Many laptop users do not take proper care of their laptop batteries and the result is an impaired user experience and frustration. Caring for laptop batteries is simple and needs the user to take a brief moment to understand how they should maintain and care for their laptop and its power supply. In the majority of cases it only requires a slight modification of user behavior to avoid problems.



Laptop owners frequently omit to read and care for laptop batteries and make two very simple mistakes. In the first instance they use the laptop battery power in continuous conjunction with the AC power supply. Eventually they find the laptop will not power up when they come to use it. The second instance is to use battery power with no regard to the effect of repeatedly discharging the battery only partially.

So you come to power up your laptop and nothing happens, what do you do? Try removing the battery from the laptop and then power on with AC supply only and if it works then you know you have an issue with the battery. A simple purge of the battery will usually suffice to correct this problem. More on that later.

Continuously discharging the battery without allowing it to exhaust its charge results in the battery gaining a recharge "memory". Effectively it fails to take a full charge and this results in less power being stored so the ability to use the laptop by battery power alone reduces. This defeats the whole object of having a laptop that you can use anywhere free of connection to a mains supply. This shortening of battery life is also known as "battery fade".

Many laptop owners have experienced battery fade when they eventually come to use their computers on battery power alone. You can deal with this phenomenon quite simply but first you need to establish what type of laptop battery you have in your machine and take the time to review the care instructions issued with the laptop.

There are two very simple procedures for resolving battery life issues. How often you perform these maintenance exercises will depend upon whether you have NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries or NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) in the laptop. Check the battery itself and the manufacturers paperwork that came with your laptop.

Under normal usage, you should discharge both types of battery completely. To do this power up the computer using the battery alone, disconnect the AC power supply and allow the computer to run the power down in the battery completely. When you receive the battery low warning then you can reconnect the AC power supply but leave it plugged in for a complete recharge which may be as long as 12 hours depending on the battery.

The second thing you can do is to purge the battery as we have mentioned before. Purging is where you allow the laptop to completely discharge the battery until the unit powers off completely. You do not connect the AC power supply until the unit has completely powered off and to ensure a full discharge you should disable the hibernation or any power supply sleep management function that the laptop has. Once the laptop has powered off, reconnect the AC power supply but do not switch the laptop on. Leave the laptop like this for 24 hours and repeat this process every month for NiCad batteries and every 3 months for NiMH.

These two tips will help you prolong battery life and utility, however you should carefully read the manufacturers instructions to ensure you treat your laptop in accordance with their recommendations. Laptop batteries are expensive to replace and there is also the frustration when sitting on a long flight of suddenly seeing your laptop die and work vanish due to the battery. Caring for your laptop batteries will enhance your laptop utility and your productivity when you are away from home or office.