http://www.howtogeek.com/172271/how-to-calibrate-your-laptops-battery-for-ac
curate-battery-life-estimates/
So you’re using your laptop and, all of the sudden, it dies. There was no
battery warning from Windows,, in fact, you recently checked and Windows
said you had 30% battery power left. What’s going on?
Even if you treat your laptop’s battery properly, its capacity will decrease
over time. Its built-in power meter estimates how much juice available and
how much time on battery you have left, but it can sometimes give you
incorrect estimates.
Why Calibrating the Battery Is Necessary
Batteries need to be cared for properly, they’re a critical part of our
mobile devices and
If you’re taking proper care of your laptop’s battery
, you should be allowing it to discharge somewhat
before plugging it back in and topping it off. You shouldn’t be allowing
your laptop’s battery to die completely or even get extremely low each time
you use it. Performing regular top-up will extend your battery’s life.
However, this sort of behavior can confuse the laptop’s battery meter. No
matter how well you take care of the battery, its capacity will still
decrease as a result of unavoidable factors like typical usage, age, and
heat. If the battery isn’t allowed to run from 100% down to 0% occasionally,
the battery’s power meter won’t know how much juice is actually in the
battery.
How Often Should You Calibrate the Battery?
Manufacturers generally recommend calibrating the battery every 2-3 months.
This helps keep your battery readings accurate.
In reality, you likely don’t have to do this that often if you’re not too
worried about your laptop’s battery readings being completely precise.
However, if you don’t calibrate your battery regularly, you may eventually
find your laptop suddenly dying on you when you’re using it – without any
prior warnings. When this happens, it’s definitely time to calibrate the
battery.
Basic Calibration Instructions
Calibrating – or recalibrating, really, as the battery was calibrated in the
past when the battery had more capacity – involves letting the battery run
from 100% capacity straight down to almost dead, then charging it back to
full. The battery’s power meter will then see how long the battery lasts and
get a much more accurate idea of how much capacity the battery has left.
Some laptop manufacturers include utilities that will calibrate the battery
for you. These tools will usually just make sure your laptop has a full
battery, disable power management settings, and allow the battery to run to
empty so the battery’s internal circuitry can get an idea of how long the
battery lasts. Check your laptop manufacturer’s website for information on
using any utilities they provide.
You should also look at your laptop’s manual or help files. Each
manufacturer may recommend a slightly different calibration procedure or
tool to ensure your laptop’s battery is properly calibrated. Some
manufacturers may even recommend against doing this. Apple says its newer
laptops don’t require this calibration procedure
, although older models do.
How to Manually Calibrate a Battery
While it’s a good idea to use any included utilities or just follow
instructions specific to your laptop, you can also perform battery
calibration without any specialized tools. The basic process is simple:
* 1. Charge your laptop’s battery to ful, that’s 100%.
* 2. Let the battery rest for at least two hours, leaving the
computer plugged in. This will ensure that the battery is cool and not still
hot from the charging process. You’re free to use your computer normally
while it’s plugged in.
* 3. Go into your computer’s power management settings
and set it to automatically sleep or hibernate at 5% battery.
(Below are instructions how to reach “powermanagement” for Windows-xp, vista
and Windows Seven.”
* 4. Pull the power plug and leave your computer discharging until it
automatically sleeps or hibernates
. You can keep using your computer normally while
this happens.
(Note: If you want to calibrate the battery while you aren’t using the
computer, be sure your computer isn’t set to automatically sleep, hibernate,
or turn its display off while idle. If your computer automatically enters
power-saving mode while you’re away, it will save power and won’t discharge
properly.)
5. Allow your computer to sit for five hours or so after it automatically
shuts down.
* 6. Plug your computer back into the outlet and charge it back up to
100%. You can keep using your computer normally.
* 7. Ensure any power management settings are set to their normal
values. For example, you probably want your computer to automatically power
off the display and then go to sleep when you’re not using it to save
battery power
Below are links to two RELATED articles for further reading. HTG
Explains: Should You Shut Down, Sleep, or Hibernate Your Laptop?
http://www.howtogeek.com/128507/htg-explains-should-you-shut-down-sleep-or-h
ibernate-your-laptop/
How to Increase Your Windows Laptop’s Battery Life
http://www.howtogeek.com/169720/how-to-increase-your-windows-laptops-battery
-life/
* Computers can sleep, hibernate, or shut down. Sleep allows you to
quickly resume using your laptop.
*
* Your laptop should now be reporting a more accurate amount of
battery life, sparing you any surprise shutdowns and giving you a better
idea of how much battery power you have at any given time. The key to
calibration is allowing the battery to run from 100% to almost empty and
then charging it all the way up to 100% again, which may not happen in
normal use.
Accessing Power Management
1. Windows-xp
A. Press the start button or click on the “start menu.
B. If the start is in “classic view”, press the letter s
until reaching “settings” followed by hitting enter.
If using a mouse, click into “settings.
C. Press enter on the default of “control panel, or click
on this same option.
D. Press the letter p until reaching “power options” and
hit enter. Mouse users click on “power options.”
e. Pressing control plus tab moves between property sheets
and tab will move through the options on each sheet. The spacebar iis used
to check or uncheck aa checkbox. It would probably be useful to explore
all the property sheets and make any changes you prefer for your personal
laptop.
f. When finished making changes, tab to “apply” and hit the
spacebar or enter. Mouse users, click on “apply when finished.
2. Windows Vista and Seven:
a. Press the start button or click into the search edit
field on the start menu.
B. Type in “power management” without any quotes.
C. Arrow to any of the following choices that are now
available and hit enter or click your mouse.
“change what the power buttons do”
“change battery settings”
“change what closing the lid does”
“change when the computer sleeps”
d. When entering of the above options, tab through the
choices and make your choices. Remember to always click on apply or hit the
spacebar on apply when finished making changes.]]>
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