also draw power, so disconnect them if they’re not needed.

  1. Get a second battery

We mentioned this at the start, but why not invest in a spare battery? They’re available for many laptops, and you might even find that your laptop can accept a higher-capacity than was supplied originally.

Other laptops allow you to remove the CD or DVD drive and install a second battery in its place.

If your laptop doesn’t have a removable battery then consider buying a universal laptop battery that comes with a variety of ‘tips’ to suit just about any laptop. You simply charge it up, choose the appropriate tip and connect it to your laptop’s power socket when the internal battery runs low. The external battery charges the internal battery or, if you remove the internal battery, powers the laptop directly.

  1. Buy a new battery

Contrary to popular belief, laptop batteries are consumables – like printer ink. Batteries aren’t designed to last the lifetime of the laptop, and that’s why – if you check the small print on the warranty statement – you’ll probably find that the battery isn’t covered, or is guaranteed for a shorter period than the laptop.

  1. Upgrade to an SSD

Mechanical hard disks, which are still common in laptops, require a fair few watts to spin their platters. A solid-state drive, on the other hand, uses less power as it has no moving parts.

  1. Switch to internal graphics

If your laptop has an AMD or Nvidia graphics chip, there’s a good chance it will also have integrated graphics (usually Intel). In theory, it should be set up so the powerful graphics chip is only used when playing games or running demanding applications, but you should check whether this is the case.

As with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, manufacturers sometimes offer a utility to manually switch between graphics chips. You may have to reboot, but most modern designs allow you to switch on the fly.

  1. Manage your memory

If you’re the sort who has 10 or even 20 tabs open in your web browser, you’ll benefit from longer battery life by culling those tabs. The same goes for running lots of applications at the same time.

When you run lots of programs, or have lots of photos open in an editor, you’ll use up all the free system memory. Anything extra has to be ‘paged’ to the hard disk, which as we’ve said, is a mechanical device in many laptops.

Common Issues with Lithium-Ion Batteries

Over the past several years, lithium-ion batteries have been the preferred technology, not just for laptop batteries, but also for a number of electronic devices such as cell phones and MP3 players. Some of the main reasons for their popularity are that they are inexpensive to manufacture and that they don’t exhibit many of the issues that plague older technologies, such as the “memory effect” which can cause a dramatic decrease in capacity. Lithium-ion batteries can still have problems, however. Here, we will explore a few of the main issues that can affect lithium-ion batteries.

Decreased Capacity

The main problem with lithium-ion batteries is that they tend to lose some of their capacity over time. This is caused by deposits that form inside the electrolyte of the battery, which eventually inhibits the transport of ions. Eventually the battery loses a large amount of its capacity and needs to be repaired or replaced.

Overheating

Lithium-ion batteries tend to heat up when being charged or discharged. Generally, this is not enough heat to cause any concern, but if the battery malfunctions, it may cause a large amount of heat. In extreme cases, batteries may even bulge or catch fire, though these cases are very rare. Li-ion batteries have many safety features to protect against these kinds of malfunctions.

Not Charging When Plugged In

In some cases, a laptop battery will not register as charging even when the laptop is plugged in. Check to make sure the battery is correctly inserted and that the AC adapter is connected securely to the laptop and the wall outlet. In most cases, this problem is caused by a bad AC adapter or a defective DC jack on the laptop instead of the battery itself.

Despite the few issues mentioned above, lithium-ion batteries tend to be very robust and reliable. Lithium-ion will continue to be the battery of choice for quite a few more years, even as it is slowly replaced by newer technologies.

Anatomy of a laptop battery

While most people would consider a laptop to be a very complex machine, a laptop battery is a very complex device as well. It has many components that combine to give users the portable power they need. Here we will look at what makes up a modern laptop battery.

The most common type of laptop batteries in use today are lithium ion batteries. A lithium ion battery has three main components. There is an anode, which is made from carbon or graphite, a cathode, made of metal oxide, and an electrolyte, which is lithium salt in a solvent. When the laptop is drawing power from the battery, it is known as discharge. When discharging, the lithium ions carry current from the negative electrode to the positive. When recharging, the lithium ions carry the current in the opposite direction, from positive to negative.

Laptop batteries are somewhat susceptible to damage if mistreated. For example, lithium ion batteries are sensitive to heat, and can fail or even swell or burst in extreme temperatures. For this reason, it is imperative to read and follow all safety instructions for your laptop and battery. There are a number of safety features required for laptop batteries in order to protect users from harmful accidents. Batteries must be equipped with a thermal interrupt, which protects from overcurrent and overcharging. They also must have a vent, which allows heat and pressure to escape. There is also a shut-down separator for shutting down the battery if it gets too hot, and a “tear-away tab” for releasing internal pressure in a dangerous situation.

