Reconditioning a laptop battery??

[YoungPUP]

Anyone know how to recondition a laptop battery?  The batt for my HP laptop is running through the battery, and I'd like to see if reconditioning it will keep me from having to replace it.  Help...

[Fritz The Cat]

It has electronics in it. It's easy to let the smoke out. Then it won't work at all. 

[Cruzen]

On my old HP laptop as well as my curret IBM laptop there is a built in battery reconditioning program. Check under your HP programs on your machine for one.  However do not expect much as they really don't do much.  Check out this link.  I have purchased batteries from these folks.

http://www.brilliantstore.com/laptop_batteries_hp.html

Now having said that the IT guys in my company recommend not keeping the laptop plugged in all the time.  If you do so you will shorten the battery life. That is th eproblem we were having with our business puters.  I have an old battery that I keep in my laptop when it is in my office.  It lasts about 15 minutes when unplugged from the outlet.  Prior to a planned business trip I load the newer battery and let it charge fully.  My newer battery is a higher capacity than the factory battery.

[donaldcc]

  Throw it in the trash and buy another online.

[FLAVALK]

  Throw it in the trash and buy another online.

Best plan thus far

[DFragn]

To my knowledge the best thing you can do to maintain/extend battery life is to first condition it manually, sans a condition program, by:

1.) Fully charge it.
2.) Remove power adapter source from laptop.
3.) Allow the battery to fully discharge, then re-connect power source and recharge fully.
4.) Power down your laptop and remove the battery.
5.) Operate the laptop sans battery.

6.) Every 30-40 days re-install the battery and solely operate with it until fully drained. Then reconnect power and start over with conditioning steps above and remove it again.

This works better with a new or newer batteries by extending their life expectancy.

On older batteries, cycling as above 3x before removing the battery may bring some reasonable life back to it.

Don't forget to reinstall the battery if you take it from the home or office sans power-supply.

[Pete]

Under the best of conditions and no matter what you do, when you activate a rechargeable battery, after the first 5 to 10 uses, the battery begins to loose the ability to completely recharge. That is just the state of current battery technology.

You can delay the failure and extend the life somewhat by using the suggestions given above and following the guidelines from the computer manufacturer. But ultimately it is still a one way direction over time and cycles.

While re-conditioning will usually help reclaim some of the lost capacity, it usually is not more than 5 to 10 percent.

Replace the battery when it reaches a point where you can no longer tolerate its shorter run time on battery power. Otherwise use the battery you have for what it is worth.

As for replacement batteries, I have not found ANY aftermarket batteries that deliver any better life than the PC manufacturers batteries, I have found many after market batteries that deliver LESS life and run time.

On some of the newer PC's you have the ability to recharge a battery to less than full charge and to start recharging sooner than complete discharge. That has been touted as a way to improve battery life. It may be but I have not seen it as a major significant improvement.

Even when using the once a month(minimum) discharge and recharge method, generally after 18 months the battery has degraded to 50 to 60 percent. 

PC battery technology is just not where it should be - a fact of life  - so plan to work around it and move on.

The best way to get value from the battery is to use it often while it is new, because time and disuse both are its enemies.

[Cruzen]

The best way to get value from the battery is to use it often while it is new, because time and disuse both are its enemies.

Same applies to brains.