Is leaving your laptop battery lying around bad for its life?

[markusaurileus]

I wanna maximize the life of my laptop's new battery, and I was thinking about taking it out of the laptop battery slot whenever I use the comp plugged into the outlet for extended periods of time. That way, the heat from the laptop won't kill off my battery's life.

However, I heard that if batteries sit around in open air for hours on end, the battery life will actually deplete faster. I think it was due to like oxidation between the lithium cations in the battery and the air that's directly exposed to the contacts (redox).

Can anyone confirm or bust this myth? Thanks.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

There's a lot o bad rumors floating around about laptop batteries most damaging of which is that it's never good to run ya battery all the way down. The laptop's calibration circuitry doesn't get to calibrate unless it occassionally is run down and if it don't calibrate, over time the laptop will over volt during charging shortening battery life.

I think you will find this a good read:

http/batterycare.net/en/guide.html

The software is free

 

[fortuna]

Hi Gladiator , It's true that if you want to maximize your battery's life you'd better unplug it, however, make sure that if you unplug it, charge it to a ~40% of it's capacity and then store in a cool place.
BTW - if you want other battery tips, here are some nice ones:
Laptop battery tips

 

[markusaurileus]

haha. thanks guys. yeah, I'm seeing the picture now with laptop batteries

 

[markusaurileus]

Best answer selected by markusaurileus.