10/16/13
How to Calibrate Your Laptop’s Battery For Accurate Battery Life Estimates
How-To Geek
How to Calibrate Your Laptop’s Battery For Accurate 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.
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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.
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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.
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