Should you calibrate a new laptop battery
Why (and How) You Should Regularly Calibrate Your Laptop's BatteryBy Alan Henry 10/02/13 9:30AM You probably know your battery is best served by shallow discharges and regular top-offs, but calibrating your battery occasionally is important toootherwise the display that shows you how much charge is remaining can be wildly inaccurate. Recent Video This browser does not support the video element. How to Remove Followers on Twitter Related Stories13 of the Best Dating Apps to Find Love or Mess Around 12 Trader Joe's Products Way Better Than the Name Brand Versions How to Stop Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile From Collecting Your Phone Data to Sell Ads How Often Should I Charge My Gadget's Battery to Prolong Its Lifespan? Dear Lifehacker, What is the deal with lithium-ion batteries (the kind found in smartphones and Read moreIf you've ever seen your battery zoom from half-full to near empty in what seems like an instant, or plugged in your charger and then unplugged it only to see what you thought was 100% is really only 95%, your phone or laptop battery may not be reporting the correct chargewhich means it may not be properly calibrated. Over at How-To Geek, Chris Hoffman explains that regular top-offs are important, but a good calibration is important too:
G/O Media may get a commission Save 10% Trade Coffee Gifts Mmm, coffee Buy at Trade Coffee Advertisement We'd suggest making it part of your regular PC cleaning ritual, maybe every year in the spring, or every six months or so. Calibrating your laptop battery isn't hardit's essentially the process of running your battery down to near-empty and then charging it all the way back up to full, and some PC manufacturers even have utilities that will do this for you. If you'd prefer to do it manually, the full post linked below will explain how to do it. (Note: If you own a Macbook made in the past few years, Apple says you don't need to worry about calibration at all, as OS X handles it for you.) If you're interested in calibrating your phone battery, things get a little trickierthere are apps that can help (most Android apps require root to keep the phone from just powering off while you're calibrating) but you can always go manual and just leave the phone discharged as long as possible, then plug it back in until it's fully charged. This StackExchange question may help Android users, and this article at MacBlend should help iOS users. Advertisement How to Calibrate Your Laptop's Battery for Accurate Battery Life Estimates | How-To Geek Photo by Kyle Van Horn. Advertisement More from Lifehacker Use These Apps and Gadgets to Get Better Sleep How to Pick a Flight With the Lowest Chance of Weather Delays Bringing a Bag of Cheeseburgers Is the Ultimate Party Trick 13 of the Best Dating Apps to Find Love or Mess Around |