You can test your laptop battery with out any software such as the one I am
going to do a review of shortly.
Note: This test will take some time, up to six hours (assuming you have a
newer laptop or netbook that has a battery that will last at least 3 hours).
Manual test steps:
To test your laptop battery you need to setup your laptop power options to
maximum drain on the battery, once drained you then recharge the battery
to 100%.
Next set your laptop to hibernate (this will be when the battery reaches
3% of charge).
Set the Power Options for maximum battery.
Insert a CD/DVD (a movie would be best).
Start the defragment program and begin a defragment of the hard drive.
Start the movie.
Set the screen brightness to where it is comfortable to view your movie.
Write down the time you stated your test.
Disconnect the AC adapter.
Set back and wait for the laptop to go in to hibernation.
Once the computer goes in to hibernation check your time, leave the
computer in hibernation for at least 10 minutes. Then power up the computer,
it should start, then shut it down properly. If it does not start then the
battery has been drained down to the minimum potential of the battery.
You now have a good idea of how long your battery will last under stress.
Or you could use a software program to do the work. The software I am using is
called Battery Care. This software is shareware.
Shareware software has a few options turned on but the main options are
locked until you purchase the software and register the program.
Battery Care is a
capable program to find out the maximum potential of your battery
or batteries if you have more than one.
I have three batteries ranging from the original, a one year old battery, and a new battery. The laptop is a five year old IBM T-30. (At the end of the
tests I will tell you how to make your battery last longer than the Battery Care
will show you).
I ran tests on all three batteries with the Battery Care program with these
results:
Note: Each time the test was run the diagnostics ran first so there is a
8 to 11 minute lag before the test starts, this takes in to account the
percentage of Current Battery Charge being less than 100%, which it was when the
diagnostics started.
Original battery (5 years old) -
Options turned on or installed:
WiFi (Disabled)
Bluetooth (not installed)
Infrared (Disabled)
Screen Brightness (not installed)
DVD/CD Usage (Disabled)
External Peripherals - USB Wired Mouse
System processes and programs - Five system programs + 2 applications.
Test will run for 10 minutes
Before optimization results:
Current Battery Charge: 83.77%
Battery Health: 48.11%
Time Left at Current Charge: 52 Minutes
Potential Battery Life: 1 Hours 1 Minutes
Potential Gain Battery in Battery Life: 8 Minutes
Actual time the battery kept the laptop running: 1 hour 4 Minutes
One year old battery -
WiFi (Disabled)
Bluetooth (not installed)
Infrared (Disabled)
Screen Brightness (not installed)
DVD/CD Usage (Disabled)
External Peripherals - USB Wired Mouse
System processes and programs - Five system programs + 2 applications.
Test will run for 10 minutes
Before optimization results:
Current Battery Charge: 95.04%
Battery Health: 87.67%
Time Left at Current Charge:1 Hour 54 Minutes
Potential Battery Life: 2 Hours 11 Minutes
Potential Gain Battery in Battery Life: 16 Minutes
Actual time the battery kept the laptop running: 2 Hours 5 Minutes
Band new battery -
WiFi (Disabled)
Bluetooth (not installed)
Infrared (Disabled)
Screen Brightness (not installed)
DVD/CD Usage (Disabled)
External Peripherals - USB Wired Mouse
System processes and programs - Five system programs + 2 applications.
Test will run for 10 minutes.
Before optimization results:
Current Battery Charge: 90.26%
Battery Health: 96.32%
Time Left at Current Charge: 2 Hour 11 Minutes
Potential Battery Life: 2 Hours 11 Minutes
Potential Gain Battery in Battery Life: 0 Minutes
After optimization results:
Actual time the battery kept the laptop running: 2 Hours 32 Minutes
Elapsed time to complete the test on three batteries? 2 days!
Here are some tips on extending the life of your battery while traveling:
If you have a second hard drive in the computer you may want to remove it
while you are traveling, normally the second drive is for backup and restore
purposes and unless you are using it for data storage that you need while
traveling I would suggest you remove it (store in an anti-static bag or
carrying case), if not removed the hard drive will be running all the time the
computer is powered up.
If you are not using the cd/dvd drive while working on battery use the
Remove Hardware option in the tray to stop it, then remove it from the slot.
(I pull mine out and leave it in the slot then lock it in place when I shut
the computer down, this way if I need it all I have to do is lock it in place,
most newer cd/dvd drives are what is called 'hot swappable' that is you can
shut it down and remove it or lock it in place while the computer is running).
Under your power settings set the power usage for maximum battery.
If you have any external peripherals that you use all the time try to use
them then disconnect them when not in use.
Set the screen brightness to where you can see the screen comfortably,
don't set it so low that you strain your eyes, in an aircraft at night it is
better for those traveling with you if you lower the brightness.
While traveling and in fight if there isn't any WiFi on the aircraft use
the Device Manager to disable the WiFi, you will have to remember to re-enable
it to use it in an area where WiFi is available.
Considerations -
This laptop has been upgraded with:
2.5 GHz processor
2 Gig of ram
SSD for storage
The processor will consume more power than the original 1.8 GHz.
The 2 Gig of memory will consume more power than the original 512 Meg of
memory.
The SSD will consume less power than the original Hard Drive.
The upgrade of the processor and memory offset the SSD upgrade by about
50%. So if you install a SSD for your storage you will gain more battery life
by removing the mechanical drive from the computer. However if you install a
more powerful processor or more memory that savings will be offset somewhat.
Now how much longer will your battery last? Unknown, you will have to run the
above tests to determine the maximum battery life.
Analyzing of the manual vs program to optimize your battery performance
for maximum battery power:
You can do all the things that the Battery Care program will do manually.
However the program will give you insight to the health of the battery, that is
how much it has degraded since first charge.
In my tests my five year old battery is 48% where as the year old battery is at
87% (not a good indication that the year old battery is the high quality I paid
for!) and the new (two months old) battery is at 96%.
Is the program worth the money?
At $20 I think so because it told me to not buy another battery from one vendor
because the quality is low. It also tells me that the OEM (Original Equipment
Manufacture) battery is of high quality, how many five year old batteries still
charge and hold it? (And if I can find any new OEM batteries I will buy a
couple!)
Note:
I have had some readers tell me that you can fully
discharge a battery by shorting the polls. This is a very dangerous practice.
Why? Because if the battery has sufficient charge left
when the polls are shorted it will discharge very fast. If it discharges to fast
it will overheat. With the potential for a fire or even an explosion!
This site contains a lot of information. As
with any publication not all information is available due to space, time, or
subject constraints.
If you have a question that you did not find the answer
on this web site you a can
ask your question here and we will endeavor to get you the most up to date
answer possible!
$57.00