Battery Care Function: 50% or 80% for the least battery wear?

[tylermyles1]

Hi, guys I've been looking through some websites that give information about battery wear and battery health, and I've come to the conclusion that if you leave your laptop plugged in most of the time (which I do) it's best to keep your max charge below 100% 

 

However, I can't determine which percentage range yields the best results (least battery tear). So far I'm caught between 50% and 80%

 

I currently have it at 80%

 

This really matters to me because I live in a country where the tax on computer hardware exceeds 200% of item purchase to clear any item, not including other fees. I'd like to minimize the chances of having to buy any component for my Laptop.

 

If it helps I have an Omen 15.

 

Thank you for reading this post, and for any insight you may offer me. 

[RejZoR]

80% is the gold line so to speak. Most capacity with minimal wear of battery.

[tylermyles1]

5 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

80% is the gold line so to speak. Most capacity with minimal wear of battery.

Oh really? Thank you. It's good to know I got it right off the bat. For reference thou what's the benefit of going down to 50%?

[Jurrunio]

not sure if 50% is better for the battery or 80%, but 50% is too short of battery life

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

As far as I know, Li-ion batteries have the least "age-related wear" when stored between 40 and 60%.  That's why when you buy a new phone the battery will be around 50%. 

 

The last 10-15% of a charge are the hardest on a battery and draining them is said to be bad as well, so personally I tend to keep mine between 20 and 80%.  Fortunately my laptop's BIOS allows me to cap the charge level at 80%.  After 6 years the original battery is still at 89% of its rated capacity, so I must be doing it right.

 

So all in all : keep it between 80% and 20%, and try to have it at 50% if you won't be using it for several days or weeks.

[tylermyles1]

Alright, From what you are saying, I gather 80% is perfectly fine and going down to 50% yields negligible gains for a shorter battery cycle. Alright, noted. Thank You. 

[GoodBytes]

The reality is complicated.

The problem is that every laptop is different. Budget laptop might only draw power from the battery, even when plugged in. So you always use the battery. This was more common, cost cutting, thing done in many years ago.

 

Then you have the algorithm of the charge circuit. Usually laptops won't charge when the battery is ~93-95% recharged. You plugged it in at those range, and it will return to your OS that the battery is 100%, you unplug it, and it will drop to it's real percentage in a moment. This is usually sufficient to keep the battery a long time.

 

Another factor is the grade of the battery. The reality of things is that you have many variation of Lithium-ion battery tech which aren't identified. Some batteries lasts far longer then others. Some batteries are heat resistant and won't accelerate its wear due to it. Some batteries can be punctured and continue to operate (won't explode), and so on. Of course, they all have up's and down's and various costs. It is up to the manufacture to see what best fits the device and get what makes the most sense. Of course, they also need to see in building/getting the most appropriate charging circuit and algorithm.

 

An example of different Lithium-ion battery tech, if we look at the Surface line systems, it has battery that is rated to keep 80% of its capacity after 4 years, even if charged to 100%. It is also heat resistant, something very important for devices like the Surface Pro which actually does get warm quickly when playing videos, and some models are even fanless.

 

That said, you can't expect such fancy battery and charging circuit on a $400 laptop. To make matters worse, you can't assume laptop price with the type of battery life and charging circuit as an indicator. Some manufacture might prefer higher profits. Some manufactures might give you the most performance (specs wise) for your money then the competition, still making the system expensive due to these specs, but they cut corners on the battery.

 

And lastly, you have manufacture variations which makes it difficult to identify any issue in the short term. (The warranty will be expired before it is an issue, and some laptop manufacture don't even cover the battery, beside the return window period, where you just return the laptop)

 

Ths is why there is no clear answer on anything. And this is why you never buy a laptop where the battery life barely fits your needs in battery life. For example, don't buy a laptop that has 7h of battery life, if you need "just 6h". Good chances that it degrade bellow 6h rather quickly. Not to mention that software and OS continuous to be fancier and fancier, making them more and more demanding on your hardware, reducing battery life. You need 6h? See in getting a 9h battery life system, or one with a small and compact power adapter, or featured a user replaceable battery.

[tylermyles1]

7 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

The reality is complicated.

The problem is that every laptop is different. Budget laptop might only draw power from the battery, even when plugged in. So you always use the battery. This was more common, cost cutting, thing done in many years ago.

 

Then you have the algorithm of the charge circuit. Usually laptops won't charge when the battery is ~93-95% recharged. You plugged it in at those range, and it will return to your OS that the battery is 100%, you unplug it, and it will drop to it's real percentage in a moment. This is usually sufficient to keep the battery a long time.

 

Another factor is the grade of the battery. The reality of things is that you have many variation of Lithium-ion battery tech which aren't identified. Some batteries lasts far longer then others. Some batteries are heat resistant and won't accelerate its wear due to it. Some batteries can be punctured and continue to operate (won't explode), and so on. Of course, they all have up's and down's and various costs. It is up to the manufacture to see what best fits the device and get what makes the most sense. Of course, they also need to see in building/getting the most appropriate charging circuit and algorithm.

 

An example of different Lithium-ion battery tech, if we look at the Surface line systems, it has battery that is rated to keep 80% of its capacity after 4 years, even if charged to 100%. It is also heat resistant, something very important for devices like the Surface Pro which actually does get warm quickly when playing videos, and some models are even fanless.

 

That said, you can't expect such fancy battery and charging circuit on a $400 laptop. To make matters worse, you can't assume laptop price with the type of battery life and charging circuit as an indicator. Some manufacture might prefer higher profits. Some manufactures might give you the most performance (specs wise) for your money then the competition, still making the system expensive due to these specs, but they cut corners on the battery.

 

And lastly, you have manufacture variations which makes it difficult to identify any issue in the short term. (The warranty will be expired before it is an issue, and some laptop manufacture don't even cover the battery, beside the return window period, where you just return the laptop)

 

Ths is why there is no clear answer on anything. And this is why you never buy a laptop where the battery life barely fits your needs in battery life. For example, don't buy a laptop that has 7h of battery life, if you need "just 6h". Good chances that it degrade bellow 6h rather quickly. Not to mention that software and OS continuous to be fancier and fancier, making them more and more demanding on your hardware, reducing battery life. You need 6h? See in getting a 9h battery life system, or one with a small and compact power adapter, or featured a user replaceable battery.

I see, I understand what you are saying. I just wanted to know the best practice in increasing the lifespan of a battery universally. I learnt a lot from what you said though, and I thank you for the factors I did not consider.