redmondd@vax1.tcd.ie (01/26/91)
I too find that my battery life is down to about 1.5 hours (on a T1200). I usually leave the computer plugged in all the time, whether using it or not. Would this affect my battery life and if so what's the best solution? Ice Man \ | / o - ^ `-_-' -- redmondd@vax1.tcd.ie
dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com (Danny Low) (01/31/91)
>I too find that my battery life is down to about 1.5 hours (on a T1200). >I usually leave the computer plugged in all the time, whether using it or >not. > >Would this affect my battery life and if so what's the best solution? This is guaranteed to kill your nicad battery is a very short time. There are two possible cures: 1. Try to revive the battery by: a. Drain the battery completely. b. Charge it fully. c. Repeat steps a and b 3 or more times. If the battery life is not back up to 3 hours then use plan B: 2. Buy a new battery and treat it better this time. Nicads should be used until they are fully discharged and then recharged fully. Charging while there is still some juice in the battery is a good way to kill a nicad battery. Danny Low "Question Authority and the Authorities will question You" Valley of Hearts Delight, Silicon Valley HP CPCD dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com
cho@sol4.cs.psu.edu (Sehyeong Cho) (02/01/91)
In article <5690009@pollux.svale.hp.com> dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com (Danny Low) writes: > >Nicads should be used until they are fully discharged and then >recharged fully. Charging while there is still some juice in the >battery is a good way to kill a nicad battery. > What is the "fully discharged state" ? Can I possibly take it to absolute zero? "when the laptop doesn't function anymore" doesn't make sense to me (if not coincidence) since Nicads are not born for laptops. Any idea? -- | Yesterday I was a student. Sehyeong Cho | Today I am a student. cho@cs.psu.edu | Tomorrow I'll probably still be a student. | Sigh.. There's so little hope for advancement.
dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com (Danny Low) (02/02/91)
>(Sehyeong Cho) >What is the "fully discharged state" ? >Can I possibly take it to absolute zero? >"when the laptop doesn't function anymore" doesn't make sense >to me (if not coincidence) since Nicads are not born for laptops. >Any idea? Absolute zero has some potential to harm a nicad depending on its design. The best thing is to buy something like Battery Watch if your laptop does not have something similar built it. Recharge when they say the battery is low. Danny Low "Question Authority and the Authorities will question You" Valley of Hearts Delight, Silicon Valley HP CPCD dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com
tytso@athena.mit.edu (Theodore Y. Ts'o) (02/08/91)
In article <5690009@pollux.svale.hp.com> dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com (Danny Low) writes: >>I too find that my battery life is down to about 1.5 hours (on a T1200). >>I usually leave the computer plugged in all the time, whether using it or >>not. >> >>Would this affect my battery life and if so what's the best solution? > > This is guaranteed to kill your nicad battery is a very short time. My understanding was that on well-designed machines, this would not be true. (Because the laptop would stop trying to charge the batteries once they were fully charged; for example, it is perfectly safe to leave nicad batteries in a Millenium battery charger for long periods of time, even after the batteries are fully charged). I remember reading in this news group that Toshiba computers (specifically, the T1000) are well designed in this regard. Can someone confirm or deny this? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Theodore Ts'o bloom-beacon!mit-athena!tytso 3 Ames St., Cambridge, MA 02139 tytso@athena.mit.edu Everybody's playing the game, but nobody's rules are the same!
pwong@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Patrick Wong) (02/08/91)
Finally, I couldn't resist to post my experience about the subject.
I know two facts, based on actual experience:
After the my T1000SE runs the battery all the way to "zero" (i.e., it
shuts itself down, I usually do one of the following:
1. Plug the charger in and go to bed. The next morning (i.e. 6 hours
later), certainly the green battery light is on. And when I feel
the housings of the charger and the battery on the computer, they
both are COLD. That indicates to me that the charger shuts itself
down when it senses that the battery is "full".
2. Plug the charger and keep on using the computer. This leads to
one of the two events:
a) After computing for a couple hours with the charged plugged in,
the green light comes on and the charger and battery feel cold.
b) The green light never lights up but the battery housing feels
HOT (I mean very HOT!) while I am continuously using the computer.
Event 2b happens randomly: sometimes it occurs and sometimes it doesn't.
But one additional observation for event 2b is that if I shut down the
computer after plugging the charger in and using the computer for a
while (let say an hour) with the charging going on, this would cause
event 2b more likely to occur than event 2a.
*** One important thing that I haven't mentioned is that after the computer
shuts itself down due to complete battery drain, I ALWAYS remove the
battery from the computer and put it back immediately. As most Toshiba
owners know, this procedure would set the computer fuel gauge to "???"
and the charger will charge the battery as if it is a new battery that
has never been charged.
I think perhaps this procedure of setting the fuel gauge may be the reason
for event 2b to occur.
Patrick
pcw@squid.graphics.cornell.edu