Battery Wear

[woody]

I've been using the original battery in my netbook for 2 years and BatteryBar currently shows 13.7% wear. This seems like pretty good battery life to me. My practice is that I use the netbook for 2-3 hours most days. When the battery gets low, I recharge it completely, then put it in the refrigerator until the next day. Sometimes, the battery will stay in the refrigerator for up to two days if I'm not using it.

Whenever possible, I take the battery out of the netbook and run on AC only. I've heard that charging the battery while using the laptop creates more heat and puts more stress on the battery.

Anyway, don't know if this method will work for other people, but it seems to be working well for me.

I also do much the same with extra camera batteries, etc. When not suing them, I keep them in a plastic bag in the fridge, then recharge them before I use them.

[Chris]

Good tip.

Putting them in the freezer or frig will slow down the chemical reaction within the battery. If you plan on leaving it in there for week or more, you should discharge your battery to 40-60% first, that'll reduce the reaction even further but without straining it for being completely empty.

[Addison]

(11-18-2010 09:08 AM)Chris Wrote:  Good tip.

Putting them in the freezer or frig will slow down the chemical reaction within the battery. If you plan on leaving it in there for week or more, you should discharge your battery to 40-60% first, that'll reduce the reaction even further but without straining it for being completely empty.

Yes, it's true, I heard about this before. If I charge my laptop, I need to remove the battery first because it really creates more heat. It would be better if you try to discharge it and put it in the refrigerator.