Partially Charge Acer Laptop to Increase battery life

Question

I own an Acer Aspire 5755G on Windows 7 x64 and I recently read that keeping your battery charged at 100% the whole time degrades battery life.

The problem is, I always keep it in my laptop but never really use the Battery since the laptop (or should I say notebook) is rather big and I usually use it on my desk with the power cord. Although I remove the battery when gaming, I like to have it on most of the time as a UPS in case the power goes off.

Is there any utility that will keep the battery charged until, say, 20-60%?

Solution

"I recently read that keeping your battery charged at 100% the whole time degrades battery life."

This is a myth.

It’s fine to leave your laptop plugged in at your desk when you’re using it, as the laptop won’t “overcharge” the battery — it will stop charging when it reaches capacity. However, just as you shouldn’t store your laptop’s battery at full capacity in a closet, you shouldn’t leave your laptop plugged in for months on end with the battery at full capacity. Allow your laptop’s battery to occasionally discharge somewhat before charging it back up — that will keep the electrons flowing and keep the battery from losing capacity.

Battery University says that “the worst situation is keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures.” If your laptop produces a lot of heat, removing it might be a good idea. If you have a fairly cool laptop that you occasionally let discharge a reasonable amount, leaving it plugged in — even for days on end — shouldn’t be a problem. If your laptop gets extremely hot, you may want to remove the battery.

Read more at "Debunking Battery Life Myths for Mobile Phones, Tablets, and Laptops"

Comments

[Daniel R Hicks]

Sony provides a utility for this -- selectable from about 60 to 85%, IIRC.

[Daniel R Hicks]

A battery will last longer if only charged to 60-80% of capacity. This has nothing to do with "memory". This is why many manufacturers supply utilities that will limit charging to lower levels, if you do not need the long cordless runtime of a fully-charged battery.

[Keltari]

I never mentioned memory. There is nothing wrong with leaving a battery charged at full power.

[Daniel R Hicks]

Nothing wrong except it reduces battery life.