Archive for May, 2009

Average Laptop Battery Lifetime

Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 4:28 pm

Used Lithium Ion LapTop Battery Buying Tips

Used Lithium Ion LapTop Battery Buying Tips

This guide will explain the basics of Lithium Ion battery technology and the battery, criteria that should be considered when purchasing a used battery for your laptop computer. The basic information regarding Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) and Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) batteries is the same for all laptop computers. Buying a used laptop battery can be a great bargain or a terrific waste of money. Take a few moments to educate yourself on Lithium Ion batteries and the information that should be in a battery listing before purchasing a used battery.

Lithium Ion batteries have become the preferred power source for most current laptop batteries. Older laptops used NiCad batteries, and more recently laptops have used NiMH batteries. This guide will primarily discuss Li-Ion batteries because they are the predominant battery technology for current generation laptop computers.

Li-Ion batteries combine the best qualities of alkaline batteries with the best qualities of rechargeable batteries. Li-ion batteries provide constant voltage during discharge and do not suffer from the memory effect that plague Ni-Cd batteries. Li-ion batteries also provide the highest available energy density of any available battery technology (i.e. provides more power per ounce as compared to NiMH or NiCad) Li-Ion batteries also have a low self-discharge rate (about 5% per month) compared to Nickel Metal Hydride (about 30% per month) or Ni-Cd (about 20% per month). A little known characteristic of Li-Ion battery technology is that Li-Ion batteries lose approximately 15% usable dell Inspiron 4000 battery, capacity each year (depends upon storage temperature). Because of their characteristics, Lithium Ion batteries can operate for between 300-500 cycles and last for about 5 years from the manufacture date.

Many Li-Ion batteries have a set of built in LEDs to determine battery charge status. Just push the button and you can readily determine the charge state of the battery. The LEDs DO NOT provide any information regarding the health (or capacity) of the battery. It only indicates the battery's charge state. If the battery only holds a 360 mAH charge, all the lights will illuminate, but the battery only may only have 10% of it's original capacity.

An average laptop battery operating time is a tricky number to accurately quantify. Battery operating time is dell Inspiron 4100 battery dependent upon power settings selected by each individual user and the processor speed. A battery that operates for 2 hours on one laptop with maximum energy saving options selected (e.g. dim screen, reduced processor speed, disk spin down, etc.) may only operate for 1 hour on the same laptop with no energy saving features selected.

A simple test that I use for determining battery capacity is to play a DVD. This is the most energy intensive test that you can perform on your laptop. I usually set up this test with all energy saving features disabled (disk spin down = off, full bright display, processor performance = highest, no sleep, etc.) This provides the worst case scenario. Normal operating conditions will usually be better than my test conditions. I would rather have a customer get a battery that was tested to operate for 90 minutes and actually operates for 2 hours (under normal conditions), than for the customer to get a battery that only operates for 1 hour.

Here's What You Should Consider Before battery Purchasing a Used Battery:

Li-Ion batteries have a 300 to 500 cycle lifetime. Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.3 and on) allows you to monitor the number of cycles on a battery using the System Profiler. I assume there is a similar capability in Windows or some shareware that is readily available. Try to avoid a used battery that has a very high number of cycles on it.
A new battery should be able to play a DVD for over 2 and a half hours. A good used battery should be able to play a DVD for at least an hour and a half. A used battery that plays a DVD for about an hour and a half will probably operate for over 2 hours under "normal" operating conditions (this is just an educated guess based upon my experience).
Li-Ion batteries tend to lose about 15% capacity each year, depending upon storage conditions. Try to avoid purchasing a battery that is more than 5 years old.
Be cautious if you're considering a battery where the listing doesn't provide any test data. It's a simple matter to test the battery dell Latitude CPX battery, and provide operating conditions and run time in the listing.
Be cautious when a battery listing makes claims like "holds full charge" or "all 4 lights illuminate" . As I stated above, this means virtually nothing regarding the health of the battery.

About the Author

Laptop Parts - Laptop Battery, Laptop AC Adapter, Laptop Keyboard, LCD Panel.
Laptop Battery, Laptop AC Adapter, Laptop Keyboard, LCD Panel.

How long does a laptop battery last on average, hour wise and lifetime wise?

I have a Dell Dimension 4100 that my brother gave to me used...I love it..but I have always used the power cord because the battery is totally dead! I want to buy a new one...but for $139 I kind of would like to know from real people how many hours on average you can work on one, and how many months/years they last? Some are rated Whr which I assume is some type of hours...???

Generally, the battery charge depends up on the type of application that you are using. If you are using applications which uses extensive graphics or uses external peripherals, then the battery could discharge pretty quickly. Otherwise, on normal circumstances when you are not using manny applications... then the battery should give you around 120 minutes of backup.

The battery backup also depends up on the type of battery you are purchasing. A 12 cell battery will give you more backup than a 8 cell battery.

As far as battery maintenance is concerned... do recaliberate the battery once in every 14 days. And make sure that you dont keep charging the battery for a very long time. Sometimes, you will find people charging the battery for over 24 hours. This could damage the battery.

Regarding battery life span.... most of the battery manufacturers give you 6-12 months of warranty. Within this warranty period, if the battery is dead... then the manufacturers will replace it. Once the warranty is over... you will have to purchase a new battery, .i.e., if the battery malfunctions. Batteries are electronic goods... so manufacturers dont give any "guarantee" on such products.

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