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Thread ID: 121302	2011-10-19 21:48:00	Consumer Guarantees Act and Batteries	xyz823 (13649)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1238712	2011-10-20 02:27:00	Are there any places around which sell batteries cheaper? If you want a cheap battery don't expect long life. Laptops and their batteries are made to a price and the manufacturers keep the price down by installing cheap batteries. It is no wonder that they don't last very long. CYaBro has some very good advice. Discharge your battery flat all the time. The only advice I can add to that is if you want a battery that will last you a long time, spend the money and buy a decent battery.	Roscoe (6288)
1238713	2011-10-20 02:37:00	CYaBro has some very good advice. Discharge your battery flat all the time. As said before that is very poor advice if the battery is a Lithium one. Go and read all the info on that link to Battery University I gave in a previous post you may learn something like with a lithium battery turn off the item you are charging if it is not just the battery.	mikebartnz (21)
1238714	2011-10-20 06:47:00	If that's really the case, then it's definitely not a LiIon battery. Even a well-maintained lithium ion battery won't perform "almost as good as new" after six years, let alone one that's been abused the way you describe. A NiMh battery on the other hand should survive that treatment, provided none of the cells were ever reversed. Hmm, beg to differ. I have an Acer Travelmate bought in June 2005, it is hardly ever turned off and stays plugged in all the time. Occassionally I take it out on jobs or on holiday or into the livingroom to use and usually use it untill near flat, I still get about 2.5 hours out of it which it has always done. It is a Li-ion battery. Only thing I've ever done to it was replace the HDD when I put Win 7 pro on it, took out the old HDD with Vista Business on it to put back in if I ever deceide to sell it. This drive reports 11976 hours to date, no idea what the old drive has done but it would be more.	Iantech (16386)
1238715	2011-10-20 07:33:00	My Acer, which I brought back in Feb 2003, lasts around 11/2 (2 at a stretch) hours depending on whats its doing. Same original battery. Its not exactly a science as to how I charge it, if on battery , it runs down till the low warning comes on, then a over night charge and its away again. Just thinking about it, its time to do a update again :D, hasn't been turned on for about 3 weeks, and its still sitting at the half charge mark, which is where it was last time it was turned off.	wainuitech (129)
1238716	2011-10-20 10:44:00	Hmm, beg to differ. I have an Acer Travelmate bought in June 2005, it is hardly ever turned off and stays plugged in all the time. Occassionally I take it out on jobs or on holiday or into the livingroom to use and usually use it untill near flat, I still get about 2.5 hours out of it which it has always done. It is a Li-ion battery.Either something else has changed that's causing your laptop to use less power, or you're basing your judgement on an incorrectly calibrated battery meter, or you're mistaken about the lack of degradation. Standard (cobalt) lithium-ion batteries irreversibly degrade over time; it's simply a function of the chemistry, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it.	Erayd (23)
1238717	2011-10-20 19:06:00	Either something else has changed that's causing your laptop to use less power, or you're basing your judgement on an incorrectly calibrated battery meter, or you're mistaken about the lack of degradation. Standard (cobalt) lithium-ion batteries irreversibly degrade over time; it's simply a function of the chemistry, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. All I know is that it lasted about 2.5 hours when new and lasts about 2.5 hours now, at a guess I would think Win 7 manages the power plan a bit better than Vista did (both were on the balanced plan). My judgement is based on how long it does last, not any battery meter etc that syas how long it should last, one day I'm sure it will just give up.	Iantech (16386)
1238718	2011-10-20 19:49:00	All I can say is that you need to regularly run the battery totally flat and then charge it up again at least once a week. . DO NOT DO THIS WITH LITHIUM BASED BATTS time to move into 21st century batt tech. ONLY nicads required that treatment. bad for most other batts. In fact the batt will probhably have circuitry to actually cut out before you can run them totally flat & damage them.	1101 (13337)
1238719	2011-10-22 23:28:00	Well you're all wrong! I've just confirmed that it is a lithium ion battery and it is over 6 years old and we have been running it flat almost every day for those 6 years.	CYaBro (73)
1238720	2011-10-22 23:32:00	<iframe width="420" height="315" src="www.youtube.com frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>	Disco Dan (11672)
1238721	2011-10-23 00:22:00	Well you're all wrong! I've just confirmed that it is a lithium ion battery and it is over 6 years old and we have been running it flat almost every day for those 6 years. www.youtube.com en.wikipedia.org batteryuniversity.com www.tech-no-media.com And if you want more: tinyurl.com	Disco Dan (11672)
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