I noticed a strange thing that’s happening among my friends. When they are using their laptop/notebook with wall outlet, they unplugged the battery.
When I asked why, they said it was to prevent the battery from being damaged by continuous charging and discharging.
This is not right, I thought. And with a quick research, it turns out that I am on the right way. I like it when it ends up this way.
Anyway, You should already know that Lithium-ion batteries don’t have any memory effect problem, so let’s scratch that one.
Now the only thing left is the constant charge-discharge cycle. Yes, it might be a problem, if it actually happens. You see, as far as I know, modern laptop doesn’t use its battery power when connected to power outlet, the battery is just sitting there, being recharged peacefully. Here’s some reference. Okay, the second link is somewhat contrary to what I said, but they are talking about using the laptop with wall outlet all the time, instead of constantly plugging and unplugging it.
And no, you can’t overcharge Li-ion battery. Every lithium-ion-based-laptop battery uses internal electronics to monitor its condition, charge capacity, and so on, and the moment the battery declared itself as ‘full’, charging stops. Unless, of course, there is actually something wrong with the battery.
Maybe I’m not right on the last two paragraph, you are free to debate over this problem.
What is certain is that Lithium batteries age. It will only last two or three years, no matter whether you put it into use on your laptop or keep it in the shelf. Which one is better? Don’t ask me.
But if you insist on unplugging the battery when using it with wall outlet, I will laugh at you if there is a power outage and you forgot to save your 2-hours-worth of work. Seriously, I will. Just tell me when it happens.
