Notebook battery review

Although rechargeable batteries have their energy content restored by charging, some deterioration occurs on each charge/discharge cycle. Low-capacity nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries (1700-2000 mA·h) can be charged for about 1000 cycles for Sony VGP-BPS2, whereas high capacity NiMH batteries (above 2500 mA·h) can be charged for about 500 cycles. Nickel cadmium (NiCd) batteries tend to be rated for 1,000 cycles before their internal resistance increases beyond usable values dell inspiron 1721 battery. Normally a fast charge, rather than a slow overnight charge, will result in a shorter battery lifespan. However, if the overnight charger is not “smart” and cannot detect when the battery is fully charged, then overcharging is likely, which will damage the Dell Latitude D620 Battery.

Rechargeable batteries self-discharge more rapidly than disposable alkaline batteries, especially nickel-based batteries; a freshly charged NiCd loses 10% of its charge in the first 24 hours, and thereafter discharges at a rate of about 10% a month Toshiba PA3395U-1BRS. However, modern lithium designs have reduced the self-discharge rate to a relatively low level (but still poorer than for primary batteries). Most nickel-based batteries as Toshiba PA3384U-1BRSare partially discharged when purchased, and must be charged before first use.

Degradation usually occurs because electrolyte migrates away from the electrodes or because active material falls off the electrodes. NiCd batteries suffer the drawback that they should be fully discharged before recharge MacBook Pro 15-inch Battery. Without full discharge, crystals may build up on the electrodes, thus decreasing the active surface area VGP-BPS9 and increasing internal resistance. This decreases battery capacity and causes the “memory effect”. These electrode crystals can also penetrate the electrolyte separator, thereby causing shorts. NiMH, although similar in chemistry, does not suffer from memory effect to quite this extent inspiron 1721 battery. When a battery reaches the end of its lifetime, it will not suddenly lose all of its capacity; rather, its capacity will gradually decrease.

“Deep-cycle” lead-acid batteries such as those used in electric golf carts have much thicker plates to aid their longevity Apple A1008?. The main benefit of the lead-acid battery is its low cost at VGP-BPS8; the main drawbacks are its large size and weight for a given capacity and voltage. Lead-acid batteries should never be discharged to below 20% of their full capacity, because internal resistance will cause heat and damage to dell 1721 batterywhen they are recharged. Deep-cycle lead-acid systems often use a low-charge warning light or a low-charge power cut-off switch to prevent the type of damage that will shorten the battery’s life.

Automotive lead-acid rechargeable batteries have a much harder life. Because of vibration, shock, heat, cold, and sulfation of their lead plates Dell Inspiron 1525 Battery?, few automotive batteries last beyond six years of regular use. Automotive starting batteries have many thin plates to provide as much current as possible in a reasonably small package. In general, the thicker the plates, the longer the life of the INSPIRON 2650 Battery. Typically they are only drained a small amount before recharge Sony VGP-BPS5. Care should be taken to avoid deep discharging a starting battery, since each charge and discharge cycle causes active material to be shed from the plates.

I have all experienced poor battery life on my new laptop that are typically less than six months old. There may or may not be a high failure rate for this battery model, and this page details my experiences in diagnosing the health of my dell inspiron 1721 battery and obtaining a replacement under warranty.

Determining Battery Health

There are several methods of determining your battery’s capacity relative to it’s initial specification (aka “health”).

• Press and hold the status button located on the bottom of your A1185. The five LED lights will initially display your battery’s current charge (five lights is charged, zero lights is discharged), and if you continue pressing the status button for three seconds the lights will blink off and back on again, now displaying the health of your A1078. If zero lights appear your battery is operating at greater than 80% of its specified capacity, if five lights appear your battery is operating at less than 60% of its specified capacity. This information was pulled from the D620 User Guide.
• If you enter the system BIOS by pressing “F2″ during the Dell logo while booting, there is a “Battery Health” option under the “Sytem” menu which gives a qualitative assessment of dell 1721 battery health.
• The power manager under FC6 tracks the maximum capacity of your Apple A1148 at its last full charge and generates a health percentage based on the factory spec charge for your battery. To view this information, right-click the battery meter in your gnome panel, select “Information”, and expand the “More” area of the “Device Information” panel.
• If you kept your initial Windows XP install, there is a battery health meter under the Dell Quickset applet in the lower right hand corner of the screen that gives the same information that is available through the system BIOS.

