What is the best way to save battery on an old laptop

[Bill_Bright]

As noted elsewhere, if you search on the model number of your power brick, you should be able to find a replacement. Just make sure it uses the exact same voltage, the current value is equal or greater and the connector is the same. The voltage and current should be noted on the supply.

Or, I use and often recommend getting a Universal 90W Notebook Power Adapter. I use one on service calls and when troubleshooting notebooks. You select the proper tip and voltage (some automatically adjusts its output voltage) for the battery and notebook. Thus far, I have had no problems using mine on my own Toshiba, as well as several clients’ Dells, HP/Compaq, eMachine, Sony, Lenovo, Acer, and even Apple notebooks.

 

[theFOoL]

Your best bet is to buy this LINK

Best thing to do is to buy a AC Charger for the Laptop and a original or extended battery which you can find on eBay or my LINK above

 

[Grog6]

If you really like the laptop, I'd upgrade the battery by buying one of the new 9 cell versions, with as much capacity as you can get.

A new dell adapter for those is cheap, I bought my last one for ~$10. They're even cheaper on ebay, last I looked.

You can find faster newer laptops with lower power, but for $30 you can bring that one back to better than it was.

I get more than 3 hours out of my d630, but a lot of the time I'm using it, the screen is off.
I use mine for Tuning and datalogging my cars; I also bought a car adapter for those really long drives.
The docking ports are cheap also, so I bought three of those, and put one in each car, so I can move it around easily.
I have a remote monitor I stick to the dash, and a mouse, so it sits on the docking station closed most of the time.

 

[8bitgamer757]

i honestly think its not worth fixing, i could get a newer laptop for maybe twice the price and much better performance. its like trying to put money in to an old junker that keeps breaking down, its just not worth it

 

[micropage7]

well i did not own the laptop when it was brand new, but typical usage of the laptop has remained the same for the time ive used it, light gaming, heavy web browsing, discord, and of course office apps. iirc the battery has about 80% of its original capacity from when it was brand new

limiting the processor, the brightness, disable any apps or process that you don't need
removing any bloatware that preinstalled

but i guess it won't improve saving the battery too much

 

[Waldorf]

Depends on what you want to prioritize, keeping the battery, or longer times of using it (running on battery).
as long as you lower power consumption on the usual stuff (power savings mode/dim screen etc) and things like ssd and no odd,
there is no need for any additional software, or even calibration, especially if you prefer to extend how long you can use the battery (total use, not runtime).
you could add the dev sleep setting to the power profiles.
dipm


calibration is only needed to match the os with the actual battery state, usually not below 100 cycles (unless its grossly off).
and having exact capacity/expected runtime is not needed, if you want to treat the battery properly, as it should not be discharged below about 50-60% (not charged past 80% (90)
which eliminates the need to know about exact runtime/calibration, as you still have enough capacity left "no matter what" (no "uncalibrated" lappy is off by 50%).

so for battery "life", cycling (full discharge/charge) is counter productive, as Li based batteries usually are more stressed when below 20 and above 80%,
and you usually want to stay between (30) 50-80% (90), depending what you prefer (single runtime vs life).

working as a tech, i had more defective batteries in laptops being continuously plugged in (so dont do that), vs ppl that used them.
so even that you put more (overall) charge/discharge "cycles" on the battery will not matter much, as it gets stressed less overall, which extends life much more.

usually trying to stay between 50-90 is a good target, and the few times you need to use it below 50% (without able to plug it in)
wont impact it too much, nor if you know your gonna be working on battery for longer and want to charge it fully (right before use).

Reasons why i never had to replace any Li-xx based battery on anything i owned (laptop/tablet/phone etc), incl a phone that is +5y old and still on the 1st battery.
the couple hundred "cycles" (as in charge/discharge) in those 5y did not do any harm, but less than 50 "full" cycles (10/20%-100%) and it lost about 30% capacity
(started using it as screen for my uav remote).

then again, if you can find a cheap replacement i wouldn't go to extremes, and try to balance it.


its like ppl that continuously "starve" themselves to live longer, yet don't get to enjoy all the nice food out there.

 

[eidairaman1]

well the battery is fine for now, i just want to know if there are software-related things i can do to extend my battery life, i get about 3 hours max with battery saver profile enabled (which limits my cpu to like 30% usage max)

Debloat windows 10 and set the laptop to battery saving and keep the light low. Keep it plugged in too

 

[Waldorf]

Nope. Dont keep it plugged in, thats the fastest way to kill (Li) batteries.

