Too much AC power?

J

jtwells

New Member
Please don't laugh, I'm new. I use my computer for lots of multimedia etc. that takes lots of power. Therefore, I keep it plugged into the wall most of the time. Is it like old cell phone batteries that will get screwed up if left charging for too long? My computer is a laptop, Dell Insperion XPS Gen 2. Thanks.
 
No you dont have to worry about that, it automatically shuts off when its fully charged. However you want to minimize the number of times that you disconnect and reconnect it from the wall, since it will wear down the battery much faster.
 
[-0MEGA-];459820 said:
No you dont have to worry about that, it automatically shuts off when its fully charged. However you want to minimize the number of times that you disconnect and reconnect it from the wall, since it will wear down the battery much faster.
Click to expand...
No not completely true, you are better off pulling out the battery when its charged anyway, especially if its gonna be for long periods of time, it will create less heat as an added bonus. But yes a batteries life span can get degraded by either having it charging to long or doing partial charges too often.
 
thanks for the info. also when I unplug the ac power, my screen darkens. Is there a way to keep it as bright as when it is on ac power?
 
Im not on my lappy right now, so I dont know exactly how to do it, but it should be in your power options. Might have to look at the advanced power options, not sure.
 
jtwells said:
thanks for the info. also when I unplug the ac power, my screen darkens. Is there a way to keep it as bright as when it is on ac power?
Click to expand...
There should be a program on the laptop that lets you chose how much you want it to darken, if at all. Or go into the control panel and try finding it there.

bball4life said:
No not completely true, you are better off pulling out the battery when its charged anyway, especially if its gonna be for long periods of time, it will create less heat as an added bonus. But yes a batteries life span can get degraded by either having it charging to long or doing partial charges too often.
Click to expand...
How is that not completly true? When you only use part of the battery and then charge it again, only the first couple cells are being used, while the rest aren't seeing much activity. If you keep doing that, it will soon lessen the charge those first few cells can hold, which will shorten battery life overall.
 
[-0MEGA-];459871 said:
There should be a program on the laptop that lets you chose how much you want it to darken, if at all. Or go into the control panel and try finding it there.


How is that not completly true? When you only use part of the battery and then charge it again, only the first couple cells are being used, while the rest aren't seeing much activity. If you keep doing that, it will soon lessen the charge those first few cells can hold, which will shorten battery life overall.
Click to expand...

It depends on the battery. Certain technologies have memory, others don't. So it is best to check what yours is and see what is best for it.
 
Jet said:
It depends on the battery. Certain technologies have memory, others don't. So it is best to check what yours is and see what is best for it.
Click to expand...

NiCd battery's have that so called 'memory effect' meaning,.. if you dont decharge them, before you recharge them,.. you'll lose quite some of their cappasity over time.
the only 2 battery types i can immagine beeing used are NiMh and Li-ion batterys.. Li-ion will be the most common one.
the only way of wearing them down really fast if you literairy overcharge them. but like Omega said,.. a Laptop has a charging circuit build in,.. and as far as i know, it switches over to drop-charging ( i dont know the exact englis word for that type of charging,.. but in dutch its called druppel-laden,.. and drop = druppel.. ;) )
meaning, it only charges that much to keep the battery fully charged without overcharging it.

knowing that, i really dont think it'll make a difference.
ofcourse,.. you save the higher energy bill if you unplug the adapter.. because even when its not charging... the adapter itself consumes power.

(this is what i know by myself... i didnt look anything up... so im not 100% certain of every single word,.. but ill find out soon enough if something isnt 100% correct ofcourse :) )
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top