Obtaining a Replacement Battery

Of course, you always have the option of purchasing a replacement Toshiba pa3384u 1brs from Dell (9-cell or 6-cell), or simply living with degraded battery life. There are some circumstances where you may be able to obtain a replacement under warranty, though. If the BIOS/Quickset health gauges are showing the battery as failed even though it’s less than a year old, dell inspiron 1721 battery will be replaced it under warranty. According to the phone rep that I spoke to, a battery is considered to have failed when operating at less than 50% of its rated capacity.

When I called, my battery was five months old and operating at 50%-60% of it’s capacity (5 death lights, BIOS noted lowered battery life but did not pronounce failure, FC6 power manager rated health at 56%, observed Toshiba PA3191U-1BAS life was 50%-60% of expected). I was able to successfully make the case that the battery was clearly borderline and would certainly be replaced within a month or two, and that doing so now was an opportunity to provide excellent customer service whereas forcing me to wait would serve no purpose other than irritating me. To his credit, the phone rep immediately acknowledged that my line of thinking was reasonable, spoke to a supervisor, and was able to authorize the early replacement.

Conclusion

I love my laptop, and in general I’m very happy with it. It does look like there’s a trend toward premature inspiron 1721 battery failure, though, and if your situation is severe enough you may be eligible for a warranty replacement. Once your replacement arrives, go read about how to monitor and optimize battery performance.

11 Ways to Think Outside the Box

Thinking outside the box is more than just a business cliché. It means approaching problems in new, innovative ways; conceptualizing problems differently; and understanding your position in relation to any particular situation in a way you’d never thought of before. Ironically, its a cliché that means to think of clichéd situations in ways that aren’t clichéd and out of your laptop world with Toshiba PA3176U-1BRS.

We’re told to “think outside the box” all the time, but how exactly do we do that? How do we develop the ability to confront problems in ways other than the ways we normally confront problems? How do we cultivate the ability to look at things differently from the way we typically look at things?

Thinking outside the box starts well before we’re “boxed in” – that is, well before we confront a unique situation and start forcing it into a familiar “box” that we already know how to deal with. Or at least think we know how to deal with the Toshiba PA3178U-1BRS.

Here are 11 ways to beef up your out-of-the-box thinking skills. Make an effort to push your thinking up to and beyond its limit every now and again – the talents you develop may come in handy the next time you face a situation that “everybody knows” how to solve.

1. Study another industry.

I’ve learned as much about teaching from learning about marketing as I have from studying pedagogy – maybe more. Go to the library and pick up a magazine in an industry other than your own, or grab a few books from the library, and learn about how things are done in other industries. You might find that many of the problems people in other industries face are similar to the problems in your own, but that they’ve developed really quite different ways of dealing with them. Or you might well find new linkages between your own industry and the new one, linkages that might well be the basis of innovative partnerships in the future from the notebook Toshiba PA3191U-1BRS,.

2. Learn about another religion.

Religions are the way that humans organize and understand their relationships not only with the supernatural or divine but with each other. Learning about how such relations are structured can teach you a lot about how people relate to each other and the world around them. Starting to see the reason in another religion can also help you develop mental flexibility – when you really look at all the different ways people comprehend the same mysteries, and the fact that they generally manage to survive regardless of what they believe, you start to see the limitations of whatever dogma or doxy you follow, a revelation that will transfer quite a bit into the non-religious parts of your Sony PCGA-BP1N laptop life.

3. Take a class.

Learning a new topic will not only teach you a new set of facts and figures, it will teach you a new way of looking at and making sense of aspects of your everyday life or of the society or natural world you live in. This in turn will help expand both how you look at problems and the breadth of possible solutions you can come up with Sony PCGA-BP2E.

