Frequently Asked Questions About Dell Laptop Battery

1 How long does a Dell laptop battery last? When should I consider replacing mine?

All rechargeable batteries wear out with time and usage. As time and cumulative use increase, the performance will degrade. For the typical user, noticeable reduction in run time generally will be observed after 18 to 24 months. For a power user, reduction in run time generally may be experienced prior to 18 months. We recommend buying a new Dell laptop battery when the run time does not meet your needs.

2 How long am I able to use my Dell laptop on a fully charged battery?

Many factors affect the amount of time that a portable computer battery can deliver power before it must be recharged. These factors include the configuration (processor, memory, etc.), types of applications being run and display brightness.
Dell uses industry standard benchmarks for battery run time claims. For more information on battery run times and benchmarks, the white paper, "Understanding Battery Life in Portable Computers" is available.

3 How do I charge my Dell laptop battery?

The battery charges in the laptop when the laptop is connected to an AC power source via the AC adapter.

4 How long does it take for a Dell laptop battery to fully recharge?

The charge time varies depending on the system. If the system supports ExpressCharge, the battery typically will have greater than 80% charge after about an hour of charging, and fully charge in about 2 hours with the system off.

5 Should I totally discharge, then recharge my Dell laptop battery occasionally to make it last longer?

No, discharging and charging does not increase the life of a Lithium Ion technology battery.

6 Can a Dell laptop battery be "overcharged"?

No, the battery is designed to stop using the charger when it reaches full charge.

7 Does Dell sell external battery chargers?

Dell offers a Datamation battery charger for large institution customers. The charger has 16 charge bays to charge batteries for Latitude D500/D505/D510/D520/D600/D610 laptop systems. The product can be found at www.exceldigital.org.uk.

8 Is it easy to install a battery?

Yes, very easy. First, make sure all open files are saved. Next, either attach the AC adapter directly to the laptop or set the system to "hibernate" mode or shut off. Release the latch on the current battery, and simply install the replacement battery.

9 Will Dell laptops accept non-Dell batteries?

Dell has a rigorous qualification process by which all Dell batteries are validated to ensure proper function, performance and safety. Some non-Dell batteries are available in the market with claims of compatibility with Dell systems. Dell cannot verify these claims, nor the safety of using them in a Dell system. Dell strongly encourages our customers to use only Dell laptop batteries advertised as appropriate for their laptop model. Only Dell laptop batteries come with a 1-year warranty, are engineered for optimal safety and performance for Dell systems, and are supported by Dell technical support for the length of the warranty period.

10 What is a modular bay battery?

In some laptop systems Dell offers a battery that can be used in the optical drive media bay (DVD/CD drive bay). This enables the use of two batteries, potentially extending the available run time.

11 If I install a modular bay battery, are my primary and modular bay batteries working at the same time to power my laptop computer? No, the modular bay battery is used first, then the system automatically switches to the primary battery. This is a deliberate design to allow the most amount of run time to remain in the primary battery in case the modular bay battery is removed and replaced with an optical drive.

12 What does Dell recommend for battery storage for a long period of time? When storing for more than 4 days these guidelines can better preserve the life of your battery:

    * Do not store batteries for long periods plugged into or attached to any power source. This includes AC adapters and laptop security
      carts plugged into an outlet.
    * Laptop batteries, including those stored in laptop systems, should maintain an Operational Storage Temperature of 0° to 35°C (32° to 95°F).
    * Batteries may be stored in the laptop or outside of the laptop.
    * Charge batteries
      before storing. The recommended charging time should not exceed 1 hour. Typically, this should charge the battery to between 80% and 100%. (Some discharge will take place over time. Stored batteries are expected to discharge 10-15% over a four month period, for your information.)

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Dell Laptop Battery Usage Tips

If you find yourself with no electrical adapter or power source and need your battery to operate for as long as possible, here are a few tips you can try when your laptop computer is in battery mode:
1. Use the laptop's power management system

In Microsoft Windows the "Power Options" power management application can be found inside the Control Panel. In the Power Options Properties tab select the "Portable/Laptop" power scheme. Many laptop manufactories also provide their own custom power management applications, which help to optimize power usage and extend Battery time.

