The average laptop battery life ranges from 500 to 1000 full charge and discharge cycles, depending on the manufacturer. Almost always, original batteries last longer than copies and compatible analogues, but their price is higher. The service life of a battery is significantly reduced if it is not used correctly: the process of a reversible chemical reaction is disrupted, and the battery eventually ceases to hold a charge, after which it has to be replaced.
Any laptop battery consists of a metal plate placed in an acid or alkali solution. Under the influence of electromechanical processes, they give up part of their substance and then take it back. Over time, the intensity of the chemical reaction weakens, after which it stops completely. The battery life with proper use is 3-5 years, but it can be significantly reduced under the influence of the following factors:
- Long-term storage in a discharged state is fatal to the battery. In this case, the battery plates deteriorate, after which recharging is impossible.
- Intense shaking, shocks and other mechanical damage lead to short-circuiting of the plates, as a result of which the normal charging process is disrupted.
- Lithium-ion batteries, which are the most common today, do not like to operate at sub-zero temperatures. At the same time, the capacity decreases, that is, the battery begins to lose its ability to release accumulated energy.
- The service life is also shortened due to overheating. Direct sunlight and location near heaters have a negative impact.
How to extend battery life?
Extending the life of a laptop battery requires compliance with the charging regime. The optimal level is 50-70%, so it is not recommended to keep the device constantly connected to the mains. If the laptop is used at home as a desktop computer, it is recommended to separate the battery during operation and then connect it again. However, it should not lie unloaded for a long time. At least twice a month it needs to be fully charged and discharged so that the capacity does not decrease.
How to extend the life of your laptop battery and increase battery life? You need to follow a few simple rules:
- The laptop must be placed on a hard surface and the cooling vents must not be blocked. Special stands with a built-in cooler will help to avoid battery overheating.
- It is not advisable to allow the battery to completely discharge. If the charge level approaches 10-20%, stop working and look for an opportunity to recharge from the network.
- To increase battery life, you must disable all extraneous and additional functions. It is worth reducing the number of programs in startup, disabling the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules if they are not needed right now. If work needs to be interrupted, the device must be put into sleep mode to save battery.
A special program for increasing the life of a laptop battery, for example, Battery Optimizer, will show which functions can be temporarily disabled to save money, in addition, it shows the degree of battery wear.
Any battery is a consumable item and cannot be used indefinitely. However, following simple recommendations will significantly increase its service life and achieve long-term battery life. If you decide to change the battery, in our store you will find high-quality components for any laptop model.
Apple engineers have done everything possible to maximize the battery life of the Apple Watch. Most smartwatch owners do not complain about the gadget's battery, and there are several different ways to increase the battery life of the device.
It's rare to see negative comments regarding battery life in Apple Watch reviews. All thanks to Apple engineers, who, at the request of Tim Cook, paid special attention to optimization. If the Apple Watch is not used very actively, then by the evening the device’s charge will be an impressive 30-50%, that is, there is not even a hint of the gadget turning off in the middle of the working day. If it happens that the charge of your Apple Watch has dropped to a critical level, and you won’t be able to use the charger for a long time, then here are nine great tips that will allow your smart watch to easily last for a long time.
Go black
The Apple Watch, unlike the iPhone, has an OLED display, the power consumption of which depends on the pixels displayed on it. Colored pixels on the Apple Watch display consume more power, while black pixels require significantly less. This means that by using black colors on your Apple Watch, you can significantly increase its battery life. Set Utility or X-Large as your main watch face theme and experience the increase in available battery percentages today.
Opt out of unnecessary notifications
Notifications sent to Apple Watch not only alert the watch screen, but also use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Accordingly, the more notifications your smartwatch receives from your iPhone, the faster your battery drains. Therefore, the right step to increase the battery life of the Apple Watch is to turn off all unnecessary notifications, and you won’t have to be distracted by a new like on Instagram.
Avoid unnecessary apps
A huge number of applications can be installed on the Apple Watch, but the range of actively used ones for almost any user will be narrow. So why keep extra stuff on your device? Go to your Apple Watch Apps settings and turn off any tools you don't need or rarely use by deleting them from your smartwatch's memory. Increased battery life is guaranteed.
Learn to close applications
Any application previously opened on the Apple Watch remains in memory and “devours” resources, and this applies even to small applications. By forcibly closing applications running on the Apple Watch, you will allow the watch and its battery to “rest” for some time, since only the active watch face and incoming notifications will consume the gadget’s resources.
Forcing an application to close on the Apple Watch is very simple: you need to open the application in memory, hold down the Power button until the menu appears, then release Power and hold it down again for a few seconds.