4. Read a novel in an unfamiliar genre.

Reading is one of the great mental stimulators in our society, but it’s easy to get into a rut. Try reading something you’d never have touched otherwise – if you read literary fiction, try a mystery or science fiction novel; if you read a lot of hard-boiled detective novels, try a romance; and so on. Pay attention not only to the story but to the particular problems the author has to deal with. For instance, how does the fantasy author bypass your normal skepticism about magic and pull you into their story as Sony PCGA-BP2EA ? Try to connect those problems to problems you face in your own field. For example, how might your marketing team overcome your audiences normal reticence about a new “miracle” product?

5. Write a poem.

While most problem-solving leans heavily on our brain’s logical centers, poetry neatly bridges our more rational left-brain though processes and our more creative right-brain processes of Sony PCGA-BP2S. Though it may feel foolish (and getting comfortable with feeling foolish might be another way to think outside the box), try writing a poem about the problem you’re working on. Your poem doesn’t necessarily have to propose a solution – the idea is to shift your thinking away from your brain’s logic centers and into a more creative part of the brain, where it can be mulled over in a non-rational way. Remember, nobody has to ever see your poem.

6. Draw a picture.

Drawing a picture is even more right-brained, and can help break your logical left-brain’s hold on a problem the same way a poem can. Also, visualizing a problem engages other modes of thinking that we don’t normally use your Sony PCGA-BP2V bringing you another creative boost.

7. Turn it upside down.

Turning something upside-down, whether physically by flipping a piece of paper around or metaphorically by re-imagining it can help you see patterns that wouldn’t otherwise be apparent. The brain has a bunch of pattern-making habits that often obscure other, more subtle patterns at work in Sony PCGA-BP4V ; changing the orientation of things can hide the more obvious patterns and make other patterns emerge. For example, you might ask what a problem would look like if the least important outcome were the most important, and how you’d then try to solve it.

8. Work backwards.

Just like turning a thing upside down, working backwards breaks the brain’s normal conception of causality. This is the key to backwards planning, for example, where you start with a goal and think back through the steps needed to reach it until you get to where you are right now in Sony PCGA-BP51 .

9. Ask a child for advice.

I don’t buy into the notion that children are inherently ore creative before society “ruins” them, but I do know that children think and speak with a n ignorance of convention that is often helpful. Ask a child how they might tackle a problem, or if you don’t have a child around think about how you might reformulate a problem so that a child could understand it if one was available. Don’t run out and build a boat made out of cookies because a child told you to, though – the idea isn’t to do what the child says but it is a breach to Sony PCGA-BP71, necessarily, but to jog your own thinking into a more unconventional path.

10. Invite randomness.

If you’ve ever seen video of Jackson Pollock painting, you have seen a masterful painter consciously inviting randomness into his work. Pollock exercises a great deal of control over his brushes and paddles, in the service of capturing the stray drips and splashes of paint that make up his work. Embracing mistakes and incorporating them into your projects and Sony PCGA-BP71A, developing strategies that allow for random input, working amid chaotic juxtapositions of sound and form – all of these can help to move beyond everyday patterns of thinking into the sublime.

The Article Via Life Hack

 

Linux, power management and laptop battery life

Ever since I’ve got new laptop last November, I was quite unhappy with its battery life. Initially it used to keep computer running for around 2.5 hours with usual workload (mail/www/docs), while Dell advertised up to 5 hours of work with that particular 6-cell battery model. After some time battery lost ~40% of its original capacity without any particular reason, and could hardly manage to get 1.5 hours of work away from AC adapter. Fortunately, Dell’s technical support arranged battery replacement. But new battery’s performance wasn’t much better (2-2.5 hours), so I’ve managed to get… another replacement. This time I’ve decided to investigate in details what is actually standing behind laptop’s battery life.

I’ve been investigating topic of power management and laptop battery life for around 3-4 weeks, running also detailed battery tests with total of two laptops and three batteries. I found out a few interesting conclusions, so hopefully this article would be helpful for some of you.