2. Turn down the display brightness
You can lower the LCD brightness level to use less energy. In fact a lower brightness level also strains the eyes less and causes less fatigue.
3. Close any unused applications
Applications are a burden on the system and require energy to run. Closing any unused applications will reduce that burden and any energy consumption down the line.
4. Remove any unused PC Cards or USB devices from your laptop
These devices require energy even when they sit idle, so removing them can help to extend your dell xps m1330 battery time.
5. Disable Wireless LAN or Bluetooth network adapter when not in use
Ditto for the Wireless LAN or Bluetooth network adapters.
6. Increase system memory
Your computer stores data for use by the CPU in system memory or as virtual memory in the hard drive. Increasing system memory helps to reduce the system's reliance on the hard drive, which uses more energy than system memory.
7. Reduce unnecessary optical drive operation/activity
Avoid activities that require your optical drive to operate constantly, such as listening to CDs.
8. Avoid graphics intensive applications
The laptop system will run in a high performance settings when using these applications, causing the battery to run down at a very quick rate.
here are some dell laptop batteries
Dell Laptop Battery

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Dell Laptop battery maintenance guide

Battery is the consumables, with a limited life expectancy, most manufacturers warranty for the notebook battery time ranging from three months to a year, Dell is to follow industry standards to provide a limited warranty for one year. For batteries, use the correct and proper storage, can significantly extend the battery  life of notebook computers.

First, the battery useing must follow some attention points.

1. When you use laptop with external power, you dont need to take out the battery.

   1. There is a chip to prevent over-charging in the mainboard. When the rechargeable battery power to 100% state of charge, the charge control chips (FET) will stop charging the battery. We do not have to worry about damage to the battery.
   2. Connect the battery to avoid loss of BIOS information.
   3. To prevent a sudden loss of power break.

2. To prevent exposure to prevent damp to prevent the erosion of liquid chemicals, batteries to avoid contact with metal objects, such as exposure to short-circuit occurrence.

3. Long-term do not use notebooks, how to store the laptop battery?

We will have a period of time not to use the notebook, the battery is fully charged to preserve, or to be released after save electricity?

Put long-term preservation of photoelectric batteries will lose their activity and even lead to the control circuit protection self-locking and can not re-use, full of power will bring about long-term preservation of the safety problems, the best method is to save electricity use to 40 or so and then stored in cool dry place, about 20 degrees Celsius is the ideal storage temperature. Of course, the best month to come up with to use a battery, the battery can ensure a good state of preservation, but also does not allow the loss of electricity damage to the battery completely.

How can I exam the Dell battery power? (For example in cell D610 battery)

Remove the battery, press the Macbook Pro battery power signs, we can see the situation of the five battery status lights. For two bright, representing 40% of the electricity. Electricity on behalf of the entire light is sufficient, if the 135-light, that damage the battery.

Second, how to extend as much as possible the work of laptop battery time?

   1. To reduce the screen brightness. How to adjust the brightness of the use of laptop batteries, boot by F2, into the BIOS to adjust the Brightness of Video. Or fn + down / up key combination to adjust the brightness quickly.
   2. Open the CPU speedstep feature, you can greatly extend the working hours of laptop battery; Cpu's speedstep feature is enabled by default BIOS of. When using batteries, cpu will automatically down-use, in order to achieve energy-saving purpose. If not enabled, please start by F2, into the BIOS found in Performance, for the Speedstep Enable setting Enabled. (An earlier version of BIOS is the Alt + P to the sixth page, modify intel speedstep)
   3. make the best use of standby, sleep and other functions. When a longer period of time without a computer, allowing notebook standby or hibernation, both to save power and extend the life of the computer. (Tips: Please confirm the successful installation of graphics drivers, power management options can be set up.)
      WINDOWS in the process of power management settings, we generally can be set to "portable / laptop" (Portable / Laptop).
      At the same time suggest that you will use the powerbook G4 battery when the wait time to close the monitor is set to 5 minutes, so when we do not operate within a certain period of time the notebook, it will direct the state of black screen, so other than the screen saver to run more power.
   4. when using the battery as much as possible the closure of wireless, Bluetooth and infrared ports. At the same time to remove without the use of peripherals and to avoid the opening of a large 3D program, games and so on, in order to reduce unnecessary battery consumption.

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