Laptop batteries have gotten some negative press in the past few years, due to manufacturing problems that caused many batteries to fail, which prompted many recalls and repairs. These were mainly manufacturing problems, however, and laptop batteries with the safety features included should be very safe to use and operate, as long as safety guidelines are followed.

Sony Laptop Batteries

As one of the largest companies in the world, Sony has a reputation for quality. Sony’s laptops, especially their VAIO series, are often chosen by high-end users who need quality and style in their laptop.

Sony is one of the few laptop manufacturers to make their own laptop batteries. In fact, they also make laptop batteries for many other manufacturers. The majority of the batteries they make use lithium-ion technology. Lithium-ion is chosen for its long battery life, its large power-to-weight ratio, and lack of the “memory effect” that affects older battery technologies.

When shopping for a replacement for a Sony laptop battery, you should carefully remove the old battery to look for a model number or serial number that will help identify the replacement. First, shut down the laptop and disconnect its AC Adapter and power cord. Turn the laptop over and find the release slider or button that releases the Sony laptop battery, then carefully remove it.

The easiest way to find a replacement for your Sony laptop battery is to use a parts locator tool, or a part number search, available at many online retailers. This tool allows users to enter their laptop or battery model number, and will then display compatible parts for replacement. Since many laptop batteries are only compatible with specific models, it is important to ensure that the Sony laptop battery you buy is compatible with your exact model.

When shopping, you may be given the option of buying an OEM battery or a compatible battery. A compatible laptop battery is one made with the same specifications of the original battery, but at a lower price, since it is not made by the manufacturer of the laptop. When buying compatible batteries, ensure that you are buying from a reputable seller that guarantees the quality of their products.

Once you have your new battery, simply replace it in the same way you removed your old battery, power up your laptop and ensure that your new battery is working.

How to Make Your Cell Phone Battery Last Longer

  1. Turn the phone off. Only do this if it’s going to be for several hours; turning a phone on/off actually uses a massive amount of power itself. This will probably be the most effective and simple way of conserving your battery’s power. Why? This will help conserve energy and also charge your phone. If you don’t plan on answering the phone while you’re sleeping or after business hours, just turn it off. Do the same if you are in an area with no reception (such as a subway or remote area, since constantly searching for service depletes the battery fairly quickly).
  2. Stop searching for a signal. When you are in an area with poor or no signal, your phone will constantly look for a better connection, and will use up all your power doing so. This is easily understood if you have ever forgotten to turn off your phone on a flight. The best way to ensure longer battery life is to make sure you have a great signal where you use your phone. If you don’t have a perfect signal, get a cell phone repeater which will amplify the signal to provide near perfect reception anywhere or simply turn on flight (airplane) mode (as said previously).
  3. Do not follow the method of full charge and full discharge. Avoid letting your cell phone’s battery run all the way down. Unlike nickel-based batteries (such as the NiCd or NiMH rechargeable AA batteries seen in most supermarkets), lithium-based batteries are designed to be charged early and often, and letting them get too low can damage the battery. With lithium-based batteries, doing shallow discharges and frequent charging prolongs battery life.
  4. Switch the vibrate function off on your phone. Use just the ring tone. The vibrate function uses additional battery power. Keep the ring tone volume as low as possible.
  5. Turn off your phone’s back light. The back light is what makes the phone easier to read in bright light or outside. However, the light also uses battery power. If you can get by without it, your battery will last longer. If you have to use the back light, many phones will let you set the amount of time to leave the back light on. Shorten that amount of time. Usually, one or two seconds will be sufficient. Some phones have an ambient light sensor, which can turn off the back light in bright conditions and enable it in darker ones.
  6. Avoid using unnecessary features. If you know it will be a while before your phone’s next charge, don’t use the camera or connect to the Internet. Flash photography can drain your battery especially quickly.
  7. Keep calls short. This is obvious, but how many times have you heard someone on their mobile phone say, “I think my battery’s dying,” and then continue their conversation for several minutes? Sometimes, the dying battery is just an excuse to get off the phone (and a good one, at that), but if you really need to conserve the battery, limit your talk time.
  8. Turn off Bluetooth. It will drain your battery very quickly. Only turn Bluetooth on when needed.
  9. Same goes for WIFI, GPS, and infrared capabilities, if your phone has these features built in. Keep them off except when you need them.
  10. Turn the brightness of the display to the lowest setting possible.
  11. Adjust your network settings when possible. Use 3G (HSPA, HSPA+, UMTS) or 2G (GSM) rather than 4G (LTE). Using your phone in 4G will drain the battery quicker than if you just use 3G or 2G. Turn 4G (LTE) off when there is weak to no 4G signal in your area. When using 4G, both the 3G and 4G radios are turned on therefore it will use a lot of power. You may also turn off 3G and use 2G if there is weak to no 3G.
  12. With a smartphone, avoid using moving or animated pictures or videos for your background. Animated backgrounds will drain the battery faster.

