May202011

Is it harmful to run a laptop without batteries for extended periods?

Saad Javed asks:

I use my laptop a lot for games and other stuff, so the batteries run out pretty quickly. So I’ve started running it on AC power and removed the batteries. I plug in the batteries once a week to keep them running. I want to know if this is good for the machine or not?


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  • Tina May 20, 2011

    Saad,

    for your laptop it shouldn’t matter. But it’s good that you take out the battery while you’re running the laptop in AC power. It’s not good for the battery to get re-charged all the time. An occasional (partly) uncharge and recharge cycle on the other hand is good for the battery.

  • Mike May 20, 2011

    It’s not harmful for your laptop. 
    For the rest it depends on what type of battery we are talking aboutIf it’s a Lithium-ion battery I suggest to drain the power to 40-60% and then store it in a cold but dry environment e.g. in your basement and only take it out like every third or fourth month for a recharge. This recharge could look like fully charging it and then use it until it’s down to the storage level mentioned above before taking it out again.What you explained is actually something not recommended. Li-ion die because of cell-oxidation. This process is accelerated by being fully charged and/or in warm environments. After only a week of storage it’s still almost fully charged (they lose like 1-5% in a month) and since you use your laptop for gaming it will probably be hot – you see the problem here…One thing you should never do is deep-cycle a Li-ion battery (let the charge go down to 0-1%). Worst case scenario it will kill your battery.If it’s a Nickel-Cadmium battery do the usual drill: fully charge it, fully drain it. That’s pretty much the only way to keep it alive. As for storage the recommended way is to discharge it to ~2% and then store it in a very cold and dry environment. If you want to use it again let it warm up to room temperature and then do a full overcharge cycle: 100% and keep AC for additional 2 hours or so, discharge to 0%, recharge to 100%.

    • Saad Javed May 20, 2011

      Its a Li-Ion battery. I was discharging it to a very low level before taking it out. I’ll follow your advice. Thanks! 

  • meghana August 8, 2011

    what happens if a power cut occurs while using my laptop on direct supply without a battery in it?

    • Tina August 9, 2011

      The laptop will turn off of course.

      • meghana August 10, 2011

        does it affect my hard disk?

        • Tina August 13, 2011

          Yes, it might damage your hard disk.

          • meghana August 17, 2011

            thanks….

  • max August 28, 2011

    My laptop is always gets hang when i shutdown. So i need to unplug the power. So far i have no problem with it.

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