How long should a battery last?

The life of a rechargeable laptop battery operating under normal conditions is generally between 500 to 800 charge-discharge cycles. This translates into one to three years of battery life for an average user. As the rechargeable battery begins to die, you will notice a decline in the run time of the battery. This is when it's time to get a new battery.

How long will a battery run?

A good battery should power your laptop for two to three hours. While the efficiency of newer laptop batteries increases about 10% each year, newer PC's also need to use an increased amount of power so there is still no significant increase in run time.

A new battery comes in a discharged condition and must be charged before use (read your battery or laptop manual for charging instructions). Upon initial use (or after a long storage period) the battery may require three to four charge/discharge cycles before reaching its maximum capacity.

Actual battery run time depends upon the power demands made by the equipment. The use of the screen, the hard drive and other accessories results in an additional drain upon the battery, effectively reducing its running time. The design of the equipment also impacts battery run time.

Here are some battery charging tips..

• A new battery must be fully charged before use.
• A new battery needs to be fully charged and discharged (cycled) a few times before it can condition to full capacity.
• Rechargeable batteries undergo self-discharging when left unused so your should always store a battery in a fully charged state.
• The amount of charge a battery can hold gradually decreases due to usage, aging and, with some chemistries, lack of maintenance.
• In a rush to charge your battery? While a full charge can take about 3 hours, most of the laptop battery's charging takes place in the first 80 minutes.

The more functions you are using, the faster your battery will drain. The main laptop battery drainers are the processor, the screen, wireless networking cards, drives such as the hard drive, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, and other peripherals.

The Power Management settings icon in the Control Panel allows the user to control use of the laptop battery. This control forces your laptop to conserve its fuel by limiting the operation of the highest energy-consuming functions. In Windows XP, click on "Power Options" in your control panel. It allows you to reduce the power consumption of any number of your computer devices or of your entire system. Of course, there's a careful balance between computer performance and energy conservation.

Here are some tips for optimal battery use...

• Turn down the LCD brightness of your portable device.
• Use built-in power management on your portable device.
• Turn off LCD or other unnecessary accessories when not in use.
• Set screen saver to black after 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add more RAM if you have extra RAM expansion slot, it will reduce the usage of hard drive.
• Close all unused software.
• Remove unused PC Cards or USB devices from your laptop.
• Don't watch DVD movies because both the drive and the screen run at full power
• Avoid extreme temperatures which can drain your battery quickly.
• If a battery has not been used for a long period of time, perform the new battery break in procedure recommended by the manufacturer.
• Don't short circuit terminal or store your battery pack with metal parts.
• Don't drop or mutilate the battery pack.
• Don't expose to moisture or water.
• Don't drop, throw or otherwise abuse the battery.
• Carry a fully charged backup battery.
• Purchase an external laptop battery (see online resource below)

• Look for outlets in places like airport terminals and plug in wherever you can.
• Use a power adapter when possible to get power from alternate sources like your car.
• Find an alternative - many handheld and palmtop computers use standard flashlight batteries. They don't consume lots of power and can operate for hours, sometimes days, on a pair of AA or AAA batteries.