Disable animation
Any click you make on the various Apple Watch menus results in animated effects that essentially just “eat up” the battery. However, this has not been officially proven, but users who turned off animation on the Apple Watch noticed that their watch began to hold a charge more reliably.
It’s easy to disable animation on the Apple Watch: go to the standard Settings -> General -> Accessibility application and move the Reduce Motion slider to the inactive position. If in the future you want to return colorful animation to your Apple Watch, all you need to do is re-activate this option.
Lower the brightness
Reducing brightness can increase the battery life of any mobile device, and the Apple Watch is no exception to the rule. By going to Settings -> Brightness & Text Size, you can adjust the brightness of the Apple Watch screen, setting it to a low level, thereby allowing the smartwatch battery to live a few extra minutes.
Activate Power Reserve mode
Power Reserve mode can help you out in the most critical situations. By activating it, you reduce the device's energy consumption as much as possible, while at the same time disabling almost all available functions. An Apple Watch operating in Power Reserve mode will only display the time, but the device's battery will be able to last for several more hours.
The Apple Watch is switched to Power Reserve mode as follows: hold down the side button of the watch and hold it until the Shutdown Menu appears, then select the Power Reserve menu item.
Turn off wrist recognition
Thanks to the gyroscope built into the Apple Watch, the device can automatically turn on the screen when users turn their wrist. This solution allows the owner of a smart watch to find out the current time in the fastest way, but at the same time valuable reserves of energy are drained from the Apple Watch battery.
You can disable the wrist detection function by going to Settings -> General -> Activate on Wrist Raise and moving the Wrist Raise slider to the inactive position.
Restart your Apple Watch
A simple reboot of the device can help with situations when you notice that the battery of your Apple Watch is rapidly losing charge. This happens, fortunately, not very often, but you need to be prepared for it. To hard reset your Apple Watch, simply hold down the Side button and Digital Crown for a few seconds until the device's screen turns off.
We would like to note that it is not at all necessary to use all these methods - the Apple Watch holds a charge well and, as Tim Cook promised, the watch can work throughout the day, requiring charging only towards night.
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or Uuninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) is an electronic device with a rechargeable battery designed to briefly supply power to personal computers, household appliances and other devices in the event of a sudden change or power outage in the electrical network. After all, no one wants to lose all information in an instant, regardless of whether you are playing a computer game, typing text or working with code. If your PC suddenly turns off, all data may be irretrievably lost. Not to mention what can happen to the hardware itself.
We will tell you how to navigate the large number of UPSs sold. What parameters to pay attention to, and how to choose the right source to protect your equipment, so that in the event of force majeure, you can save yourself both nerves and money.
Types of UPS
The most important thing you need to decide is which devices you want to protect. What electrical problems do you have where these devices operate - how often are power surges, do the light bulbs blink. If such problems are rare, and you are going to connect a small number of devices, then we recommend taking UPS with backup power supply. Such devices are cheap because they are low-power. When the electrical network leaves the optimal values, whether due to a voltage drop or a complete shutdown, the UPS switches to operation from the built-in battery and returns to normal when power appears. The advantages of such devices are that they are quite low-noise, sometimes compact, and also have high efficiency and low heat generation. The switching time from the mains to the battery is about 10 ms.
If voltage surges in the region of 180-195 V and its shutdown occur frequently, then you should choose line-interactive UPS. Such devices contain absolutely all the functionality of a backup UPS, distinguished by the presence of a voltage stabilizer that allows you to regulate the voltage at the network output. In terms of efficiency, line-interactive UPSs occupy an intermediate value between standby and double conversion UPSs. The transition time from mains power to battery is about 2-4 ms.
If you are choosing a UPS to protect a large number of sensitive equipment, such as servers and workstations, then you need to pay attention to double conversion uninterruptible power supply. This energy generation scheme produces the ideal voltage for the network. Such a device continuously converts alternating current into direct current, then regenerating it back into alternating electricity. Due to this, the transition time from mains power to switching on battery power is zero. That is, the transition occurs instantly.
Photo: www.hwp.ru
Power
Ask about the technical characteristics of the equipment you plan to protect, namely, what its power is. Choose an uninterruptible power supply with a power reserve of 20-30% of the planned network load. For example, an uninterruptible power supply with a power of 300-500 W is enough for you to protect an ordinary personal computer. To protect a gaming computer with a large monitor and a number of peripheral devices, you will need a UPS with a power of 700-1500 W.
If you still have certain questions, you can always contact the UPS developer sites. Which have special programs for calculating the power of a personal computer based on your parameters.
