my battery

Indonesia
January 12, 2013 10:14am CST
what's wrong with my computer battery now only last maybe only about 2 hours.. but i have as much to care for her as much as possible.. and it really shocked me because i needed quite a lot so, my computer stays on in my work.. can i could improve or add to strenght of my battery to light up?
7 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
12 Jan 13
Laptop batteries have a finite life of about 3 to 5 years. After a while they will begin to show a shorter length of operating time. The only real solution is to buy a new battery and to make sure that you follow the battery manufacturer's instructions on caring for it. 1) Never overcharge the battery or leave the power cord plugged in when the battery is fully charged. If you often use the laptop with the power cord, remove the battery until you need to use it. 2) Once a month, allow the battery to discharge fully and then recharge completely. 3) If you store the battery for any length of time, make sure that it is about three quarter charged. Do not store it fully charged or fully discharged.
@patgalca (18391)
• Orangeville, Ontario
12 Jan 13
Just to add to this, I decided to take my battery out while using my laptop plugged in. I found that if I shut down the computer but didn't put the battery back in the time and date would go back to 2007 and that screwed up all the certificates for site access. Make sure the battery is in when turned off so that the clock has a source of power.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
12 Jan 13
There should be a separate CMOS battery which keeps the clock going (and does one or two other things, depending on the PC). I have yet to see a PC or laptop without one. It's one of those small, disk shaped batteries and it is probably hidden under a small door in the back of the laptop. They usually last five years or longer but it sounds as if this needs changing as well.
@achraf52 (179)
• Morocco
13 Jan 13
Hi Patgalce you have to take your laptop to a technician who will open it and change the CMOS battery, they are like those in mini remotes and are fairly cheap just get a good one who will last a lot. About the battery overcharge issue, it is no longer present in modern laptop computers because there is a power control chip that detects when a battery is fully charged and reverts to a lower voltage mode in the power supply's pin (it has three instead of two, one for ground, one for the high voltage (about 22 V enough to charge the battery and power the laptop) and one for a lower voltage that is enough to just power on the computer) so once your battery is charged, no power is going to be delivered into it.
@Bionicman (3958)
• Czech Republic
17 Jan 13
2 hours is good. I can get maximum 10 minutes with fully charged battery after many years of use.
• Malaysia
14 Jan 13
you could try not charging it until it's really low at 10 or 13%. batteries spoil faster if you keep charging them unnecessarily. also maybe you're running too many software at once? you could also try reducing the brightness of the computer screen and changing the time it takes to go on standby to reduce battery usage.
@reco369 (273)
• Philippines
23 Jan 13
ask how long are you using your battery (is it a laptop or netbook?) if its more than a year, we cant avoid it will surely shorten its life, thru the days and months of using. thats the chemical effect..
@subhojit10 (7375)
• India
12 Jan 13
Thanks a ton for sharing this discussion. Well i can understand your situation and i know how it feels like when the battery goes low when u are involved with an important task. i think computers do have a maximum of 2 hours of charge after which they run down of battery. u cannot expect them to work throughout the day. What u can do is keep the computer connected to the charger and work accordingly. What say?
• India
29 Jan 13
With time spent the battery starts giving less backup but you should make sure that you are charging it properly. You should charge it fully and then unplug the charger and use it. And then again plugin when the power goes below 40 percent. Don't let the charger remain plugin after battery is 100 percent charged.
• Hungary
12 Jan 13
2 hours for a laptop is fine. Get a netbook for extremely good batterly life.