Charging routine

[Andreas_Kal]

I would like to know if it would be harmful for my laptop's battery life, to let the laptop on power all the time. Because i use my laptop mostly in my home, i don't want to charge and dicharge the battery every time in order to prolong its life. So i let the laptop plugged in all the time and i discharge the battery, lets say, once a week. I have read a lot of articles on the internet about this matter and there are those who agree with it and those who oppose it.  So whats your opinion about that? Do you have something to propose - a better treatment?

Moreover, i have read that the light indicator next to the laptop's power port should be turned on when the battery is charging. Which happens normally. But it turns off when the battery reaches 100% (and so stops charging). Is it normal as well?

Thank you in advance!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

I pretty much do the same as you, but I do it at 2 week intervals.

See this HP document for how to get the most life out of your notebook's battery...

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01297640

And yes, it is normal for the charging light to go off when the battery is at 100% charge on most notebooks.

It does not go off on my HP 350 G1 notebook.  It goes from orange to white and stays on white.

[Andreas_Kal]

Thank you very much Mr Paul_Tikkanen!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

[Huffer]

The battery is smart. Yes if you leave it plugged in all the time it will charge and discharge a litttle bit but the battery chip is set to not count that as a cycle if the power does not drop very far. The number of cycles is a factor in how long the battery will last so the fewer cycles the better and as I said the battery is set up to not register cycles on small discharges.

There is no need to charge and discharge it once a week so not sure where you heard you have to do that. More ink and effort is spent on batteries than is needed I think. There is a lot of urban myth that has persisted for years with no basis. Batteries went from Nickel-Cadmium (terrible) to Nickel Metal Hydride (just not very good) and then to the current Lithium Ion which got rid of  "memory effect" and most of the reason for the urban myths. Just use the laptop. Keep it plugged in if AC power is available and use the battery if you must. Try not to discharge it below 15-20%. That's it. 

[Andreas_Kal]

Then "one per week charge" was just an example, nothing more.

 The whole issue started, because i have a problem with noise coming from the laptop's power port when the laptop is plugged in (i have made a respective post if you have any idea about the problem). The noise stops when the laptop operates on battery and starts when it is charging or when it is plugged-in generally. So i try to find the problem's source. 

Anyway, thank you very much for your time! 

[Huffer]

Yes that is a whole other problem

[soccer_dan]

As Huffer replied, the HP Probbok G5 models come with HP's Long Life Battery that include intelligent battery management and charging and can be left plugged in without affecting the longevity of the battery. As a matter of fact, HP will warrant this battery for 3 years, if you purchase the laptop with a 3 year warrany

so, feel free to leave the laptop plugged in as much as you want

[Andreas_Kal]

Thank you very much Mr  soccer_dan!