Battery life
No UPS can provide infinite operation in the absence of electricity. After a power outage, you only need the standard 5-7 minutes to safely save and complete the job. The computer server may require a little more time. Therefore, be sure to check how many minutes or hours the UPS can operate before the battery is completely discharged. You can also choose a UPS with the ability to connect an additional battery. In any case, the battery life is indicated in the instructions or on the manufacturer’s official website.
Photo: www.hwp.ru
Other selection criteria
- According to your needs, choose a UPS with either IEC-320-C14 standard computer sockets or CEE 7/4 standard Euro sockets. We recommend choosing a device that has these sockets combined. After all, who knows what kind of device you might need to protect tomorrow...
- You should also make sure that you can replace the battery yourself, since its service life is usually 3-5 years. If independent replacement is not possible, then the device will have to be sent to a specialized service center.
- Indication also plays an important role. It is much more pleasant to monitor the operating status of the system through an informative LCD display than through LED lights. It should be borne in mind that you will have to pay for functional information content when only LEDs are installed on budget UPSs.
- The presence of USB ports will allow you to save all your work on your personal computer in automatic mode. Special software is used for these purposes. Very convenient - after all, if there is a power outage, you may not be nearby.
- Connectors for RJ11 and RJ45 will protect your telephone and local network from overloads. If you need this option, don't miss the opportunity to use it. As a rule, even cheap models have these connectors.
Common Buyer Mistakes
- Choosing the wrong type of UPS can easily lead to frequent battery replacements. The fact is that when the voltage in the network regularly jumps, a budget device often switches from the built-in battery, using up its resource. This is why in such cases it is recommended to purchase a line-interactive UPS.
- Before choosing a device, correctly calculate the total power of your devices, otherwise in case of overload the UPS will simply turn off.
- Keep in mind that battery capacity decreases over time, reducing battery life. Change batteries in a timely manner so that your UPS does not turn off along with the electricity.
- You should be aware that double conversion sources are quite noisy. Some buyers were unpleasantly surprised by this.
If all other components (processor, graphics card, hard drive, etc.) affect, for the most part, only performance, then the battery is the engine of your laptop, which will directly determine how long it will work away from the network - a measly hour and a half or all nine?
The most important characteristic of a battery is the number of cells (sections) of which it consists. Now, as a rule, batteries with less than three sections are no longer produced, and if we talk about the maximum number, then it can reach 12. But most often on laptops you can find 6-section batteries, a little less often - 9 and 3-section batteries. The latter are usually installed on netbooks or thin and light devices, since the fewer cells, the correspondingly less weight of the battery itself and the laptop along with it.
Nowadays, laptops contain mostly lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries, sometimes lithium-polymer (Li-Polymer), which, by the way, are slightly ahead of the former in their characteristics. As a rule, the battery life of a regular laptop is about 3 hours, but there are models that work much longer. This depends not only on the battery, but also on the type of processor and graphics card that are installed in the laptop (the more powerful they are, the more energy they will consume), as well as on the ability to regulate power consumption levels.
Immediately after purchasing a laptop, you should carry out several cycles (3-4) of completely discharging and charging the battery. This will give him the opportunity to “swing” and gain his full capacity. Further, if your laptop will work from the network most of the time, still at least once a month let the battery be completely discharged and charged. It may well be that you want to disconnect the battery altogether and use the laptop without it (of course, if your device allows this) - then it is best to keep it at an optimal charge, which is about 40%. If you store the battery completely discharged, it will certainly fail, and very quickly. In any case, you should remember that even if the battery is stored separately, it will gradually discharge - by about 5% in one month.
It is not recommended to use the laptop in extremely hot or cold climates - they also do not have a very good effect on the battery. If it is above +50 degrees Celsius or below -20, then it is better not to use the device. The most optimal temperature for it is +15 ... +35 degrees.
The typical lifespan of a battery is approximately 2-3 years, during which time its charge continually drops until it becomes virtually useless. After this, of course, it is best to buy a new one - they are different for different laptop models, so be sure to pay attention to this. It is also possible to repair an old battery by replacing all the elements in it. However, this naturally involves some risk, since it can easily be damaged during repairs. A good renovation will definitely cost a lot of money. We do not recommend that you buy used batteries, since such a device may well turn out to be of poor quality and fail within a month.
You can maximize the battery life if you use the battery normally, do not overheat or overcool it, and also follow all the advice given to you above. You can adjust power consumption profiles (most laptops have them), setting the most economical one - it will reduce the performance of the device and reduce the brightness of the display, but will increase battery life. In addition, if you plan to be in a place for a long time where you will not be able to reach the network, then it is best to stock up on an additional battery, and when the first one runs out, simply insert a second one. If you have a car, you can charge your laptop from it - to do this you need to buy a special adapter that will allow you to connect the device to the car battery.