 

[theFOoL]

Nope. Dont keep it plugged in, thats the fastest way to kill (Li) batteries.

unless it's a dock station? I have like that on my HP 8460P

 

[trog100]

lithium cells keep better when not fully charged.. some modern laptops have a max charge setting.. never go higher than 60% is a common one for laptops that spend most of their life plugged in..

leaving a laptop always plugged in with a fully charged battery is a worst case scenario..


trog

 

[eidairaman1]

lithium cells keep better when not fully charged.. some modern laptops have a max charge setting.. never go higher than 60% is a common one for laptops that spend most of their life plugged in..

leaving a laptop always plugged in with a fully charged battery is a worst case scenario..


trog

Despite them switching over the power from Battery to wallwart?

 

[8bitgamer757]

well i am getting another laptop from a very kind user on the forums (not going to say who they asked to remain anonymous and i will respect that) and i will definitely be keeping all of this in mind thank you guys for all the tips/info you have given me

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

well i am getting another laptop from a very kind user on the forums (not going to say who they asked to remain anonymous and i will respect that) and i will definitely be keeping all of this in mind thank you guys for all the tips/info you have given me

@boise49ers?

 

[theFOoL]

I mean I have my HP 8460P on the Dock and occasionally I have to take it off you do testing but the battery holds its spot @5HRs which having to test off USB Adapter With a Micro SD card with CLOUDREADY on a 16GB SD card @10 class speed works well at the USB 2.0 speed. I also updated it yesterday with a Sata to SD Card PCB thus tricking the OS thinking it's plugged into the Sata port in the laptop. When I just put the SD Card on the Adapter it fails to update the OS of course

 

[Bill_Bright]

calibration is only needed to match the os with the actual battery state,

To clarify, calibration is also needed to match the notebook's "battery monitoring and charging program" (not the OS). This is necessary so the correct charge is reported to the OS.

Nope. Dont keep it plugged in, thats the fastest way to kill (Li) batteries.

I disagree. It actually takes months in storage at 100% charged to degrade the performance of Li-Ion batteries.

working as a tech, i had more defective batteries in laptops being continuously plugged in (so dont do that), vs ppl that used them.

While that may be true, there is no way for you to determine keeping them plugged in is what caused those batteries to become defective.

I know of many people, including yours truly, who keep their notebooks plugged in full time and their batteries last many years. The battery in my 10 year Toshiba is doing great and that notebook is plugged in full time. While anecdotal, it illustrates the point.

Many people use their notebooks as a desktop - keeping it plugged in. Yet when needed to be mobile, they still work fine.

Notebook battery charging circuits are not stupid. Same with cell phones and other devices. They have coding to shut off charging when fully charged, to prevent overcharging and to prevent discharging to 0%. The latest notebooks even detect patterns and let a battery discharge to 70 - 80% before kicking in the charger again.

While storing a Li-Ion battery at 100% charge for very long periods can degrade the battery life, the battery charge itself will discharge just sitting on the shelf. So if storing, it is considered good practice to discharge it to 50 - 80% before storing.

About once every couple months (if I remember) I unplug my notebook and let the battery run down until the notebook automatically hibernates. But this is to calibrate the monitoring program to the battery, not to prevent the battery from becoming defective.

Frankly, the recommendation to unplug these batteries is really shyster... err... lawyer speak. Because Li-Ion batteries have been known to blow up and/or catch fire without any warning, lawyers have demanded instructions to unplug them when not in use is put in the user guides.

 

[eidairaman1]

To clarify, calibration is also needed to match the notebook's "battery monitoring and charging program" (not the OS). This is necessary so the correct charge is reported to the OS.
I disagree. It actually takes months in storage at 100% charged to degrade the performance of Li-Ion batteries.

While that may be true, there is no way for you to determine keeping them plugged in is what caused those batteries to become defective.

I know of many people, including yours truly, who keep their notebooks plugged in full time and their batteries last many years. The battery in my 10 year Toshiba is doing great and that notebook is plugged in full time. While anecdotal, it illustrates the point.

Many people use their notebooks as a desktop - keeping it plugged in. Yet when needed to be mobile, they still work fine.

Notebook battery charging circuits are not stupid. Same with cell phones and other devices. They have coding to shut off charging when fully charged, to prevent overcharging and to prevent discharging to 0%. The latest notebooks even detect patterns and let a battery discharge to 70 - 80% before kicking in the charger again.

While storing a Li-Ion battery at 100% charge for very long periods can degrade the battery life, the battery charge itself will discharge just sitting on the shelf. So if storing, it is considered good practice to discharge it to 50 - 80% before storing.

About once every couple months (if I remember) I unplug my notebook and let the battery run down until the notebook automatically hibernates. But this is to calibrate the monitoring program to the battery, not to prevent the battery from becoming defective.

Frankly, the recommendation to unplug these batteries is really shyster... err... lawyer speak. Because Li-Ion batteries have been known to blow up and/or catch fire without any warning, lawyers have demanded instructions to unplug them when not in use is put in the user guides.

Ive only been told to not let them fully discharge is all

 

[Bill_Bright]

Ive only been told to not let them fully discharge is all

Well, I was taught to avoid over-charging too, but again, a properly working charging circuit will automatically prevent that. In fact, the battery itself is likely protected from over-charging.