Power management useful tools

Gnome Power Manager

This tool itself is not much interesting in terms of power managing, actually. However, it has pretty nice statistic features and displays detailed battery information, which could tell a lot about your battery, and maybe even explain problems causing its poor performance.

One of the most important things here is Capacity. It tells how much your battery’s capacity is degraded. In my case, original capacity of battery is 56.6W(atts), while last full charge was 54.7W, which is ~96% of designed capacity. Basically, less capacity discount laptop battery means worse performance. Another interesting bits, are Charge rates, which are telling how much power is your computer consuming at the moment. Less is better, obviously. History of power consumption is nicely presented in Power History tab.

It’s quite clear now that getting to know better with GPM is very helpful in determining possible problems with power management on your machine.

Laptop Mode

Let me use an introduction from Laptop Mode homepage:

Laptop Mode Tools is a laptop power saving package for Linux systems. It allows you to extend the battery life of your laptop, in several ways. It is the primary way to enable the Laptop Mode feature of the Linux kernel, which lets your hard drive spin down. In addition, it allows you to tweak a number of other power-related settings using a simple configuration file.

Basically, Laptop Mode is designed to manage HDD power (and also do some other stuff), while system is running on Dell laptop battery power. Hard disks are usually computer’s one of the most power-hungry devices, so spinning it down while it’s not actually needed, would probably have pretty much impact on battery’s better performance. Laptop Mode installation is pretty straightforward, especially withRPM packages>. Configuring LM is also simple, as its configuration file located in /etc/laptop_mode/laptop_mode.conf is full of instructions and tips, which makes whole configuration a lot easier. I’d also recommend to have a look into pretty extensive FAQ, which covers most common problems.

Before configuring LM you need to be ready for some experiments. Various hard drives have various features which may, or may not be totally compatible with LM’s features. Basically, it would probably take a few tries before a ‘perfect set’ is found. However, LM takes care not only about hard drives - it also allow to control CPU frequencies and governors, or laptop (PA2487U PA3107U-1BRS)’s screen - to put it in other words: LM is quite useful set of tools, helping to get most of power management on your Linux system.

Things affecting battery life

Before you start complaining about disgraceful battery life in your laptop, think about things which could eat the most of battery power. By ‘things’ I mean computer’s built-in devices and features. Let’s see:

Screen backlight

Keep it dimmed as much as possible, and turn it down (i.e. close a lid) while you’re away. It really eats a lot of power.

Wireless devices

WiFi adapters, Bluetooth dongles, built-in mobile/cellular cards. Switch all of those off, if you don’t need it. You will feel the difference. Guaranteed.

CPU, hard drive

You cannot switch CPU or HDD totally off, but you can set CPU to lock frequency at minimum level while running on battery power. I was really surprised to see how high power consumption jumps up while CPU is running at full speed. HDD could also go to sleep while not needed. Did I mention Laptop Mode tools to check 40Y6795 40Y6797 40Y6799?

Dedicated video adapter

Having fancy nVidia or ATI dedicated video adapters, instead of cheap onboard ones, might be cool (especially with desktop-effects to show off), but bear in mind these are extra devices with GPUs, which also like to eat a lot of protons and electrons…

Externals

All external USB/Firewire/PC Card/etc. devices are also taking significant part in raising demand for power. If you like to keep external memory card reader or hard disk connected via USB 24/7, maybe it’s good time to stop liking that idea?

Internals

Enter BIOS and go through each screen, switching off all internal devices which you don’t need. These might be something like internal modem, IR port, serial/parallel ports, etc. You can be seriously surprised how all these things are adding up in total power consumption. I was, at least.

Software

Compiling kernel while computer’s running on battery, would not help save the most of it. Same with watching films, playing games, etc. Not touching computer at all would be probably the best idea.

Battery testing results

As I mentioned at the beginning, I’ve been running several battery tests for a few weeks, using two different laptops. Tests were basically based on some certain conditions, while which I have been manually measuring and comparing time with percentage of battery level.

