Laptop plugged in often

[Techicolors]

I always wondered this, but is it bad to keep your laptop plugged in all the time? of course I take it out from time to time but most of the time it's plugged in

[jet224presents]

1 minute ago, Technicolors said:

I always wondered this, but is it bad to keep your laptop plugged in all the time? of course I take it out from time to time but most of the time it's plugged in

people say that it is but modern chargers turn off once the battery is charged anyway. its probably not that big of a deal but maybe a good idea to unplug it every so often

[Theguywhobea]

3 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

I always wondered this, but is it bad to keep your laptop plugged in all the time? of course I take it out from time to time but most of the time it's plugged in

You should be fine. When your battery fills up it will actually drain and charge on it's own. You can test this with some laptops that let you modify how far the battery will auto discharge. If you did this and had it set at like 70%, while plugged in your machine will still show 100% but if you unplugged it when it hit 70% you'll see it drop off.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

2 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

I always wondered this, but is it bad to keep your laptop plugged in all the time? of course I take it out from time to time but most of the time it's plugged in

I know before it used to be a major issue for batteries. Having it plugged in will kill your battery capacity over time. If I'm using my laptop as a desktop, I will remove the battery. Of course, this is impossible for many ultrabooks so just unplug it every so often. Same with the charger itself. Having it plugged in 24/7 will burn it out over time. 

[Techicolors]

17 minutes ago, jet224presents said:

people say that it is but modern chargers turn off once the battery is charged anyway. its probably not that big of a deal but maybe a good idea to unplug it every so often

but does it trickle charge tho? that might affect battery cycles

 

16 minutes ago, Theguywhobea said:

You should be fine. When your battery fills up it will actually drain and charge on it's own. You can test this with some laptops that let you modify how far the battery will auto discharge. If you did this and had it set at like 70%, while plugged in your machine will still show 100% but if you unplugged it when it hit 70% you'll see it drop off.

not sure how I would test this. is this like charging to 100% and there's a longer period of time until it goes down to 99%?

[Kyle_N]

Most laptops will essentially disconnect the battery automatically when it is over 95%.

It will not charge/discharge the battery, the computer will run entirely off AC power. 

 

It's actually best to either keep it plugged in all the time, or disconnect the battery when not in use, that way the battery never charges or discharges.

 

If you leave it unplugged, the battery will discharge, and if it drains too much, it might not recharge. You also have a limited number of charge cycles (the battery will eventually hold less charge), so it's best to not allow it to discharge and recharge, as every 100% (cumulative) it loses and regains is a charge cycle. 

[Techicolors]

3 minutes ago, DOGC_Kyle said:

Most laptops will essentially disconnect the battery automatically when it is over 95%.

It will not charge/discharge the battery, the computer will run entirely off AC power. 

 

It's actually best to either keep it plugged in all the time, or disconnect the battery when not in use, that way the battery never charges or discharges.

 

If you leave it unplugged, the battery will discharge, and if it drains too much, it might not recharge. You also have a limited number of charge cycles (the battery will eventually hold less charge), so it's best to not allow it to discharge and recharge, as every 100% (cumulative) it loses and regains is a charge cycle. 

is this when my laptop is plugged in and fully charged, it says it's powered via AC power?

[jet224presents]

24 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

is this when my laptop is plugged in and fully charged, it says it's powered via AC power?

yes the laptop is completely reliant on the power from the adapter and isolates and does not use the battery. if you could remove your battery your laptop will still operate completely normal, if plugged into charger.

[burnttoastnice]

20 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

but does it trickle charge tho? that might affect battery cycles

 

not sure how I would test this. is this like charging to 100% and there's a longer period of time until it goes down to 99%?

Trickle charging only applies to lead acid batteries, which can withstand the constant low current charge for several years before requiring replacement. Laptop batteries use lithium ion chemistry (on the rare occasion one might use lithium polymer or lithium manganese, which is a slightly newer battery chemistry) which charge according to a CC CV algorithm, slowing down the charge when nearly full, and completely stopping the charge when full. Lead acid battery chargers typically trickle charge the battery when it's full.

 

My laptop has a very distinctive AC light which only lights up when the laptop is actually using the AC adapter, whether its for power or charge. When turning it on, the power light glows, and a few seconds later, the AC light comes on blue, meaning it's not using the battery. When shutting down again, if the battery is full, the AC light goes off with the power light, else it stays on until the battery is full then goes off afterwards.

This basically implies once a laptop battery is full, it won't attempt charging again until the battery gradually self-discharges to a certain level, for example 85%, which is the percentage where my laptop seems to like not recharging. Newer laptops have a BIOS setting you can tweak to change that threshold, but it's nothing to worry about since batteries take a very long time to self discharge.

 

 

TL;DR modern laptop charging circuits do a pretty good job of taking care of your battery when charging, just make sure it doesn't sit on 0% for too long. A personal rule of mine is to charge my devices when they reach around 30% capacity, and store them at about 50-60% capacity. I of course don't apply that to my wireless headphones etc and other things that don't have a percentage monitor as it's not worth the time, they'll get replaced if they fail.

 

Anyone feel free to correct any mistakes above as I'm too lazy to read over all of that

[genexis_x]

Some manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo provide app to cap battery charge. I plug in my laptop most of the time and with Lenovo Companion app, the battery will not charge (stay between 55-60%), instead the PC uses full AC power. This preserves the battery A LOT.

[Techicolors]

4 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

Some manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo provide app to cap battery charge. I plug in my laptop most of the time and with Lenovo Companion app, the battery will not charge (stay between 55-60%), instead the PC uses full AC power. This preserves the battery A LOT.

wished the MacBook had that kind of app 

[KhandakeF]

On 12/14/2017 at 8:52 PM, jet224presents said:

people say that it is but modern chargers turn off once the battery is charged anyway. its probably not that big of a deal but maybe a good idea to unplug it every so often

Hmmm what if I leave it charged while I used it but when not using it(aka when its off) I unplug it?

[Pendragon]

its fine.

 

but you should use your battery once in a while