As for fully discharging, that too would be near impossible. There would almost need to be a direct short across the battery contacts and that likely would trigger some protection circuit too.

In the old days, there was a chance of causing the battery to reverse polarity. But that is no longer a risk either.

 

[theFOoL]

Ive only been told to not let them fully discharge is all

Well that their is true. Don't ever let a battery drain completely. Charge at least at 10%

Phones and laptops have a circuit to stop charging... When it gets to 100%

 

[silentbogo]

well, my power brick just basically died, so now i have NO laptop.

You have 2 options:
1) Get a cheap chinese power brick, which may end up being a generic 65W noisy mess (while reporting 95W over 1Wire). That's the last resort measure.
2) If you have something like a decent spare ASUS charger (or any 19.5V 95W unit w/ 5.5x2.5mm jack), you can use one of the chinese converters for Dell. Our field test guys use those with our homemade car chargers, since Dell stuff costs a shitton and third-party units are all "fire hazard" garbage. Those cost mere $1-$1.50 and work like a charm. Just look for active converters (usually have "For DELL" stamped on the rubber casing).

what would your recommendations be for a newer laptop for around 50-75$?

Just bump your budget to $100-$120, and you could probably find a decent Lenovo T520/T530 or HP Elitebook 8560p. Also, Probook 4540s is pretty decent (especially a version w/ Radeon HD7650).
Wasting $50-$75 on yet another "dead-man-walking" is stupid. You live in US - there are excellent refurbished laptops out the ass, to the roof, over the roof, and on every corner )))
All it takes is a bit of effort and some elbow grease (or keyboard-ninja'ing, or whatever).

 

[Waldorf]

Leaving it plugged in is usually a killer, as power always goes thru the battery to run it, so one reason why i prefer to remove the pack, as long as you dont have problems with blackouts.
Some newer lappys will have the software to control charging, as long as its set to cut power above 80%, than no worries.
But fixing +200 latop/Notebooks a year gives statistically relevant numbers.
And since every shop tries to sell as much, incl batteries, you talk in detail how/what they use it.
When i have a 1-2y unit with a battery that works for less than 1h, the chance that anything but continuously being plugged in killed it, is low.
Especially when they never used it without the powerbrick.
Again, not every unit is the same, and especially when you have the proper software etc controlling it.
My advice was more about general handling/treating of li-io/li-po batteries,

i also learned a lot when i started flying uavs, as the batteries are not only expensive (+100$), you can kill them pretty easy/quickly, but its even worse when your 5lbs bird (or heavier) comes crashing down from half a mile up, cause the battery didnt have (expected) capacity.

 

[Bill_Bright]

as power always goes thru the battery to run it,

Ummm, no. Not only do the charging circuits shut off, when any battery is fully charged, it essentially becomes an open. That's why the charging rate drops significantly the closer a battery becomes fully charged. It can take 1/2 hour to get to 80% then 4 hours to top it off.

But fixing +200 latop/Notebooks a year gives statistically relevant numbers.

For (1), I have a shop too. That does not mean I know it all. (2) But as seen through the link in my signature, I might know a bit about electronics. (3) As stated before, numbers are fine, but only when you can conclusively tie them to facts. And the fact is you cannot associate those battery failures to whether or not the charger was left plugged in. There are lots of reasons and manners in which a battery might fail. It might have got too hot, been dropped, the charger might have failed, the user might have connected a different charger with the wrong voltage. There could have been a factory defect, notebook failure or something else.

Is it safer to unplug? Sure. That said, I would venture to say if you look at the precautions in any user guide for any electronics, including TVs, monitors, table lamps, refridgerators, ovens, coffee pots, alarm clocks and electric blankets, they will all say to unplug if not being used for awhile.

Yes, every unit is different. Something for everyone to remember. And how each unit is used is different too.

Phones and laptops have a circuit to stop charging... When it gets to 100%

Right.

 

[Waldorf]

Sure not saying for all of them, but if i have ppl with a working unit, except battery (and maybe infected/messed up OS), i can exclude almost everything else as cause (brick etc).
Not talking about a proper unit with monitoring software/sensors..

Then again, haven't worked as tech for 2y

 

[trog100]

my very recent laptop has three charge level setting.. 100% for maximum run time when (if) unplugged.. 80% and 60% for when plugged in..

as i said earlier lithium cells age better when not fully charged.. this is what the 60% is all about.. when the lappy spends most of its life plugged into the mains it will age better at 60% charge than 100% charge..

learn something new bill.. we all have to at times.. he he

trog

 

[theFOoL]

At least my laptop allows to remove the battery and use the dock but what's the point lol. If we loose power then I'll be still running....

 

[trog100]

i think we have reached a point where the life of a product is entirely governed by the life of its battery..

trog