[Shop-talk] LIon battery care

[Karl Vacek]

I just got a new (well, new to me...) laptop, and I'd like to keep the battery
usable as long as possible.  My steam-powered 2001 Dell's batteries lost
capacity rather quickly after the end of their respective warranties.

I normally run the computer on wall power rather than go back and forth
between battery and wall power, and the computer usually just sits at my desk,
functioning as a desktop until I want to work somewhere else.  That computer
hasn't been off my desk for years now, because it has maybe 5 minutes of
battery capacity, all the while warning me to change batteries.  I didn't get
much more life out of either the main or the spare battery, and the spare
wasn't on charge 24 hours a day.

Soooo - what's the real deal on how to care for these expen$ive little babies
?  The LIon battery in my 4+ year old cell phone is still fine, and its
chargers are certainly nothing sophisticated.

Karl