On Tue, 2004-06-01 at 22:08, Sam MacDonald wrote: > Run laptop batteries down to the end of the charge for the first month. > Boot to a DOS diskette and turn off all power saving in the bios. Once > this has been done several times your battery will hold a better charge > and have a longer life. Lithium Ion, used in about all laptops made within the last 3-4 years, is quite a bit different than Ni-Cad and NiMH, in fact this advice is one of the worst things you could do to a Li-Ion. You should be doing quite the opposite. Most people don't seem to know this. I think I already wrecked a few Li-ion packs on my old toshiba before I learned of this. :( They get down to ~%50 charge then suddenly jump to %0. Guidelines to Prolonging Li-Ion Battery Life Unlike nickel based rechargeable batteries (NiCd and NiMH), Li ion batteries should be !!!charged early and often!!!. However, if they are not used for a longer time, they should be brought to a charge level of around 40%. Never use the battery care functions some cellular phones provide for nickel based batteries. (This will deep cycle the batteries.) Li ion batteries should be kept cool. Ideally they are stored in a fridge. However, they should not be subjected to freezing temperatures. Aging will take its toll much faster at high temperatures. Keeping them in burning hot cars can kill lithium ion batteries. Buy Li-Ion batteries only when needed. Look at the manufacturing date. That is when the aging process commenced. When using a notebook computer running from fixed line power over extended periods, it is advisable to remove the battery and store it in a cool place. (Laptops tend to run very hot. Heat is the enemy of li-ion. Also, li-ions can't be trickle charged, so leaving the battery in gains you nothing but a built in UPS...) More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list