Toshiba Laptop Battery Problems

Toshiba has come a long way when it comes to the battery life in their laptops, but that does not make them immune to the occasional hiccup. Poor charging practices can cause issues with battery life, and power-sucking settings can deplete a charged battery, especially an older one, at a surprising rate. For many Toshiba laptops, even temperature can affect whether and how your battery charges and discharges.

Charging New Batteries

If your laptop is brand new, you have an opportunity to maximize your battery’s health from the get-go. CNET authors Asher Moses and Brian Nadel state that long-term battery vitality can be ensured if “when first using your notebook on battery power, [you] let the battery completely drain before you recharge it. Don’t recharge when the battery is only half drained. Do that for at least the first two sessions.” If you continue to do this every time you use your laptop battery, you will extend the length of time your laptop can run on battery power.

Power Settings

One of the main reasons battery life is so short on many laptops is because of the power settings. You can access the power settings on a Toshiba either by right-clicking the battery tray icon in the lower-right corner of your screen and click “Power Options”, or by going to Control Panel > Power Options. Here, you can select the settings your computer will use when it is running on battery power, adjust when the display turns off, choose when the computer will go to sleep, and decide how bright your display is. The default “Power Saver” settings adjust the display brightness to about 40%, turn off the display after 3 minutes of inactivity and put the computer to sleep after 15 minutes. Think about which settings make the most sense for you, and adjust your computer accordingly to save power.

Temperature

Extreme temperatures can negatively affect your laptop’s battery. According to Moses and Nadel, you should not expose your battery to extreme heat or cold. Heat causes batteries to lose their charge very quickly and cold batteries don’t perform as well. In addition, some Toshiba laptop batteries can detect when they have heated up too much, and will not charge even when the AC power is plugged in. The computer will display “AC power plugged in; battery not charging,” in this case. If this happens, you can charge the battery by shutting down your computer and letting the battery charge while the computer is off.

Age

Laptop batteries generally last for 2 to 3 years. If your battery is not holding a charge and it is older than 3 years, consider purchasing a new battery. Remember to fully deplete and fully charge the new battery the first few times you use it.

Still Not Charging

If you have considered all of these possible battery problems and find that they are not the reason for the problem, try taking the battery out and gently cleaning the contacts on the battery and in the laptop’s battery compartment with a dry, lint-free cloth. If there is no improvement, you may need to look into updating the computer’s BIOS or using the recovery CD that came with the laptop to clear any internal problems that may be affecting your battery.

 

02K5669 IBM Thinkpad T20 Change Power Supply fast shipping

0335C2065 0335A2065 FUJITSU SIEMENS Change Power Supply fast shipping

11.8A Dell XPS M1730 PN402 DA230PS0-00 PA-19 230W AC Power Adapter Charger Change Power Supply fast shipping

120W ADP-120MH-D AC/DC Laptop AC Adapter for MSI GE60 GE70 19.5V 6.15A

1513 24W Microsoft Surface 2 Windows RT 1512 1513 Change Power Supply fast shipping

How to Charge a Laptop Battery for the First Time

One of the most vital components of any laptop computer is the battery. You can purchase a laptop with a powerful processor and other top-of-the-line hardware, but if you don’t properly care for the battery, the laptop is quickly rendered useless. When you first purchase a new laptop or laptop battery, make sure you charge it properly the first time.

Insert the battery into the battery slot of your laptop if it didn’t come with the battery already inserted. This slot is typically located on the underside or back of your laptop.

Plug your laptop into a power source and allow the battery to charge to 100%. Most laptop batteries come discharged, or empty, and should be fully charged before use. Sometimes the battery indicator will show 100% after only a few minutes. If this happens, turn your computer off, remove the battery and attempt to charge the battery again.

Discharge the battery fully. Simply turn your computer on and disconnect the power source. Don’t turn it off until the battery is completely discharged. Allow the laptop to shut down by itself.

Recharge your battery fully again. After the battery is fully charged, it has been calibrated once.

Repeat the calibration process two or three more times. Your laptop battery is now charged correctly.

 

02K5669 IBM Thinkpad T20 Change Power Supply fast shipping

0335C2065 0335A2065 FUJITSU SIEMENS Change Power Supply fast shipping

11.8A Dell XPS M1730 PN402 DA230PS0-00 PA-19 230W AC Power Adapter Charger Change Power Supply fast shipping

120W ADP-120MH-D AC/DC Laptop AC Adapter for MSI GE60 GE70 19.5V 6.15A

1513 24W Microsoft Surface 2 Windows RT 1512 1513 Change Power Supply fast shipping