How do you/How to use your SP3 Battery?

[Lloyyd]

Hey guys,

I just got my SP3 i5/128gb a week ago. Crazy nice product, it changed my whole life because I travel much because of work and I switched my work-laptop with it(so now from 2,5kg to ~1kg in my bag).

But now I am very afraid of the battery lifetime, because the battery from the laptop which I got from work already lost 20% of his battery amount and I almost always have to use the cable on it..

So how do you properly use the SP3s battery? Do you use it with cable or just let the battery run out to 0% and then load it again?
I know(think) that with a laptop it's not good to have the cable connected all day, the battery needs to be reloaded from 0 to 100 several times..

How do you use it?

 

[spasell]

I have asked this over and over and get mixed responses. Some people here will claim new battery tech means you do not have to cycle through many times. Others say you do.

I keep it plugged in when I am in office and using it. When I unplug it I am getting approx. 4.5-5.5 hours doing web browsing and using office apps. I don't use Chrome at all unless I am plugged in as it is a battery hog.

When I watch movies from the Xbox store, I can actually get 6 hours or slightly more vs using iTunes which I get around 4.5 if I am watching movie flying one coast to the other.

I have cycled my battery 3x's since I received my replacement about 2 months ago.

 

[Lloyyd]

I see. I'm really not sure about todays battery lifetime. My laptop from work is a Dell Vostro 3550 which is not that old and like I said I can see that it already lost some of its battery.. so I really don't know.

​Why did you get a replacement?

 

[MBSMD]

I don't have too much anxiety that I will run out of juice when out and about, but I will plug it in and top it off whenever I'm not using it. So it's almost always at 100% when I pick it up. I have a charger at home and one at work, so whenever it's just sitting, it's plugged in.

Over all I've been pretty happy with the battery life. Way better than my 11" MacBook Air was when it was new (which is even worse now since it's a 2011 model so the battery is 4 years old already).

 

[BGrewer]

I've got a mix of 4 hours (infrequent mix of short time use and sleep) to 6hrs of use(Office and Internet)

 

[Bolimomo]

Mine lasted about 5 hours or so. But it is relatively new. I have used it for only a few weeks (thus battery still new). When batteries age, they don't retain as much "juice" after a full recharge.

The battery "life" between recharges depend on many factors. Briefly: the less the processor needs to work, the longer the battery charge lasts. Sometimes it is just not easy to notice... I would suggest to always keep in mind:
- Best to exit the app (both insides Windows or those tablet apps) when you don't use them, instead of keeping them around for a quick switch if/when you need to use them. Starting an app/software does not take that long these days.
- Many website these days are supported by advertisers. They show videos, animation, sound, etc. whether you like it or not. You may have the volume turned off and you can't hear them, or the web browsers occluded where you cannot see them. But some of those small applets or flash or whatever may be constantly running whether you notice them or not. Applets run - processor works, processor works - generates heats and eats up power. The less you have these browsers instances and webpages opened simultaneously, the longer your battery charge will last. You just don't notice their effects.
- If you don't need an Internet connection (e.g. reading an e-book or writing your journal) when you use the device, switch it off. (I think it is called "airplane mode" - ON). If you are in a place where the wifi signal is not good, the processor (under program control) may constantly seek to connect to this network and connect to that network. Processor works - heat, taking power.

 

[Cleavitt76]

The short answer is to just use your device and don't worry about it too much. Modern rechargeable battery technology is far more flexible and tolerant than it was in the past.

The longer answer is that with any rechargeable battery you want to avoid completely discharging and fully recharging them as much as possible. The more heavily you discharge and recharge the battery the more it stresses the battery. That is true of everything from old school lead acid car batteries to current gen lithium ion technology. The only exception was NiCad which had a memory effect and needed to be fully discharged and recharged during the first few cycles to establish the highest capacity. However, NiCad hasn't been used in anything for about a decade now and people still apply this practice to completely unrelated battery technology. If you have access to AC power then plug it in. If not, just use it and don't sweet it too much. Don't abuse it by leaving it a hot car in the summer time while fully charged. In the end, all modern rechargeable battery technologies have a finite lifespan and normal use doesn't have much impact on that lifespan.

BTW: Dell had a reputation for using fairly crappy quality batteries in their laptops for a while. That may not be the case anymore as Dell seems to be focused on higher quality lately, but it may have a lot to do with your previous battery experience.

 

[BGrewer]

Wow, didn't know that, what would you say the limit is for high and low battery?

 

[Cleavitt76]

Wow, didn't know that, what would you say the limit is for high and low battery?

It's hard to say for a Lithium based rechargeable battery because there are so many different varieties, manufacturing methods, and "smart" charge circuitry built in. In a device like the SP3 with a you don't really have to worry about the top end because the charging circuit should be optimized for the battery and the charging rate will taper off to prevent stress on the battery as it gets close to full. On the low end 20% is probably a decent guess for a Lipo/li-ion battery, but it can vary a lot. Deep discharging the battery on occasion is not going to have a measurable impact though. You would have to be doing it very regularly and even then it might only accelerate the aging of the battery by 10% or so for a good quality battery.

 

[rdubmu]

I believe the half life of a battery is 400 charges/ or that is when it starts to loose its capacity


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