Laptop Battery - Leave it in or take it out when plugged in

[christopherprevails]

When my battery is at 100% charge is it better to leave it in or take it out when connected to the AC adpater? What are the pros and cons of each? Thanks!

 

[JackMDS]

No reason to take out, the Laptop knows how to manage the charge whether it is working on battery or line.

 

[Mike2002]

I'd say the pain of doing all that is a waste even if its for long term storage. I'd just charge it up and let it sit with a charge if you're going to be keeping it unused for a while.

 

[jkresh]

Some laptops run off the battery if its in (so they constantly are draining the battery which is recharged from the wall), on those you will loose battery life by keeping it in when its plugged in for long periods. Others run off of ac when plugged in and ignore the battery (for those its fine to leave the battery in), I believe most or all newer laptops do this, so if you have a new laptop keep the battery in if its more then a few years old then its probably better ot have the battery out if you are mostly running off of ac.

 

[corkyg]

I am on my 6th laptop since 1995. In that time, I have had one battery failure - back in the Nimh days.

Today's Li-ion units are much better. I leave mine in all the time, and mostly run off the A/C adapter, and experience no battery problems.

Keep in mind that no matter what you do, batteries have a finite life span. Every use and recharge diminishes life by a fraction. I usually plan on 3-4 years of battery life.

 

[nineball9]

I have an unusual situation in that I use a laptop as a music jukebox. It remains connected to my home audio system and is not used for any other purpose. After configuring the setup in July, 2006, I removed the battery as I had no need for it; the laptop and home audio system are all AC powered.

Out of curiousity, I plugged in the battery in January 2007 (or thereabouts). The unused battery fully recharged in about 2 hours and I once again removed it from the laptop. I have not tried the battery since then.

Again, this is an unusual situation; I simply don't need the main battery for my purposes.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd leave the battery in. It'll check the charge level, and adjust the charging current accordingly. Li-ion batteries have a finite number of charges. That number is expressed in full discharge/charge cycles. Charging a Li-ion battery 10 times when it's 10% depleted=1 charge cycle.

After many years of using batteries of all types in a professional situation, I've found that batteries don't like being deep cycled. Even the types that tolerate it do better in the long term if their kept as close to full as possible, Ni-Cad included. The worst thing you can do to batteries is overcharge them. I don't think that's really an issue anymore with modern chargers though.

One other thing to keep in mind...Li-ion batteries will be killed if fully depleted. That have circuitry to prevent being completely discharged, but I wouldn't let one sit too long without being put on a charger. It takes awhile for them to naturally drain, but it could end up dropping below critical levels.

 

[christopherprevails]

Thanks for the input all!

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
No reason to take out, the Laptop knows how to manage the charge whether it is working on battery or line.