Extend Your Dell laptop battery's Life - Tips & Instructions
The questions on every laptop owner's mind, How do you get the most out of your Laptop Battery's Life? and How can I make it last a very long time?
Dell battery do not last forever, even Lithium Ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries degrade or deteriorate continuously. Even when not in use they will deteriorate, at a smaller pace. The battery loses about 15% of its capacity every 100 cycles. A cycle is a discharge, charge event. After about 3 - 5 years, the Dell battery will end up with very low capacity and this renders the Dell unusable. As soon as the battery leaves the production line it is likely to start losing it's capacity.
All is not lost, listed below are some tips to ensure you can get the most out of your battery and prolong its life a littlt longer:
Use the AC Adapter whenever possible, but not all the time, let the battery do some work as well. Exercise the Dell batteryregularly.
Lower the brightness setting on the screen backlight. This uses so much power, but make sure the new setting is comfortable for your eyes.
Remove all USB devices, PCMCIA cards and any others that are not being used. Whilst connected they draw a certain amount of power from the Dell battery . Some require switching off by the software or operating system even if they are unplugged.
Minimize the number of programs running at the same time, especially if you are not using them constantly. This makes the processor do more work and draws more power from the Dell laptop battery.
Stop unnecessary processes that may be running in the background, withour your knowledge. Open the Task Manager in Windows, this shows all the processes that are currently running.
Add more system memory, RAM. The system utilises this more and lowers hard disk access time.
Set the Windows Power Management settings to maximum savings.
Powersave settings in the BIOS needs to be enabled for the Windows Power Management to work properly.
If you have a second battery, use it in rotation with the current Dell notebook battery.
Fully discharge and recharge your battery about once every 3 months, even Lithium Ion batteries. This is simply because, the smart electronics gets a bit confused as to capacity. (Not very smart....)
If you are taking the Dell batteries out to store it, make sure it is only has about 40 - 50% charge. (NOT FULLY CHARGED!! or FULLY DISCHARGED)
Store the battery in an Anti-Static bag and in a dry, cool place.
Clean the metal contacts on the Dell laptop battery, with rubbing alcohol. Clean contacts ensure a good connection.
When carrying the battery do not let it get in touch with other metal objects. This prevents the battery from short circuiting and causing damage to person and property.
Do not drop or pierce the Dell notebook batteries and do not open the casing. The contents may be corrosive and harmful.
Do not use a broken or damaged laptop battery, prevent serious damage to property and person
Make sure the vents on the laptop are not blocked and the Dell laptop does not overheat. Extreme heat causes the increases the self-discharge rate of the battery.
Do not use a laptop or a laptop battery from extreme temperatures. Let them reach room temperature before use.
Instructions to keep your Dell laptop battery last longer
There are certain elementary rules for getting more from your Dell notebook battery. Make it a point to turn off Wi-Fi and BlueTooth. You are aware that most laptops have shortcut keys to instantly disable wireless networking. Completely avoid playing computer games, music or DVD movies as multimedia activities tend to drain Dell laptop batteries. Disconnect all external devices like PC Card modems, firewire, USB devices and optical drives. It is advisable to use the notebook touchpad instead of an external mouse. It will also help to adjust your screen brightness as dimming your display saves Dell laptop battery power. You'll certainly need to see your screen, but just how bright do you need it to be? Screens lighted at full strength eat up 15 percent more battery life than if your battery was at 50 percent brightness. So, be sure to squeeze more life out of your Dell laptop by reducing the brightness of your monitor a great deal.
Select a Dell laptop power scheme that turns off the notebook monitor and hard disk after 10 minutes of inactivity. Remember to decrease or mute the laptop speaker volume. Lastly, programs that are run from a CD or DVD can be copied and run from the hard drive, which typically consumes less power than an optical drive. Some games offer you the choice to install to the hard drive, so choose this option, as you will get more life out of your Dell laptop than using the CD-ROM or DVD player, which are massive Dell laptop battery consumers.
There are also some more tips to improve your Dell notebook life. If you do not use your laptop for extended periods of time like a few days or a week, then remove the battery pack from the laptop. Never expose the battery to high heat or extreme cold conditions. For instance, do not leave your battery in your car during the summer months. Hot batteries discharge very quickly, and cold ones can't create as much power. Make it a point to plug your Dell notebook laptop charger adapter into a UPS and not directly into a power outlet or surge protector. Fully charge new battery packs before use. New Dell laptop battery pack needs to be fully charged and discharged (cycled) a few times before it can qualify to full capacity. Leaving a battery in a laptop while using an electrical outlet for long periods of time will keep the Dell battery in a constant state of charging up and that will reduce the life cycle of the Dell battery.
Energy management has been a problem since the earliest days of mobile computing. Drains on a Dell battery include virtually every component on your Dell laptop, including the screen, the hard drive, the CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, and other peripherals. The biggest villain is DVD movie, which cause the screen to run at full power for the life of the movie. Make sure you have no devices plugged into the laptop that can drain its power, such as a webcam, USB thumb-stick, or wireless PC card. According to laptop manufacturers, connected peripherals can impact Dell notebook battery life by up to 12 percent (depending on the peripheral), so get used to the touchpad instead of using an external mouse when you're away from an electrical outlet. As a ‘Prevention is better than cure’ philosophy, it is worth mentioning that air travelers should make it a point to recharge the Dell battery before a flight. Find an electrical outlet while you're waiting for your flight at the gate, a restaurant, or departure lounge.
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