Laptop battery

maimee_magic

Hi, my laptop only works for 5 mins when not connected to the mains. Do I need to buy a new battery or can I reset the perimeters so it charges properly? It does say 100% but obviously it isn't. Thanks for any advice.

thescouselander

Sounds like your battery has had it - time to buy a new one I think.

Strider590

They don't last forever, few years tops.... But you can keep them healthy by "conditioning" the battery once per month, this is done by running it down to around 2%, then turning the laptop off and allowing it to charge up fully again with the laptop still turned off.

Doing this as a monthly routine will save you money on buying another battery in future.

maimee_magic

Thanks for all the replies. Over £50 for a new battery. Not cheap are they!

Leopard

Strider590 wrote: »

They don't last forever, few years tops.... But you can keep them healthy by "conditioning" the battery once per month, this is done by running it down to around 2%, then turning the laptop off and allowing it to charge up fully again with the laptop still turned off.

Doing this as a monthly routine will save you money on buying another battery in future.

It's also possible to buy a standalone laptop battery charger and conditioner.

Not cheap (although, fortunately, my companion brought me one home with her from a business trip to America, which spared me the shipping fee) but with an Apple MacBook Pro battery now costing £97 this thing pays for itself (and more) by preserving the life of batteries.

My companion and I rotate five batteries between three MacBooks Pro, using this device.

Be very careful about buying non-original batteries, maimee magic; they can catch fire or even explode, which makes them a disastrously false economy. Nor will the warranty on your laptop be honoured, either by its manufacturer or by its retailer, if that happens.

Watch out, too, for people selling counterfeits on eBay.

Painful though it may be, it's best to bite the bullet and pay the price for an original.