Machine: Dell Latitude D620 battery

Battery: 6-cell ‘old’ (before 2nd replacement) - designed capacity: 56W; current capacity: ~88%

This battery was giving me really poor performance and actually made me start to investigate power management issues more closely. Under typical workload, with wireless on, backlight set to 3/8, it used to eat around 0.8-0.9% of battery capacity level per minute, which counts into merely 110-120 minutes (~2h) of total life. That’s damn far from up to 5 hours, isn’t it? However, I’ve been able to get down to ~0.7% / min and ~2h30m after switching wireless off, enabling Laptop Mode, and locking CPUs down to 1 GHz. However, still far from ideal, so I’ve decided to get battery replacement from Dell.

BTW, initially I thought desktop-effects are having much impact on battery, however my test showed I was wrong. Relation between battery life and desktop-effects was marginal.

Machine: Dell Latitude D620 battery

Battery: 6-cell ‘new’ - designed capacity: 56W; current capacity: ~96%

The reason why new battery has already 4% degradation of capacity is probably because I’ve screwed up its very first charge, by unplugging AC adapter before it has been totally charged. Anyway, first test showed that new battery is far better than the old one. Even with wireless switched on and connected, LM enabled, backlight 3/8 I’m getting around ~0.6% / min, which is great improvement comparing with ‘old’ battery. However, to be honest, it’s still a little bit below expected at least 3 hours of work away from AC adapter.

Machine: Dell Inspiron 640m

Battery: 6-cell original - designed ca

HP website : Steps to maximize the life of your battery

There are actions you can take to make your battery last longer during each charge cycle and live longer over many cycles. HP laptop battery always recommends following the instructions for charging and storage that came with the battery or notebook. On this page we offer additional suggestions to help you get the most from your portable power supply.

Manage battery power more effectively in Windows

Make sure your battery gives the power you need, when you need it. Power Options in Windows XP allow you to control the power management features of your notebook PC.

Learn more about the Power Options in Windows by visiting Microsoft’s support site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/russel_02march35.mspx

Tips for conserving battery power on notebook PCs

You can manually change the power consumption of your notebook PC and conserve HP 510 battery power.

• Reduce the brightness of the screen to the minimum readable level. Use the Fn and F7 or F8 keys to adjust the brightness.
• Remove peripherals when not in use. External hard drives, CD-ROMs, Zip drives, PC cards, and other peripheral devices can draw power from your battery even when they are not in active use. Disconnect them when you have finished using them.
• Reduce the speed of your processor. The faster your computer works, the more quickly it uses up the supply of power. By cutting down on processor speed, you can extend the charge of your battery. Methods to reduce processor speed vary from model to model, and your manual should provide instructions for doing so.
• Turn off the Wireless On-Off button when it is not in use. If your notebook has one, press the Wireless On-Off button so that the light turns off.

Battery care practices

HP 530 Battery cells suffer gradual, irreversible capacity loss over time. Such aging occurs more rapidly as temperature and discharge loads increase. Here are some suggested ways to minimize the capacity loss for your battery.

• Store Li-Ion batteries between 20°C and 25°C (68°F and 77°F) with 30% to 50% charge.
• Do not leave batteries exposed to high temperatures for extended periods. Prolonged exposure to heat (for example, inside a hot car) will accelerate the deterioration of Li-Ion cells.
• Remove the battery if the notebook will be stored (turned off and not plugged into AC power) for more than 2 weeks.
• Remove the Pavilion DV2000 battery if the notebook will be plugged into AC power continuously (via a wall adapter or docking station) for more than 2 weeks.

Note: Recommendations for battery use and storage are covered in the HP User Guides for each model.

Calibrate the notebook PC battery

Short discharges and recharges do not fully synchronize the battery’s fuel gauge with the battery’s state-of-charge. This can result in the amount of power available in one cycle being less than expected or the laptop battery meter being inaccurate.

Under normal usage, batteries should be calibrated a minimum of once every 3 months. Your battery can be calibrated by following these steps:

Step 1 - Disable the Windows Power Management

r scheme, select Never in each of the drop down menus.
• Click OK on the Power Options P
• In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Properties in the menu list.
• Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Pavilion DV5 battery Power button.
• Under Power schemes, select Always On in the drop down menu.
• Under Settings for Always On poweroperties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.

