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Thread ID: 58826 2005-06-13 09:11:00 Freezing a laptop battery? Mercury (1316) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
363520 2005-06-13 09:11:00 I was searching Google for a battery for a Compaq Armada E500 and came across a PressF1 post suggesting dumping the battery in the freezer overnight to make it recondition itself.

:confused:

Anyone tried this? Does it work?

Original Freezing Post (www.pressf1.co.nz)
Mercury (1316)
363521 2005-06-13 09:25:00 This trick can sometimes work with nicad batteries but I suspect most NiMH and I havent heard of anyone freezing them.
Piva
piva (3796)
363522 2005-06-13 22:16:00 I have done this a couple of times with cellphone batteries that wouldn't hold their charge for very long and whilst it felt like the 'rejunevated' battery was holding it's charge longer, I think it actually made the battery deteriorate faster. After a month or two, typically the battery was worse than before. I have no scientific proof to back this up but that was my experience - although I didn't put the batteries in plastic bags per the original post. I would treat it as an option of last resort but given the price for a replacement bettery may be worth more than the laptop, this may be your only option.
Just my thoughts, Andrew
andrew93 (249)
363523 2005-06-14 01:04:00 As a general rule when a battery is dead, it is dead, defunct, and not very useful .

When a battery is on the way out, it is on the way out .

Putting a battery in the freezer will give you a cold battery . A cold battery won't work as well as one at normal temperature .

Life is like that . :(
Graham L (2)
363524 2005-06-14 04:43:00 This worked with my mobile but I understand it is to do with getting a full discharge before charging a battery with "memory" as the memory points accumulate.Do not think it will work on a ltop battery but there is no harm trying. kjaada (253)
363525 2005-06-14 07:53:00 Yuo don't say what type of battery but have a look at

faq.alltekpower.com

for info re NiMH batteries, the question on long term storage advises do not store below 30F.
FrankS (257)
363526 2005-06-14 11:36:00 Thanks for the info.

Looks like what I really need to do it run the laptop on battery only whilst timing it to see how long it lasts. Then say "Oh drat" and look for a replacement battery or have the existing one re-built.

It didn't seem to last long on battery but if I was absorbed in something then it might have been longer than I thought.

A week ago it was running on mains with the battery in place. Laptop died whilst I was ignoring it having lunch and it refused to restart till that evening when I took the battery out.

Basically I have a suspicion that it is dying but have been so busy for the last two weeks or so that a proper check is somewhere on the list with a group of other things.

I'm using it on mains - with battery in place - away from home at the moment.
Mercury (1316)
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