Disable the battery manually

[NiuZh]

I just bought I new laptop HP 15-db0003nf and I found out that the battery can't be removed. Since I work most of the time connected to the power, I would need a way to disable the battery manually, so I can avoid consuming charging cycles continuosly and this way increase its lifespan. Here's an example use case:

- Charging battery.

- Battery charged 50 %.

- Disable battery.

- Continue to use the laptop during 5 hours.

- Enable the battery cause I have to go to a meeting.

- Go back to my office with a remaining battery of 35 %.

- Connect to the power and disable battery (remaining 35%).

So is there any feature in HP software or any other way to do this "disable/enable battery"? Thanks in advance

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

You obviously have a strong opinion on this and are convinced this is necessary to do. But I will point out that laptops which have an internal battery also use it as the CMOS/RTC battery so you do not really want to turn it off. The smart chip is programmed to define a cycle in such a way that you will not rack up extra cycles just by having the laptop plugged in when you use it. Some brand laptops (Lenovo) do have a feature in the BIOS to turn off the internal battery but this is only for the purpose of servicing it not as a battery life extender. So you may reject what I am saying but the answer is no there is no switch or other means to turn the battery off and on like that. 

[NiuZh]

Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I understand that while the laptop is plugged and the battery reaches 100 % (or almost), the battery is not used anymore. But as far as I know, it is not recommended to have the battery at such high levels of charge, so my idea was to avoid that. So any solution?

I bought an ASUS laptop back in 2012 and I have always taken care of its battery, remove it when connected to the power, etc. Nowadays (7 years later) the battery still lasts around 3 hours, which is pretty awesome. And I'd like to have something similar with my new HP, but I'm afraid that without the possibility of taking proper care of it, after 2-3 years the battery will be almost dead. I don't want to be buying a new one laptop every 3 years, so if there's no solution I will return the HP.

[Huffer]

Wow then take it back on the assumption of something that might happen in the future, maybe.  I wish I could assure you that your current battery will last 7 years + but nobody can do that. 

Most laptops you can buy these days have internal batteries so I am not sure where you will go to get something like your seven year old Asus. But good luck to you. 

[NiuZh]

Then, since the 'old ways' of preserving the battery are no longer possible, what would be the best practices to extend the life of the battery in my case (laptop almost always plugged in)? Do you have any figures in HP like "if the battery is always at 100%, after a year the expected loss of capacity is 5%"? How many years is expected to last? Thanks again!

[Huffer]

Well if it tells you anything the warranty on the battery is always 1 year even if you buy an extended warranty on the rest of the laptop, at least in the USA. Here is the best info I can give you:

Battery test results

This is the Windows battery report:

battery made Dec. 2015

Between these two reports you can see the battery was made 12-25-2015 so is about 3.5 years old. It has 4 cycles and it has 82% of its original charge capacity and still tests as Good. The is my Zbook 15 G3. It sits on my desk as my primary workstation with a docking station attached. It has never left my desk and is on 24/7. It is constantly powered on in other words. It is an internal battery; you would have to open the case to access it. The 4 cycles are likely from the times I have opened the case to add memory or a different SSD or something and I disconnect the battery. 

As you can see, running it this way has not shortened its life and I fully expect this battery will still be testing good for at least another year or so. So your guess of a 5% loss of capacity per year is about on the money. A battery will lose that much capacity sitting on the shelf unused. Bottom line: don't sweat it. Use the laptop and enjoy. 

Let us know if there are any other questions. 

[NiuZh]

Thank you for the detailed information. So it seems like being constantly at high levels of charge shouldn't be as harmful as I thought, that's great to know. Thanks again!