Step 2 - Fully charge the battery

• Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.
• Charge the battery until the Windows battery meter is at 100%.

Step 3 - Fully discharge the battery

• Remove the AC adapter.
• Keep the notebook on until the HP 2133 battery has completely drained and the notebook automatically turns off.
• Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.
• Keep the AC adapter connected to the notebook until the battery has completely charged.

Step 4 - Enable the Windows Power Management

• In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Properties in the menu list.

Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Power button.

Under Power schemes, select Portable/Laptop in the drop down menu.

Click OK on the Power Options Properties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.

Note: After completing the steps above, your notebook PC battery will be calibrated.

The article is from : HP.com

Steps to maximize the life of your battery

There are actions you can take to make your battery last longer during each charge cycle and live longer over many cycles. HP always recommends following the instructions for charging and storage that came with the battery or notebook. On this page we offer additional suggestions to help you get the most from your portable power supply.

Manage battery power more effectively in Windows

Make sure your battery gives the power you need, when you need it. Power Options in Windows XP allow you to control the power management features of your notebook PC.

Learn more about the Power Options in Windows by visiting Microsoft’s support site:
? Microsoft: Power Management in Windows XP
Tips for conserving battery power on notebook PCs
You can manually change the power consumption of your notebook PC and conserve laptop battery power.

Reduce the brightness of the screen to the minimum readable level. Use the Fn and F7 or F8 keys to adjust the brightness.

Remove peripherals when not in use. External hard drives, CD-ROMs, Zip drives, PC cards, and other peripheral devices can draw power from your EVO N400C battery even

when they are not in active use. Disconnect them when you have finished using them.
Reduce the speed of your processor. The faster your computer works, the more quickly it uses up the supply of power. By cutting down on processor speed, you can extend the charge of your battery. Methods to reduce processor speed vary from model to model, and your manual should provide instructions for doing so.

Turn off the Wireless On-Off button when it is not in use. If your notebook has one, press the Wireless On-Off button so that the light turns off.

Battery care practices

Battery cells suffer gradual, irreversible capacity loss over time. Such aging occurs more rapidly as temperature and discharge loads increase. Here are some suggested ways to minimize the capacity loss for your F4809A battery.

Store Li-Ion batteries between 20°C and 25°C (68°F and 77°F) with 30% to 50% charge.

Do not leave batteries exposed to high temperatures for extended periods. Prolonged exposure to heat (for example, inside a hot car) will accelerate the deterioration of Li-Ion cells.

Remove the battery if the notebook will be stored (turned off and not plugged into AC power) for more than 2 weeks.

Remove the battery if the notebook will be plugged into AC power continuously (via a wall adapter or docking station) for more than 2 weeks.

Note: Recommendations for battery use and storage are covered in the HP ZE4400 battery User Guides for each model.

Calibrate the notebook PC battery

Short discharges and recharges do not fully synchronize the VGP-BPS2C battery’s fuel gauge with the battery’s state-of-charge. This can result in the amount of power available in one cycle being less than expected or the battery meter being inaccurate.

Under normal usage, Presario 2100 batteries should be calibrated a minimum of once every 3 months. Your battery can be calibrated by following these steps:
Step 1 - Disable the Windows Power Management
In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Properties in the menu list.
Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Power button.
Under Power schemes, select Always On in the drop down menu.
Under Settings for Always On power scheme, select Never in each of the drop down menus.
Click OK on the Power Options Properties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.

Step 2 - Fully charge the battery
Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.
Charge the Ibook G3 battery until the Windows battery meter is at 100%.

Step 3 - Fully discharge the battery
Remove the AC adapter.
Keep the notebook on until the battery has completely drained and the notebook automatically turns off.
Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.
Keep the AC adapter connected to the notebook until the M8416 battery has completely charged.

Step 4 - Enable the Windows Power Management
In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Properties in the menu list.
Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Power button.
Under Power schemes, select Portable/Laptop in the drop down menu.
Click OK on the Power Options Properties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.