Battery Backup For Laptop When Power Outage?

@Try3


Well even when the battery was new, i did not get more than say 1h45m on it when using it full tilt.


When you say short usage span, you mean me using my laptop a lot right? My laptop is on basically on pretty much 15+ hours a day. It almost always plugged in.


Yes i know 100 percent means what it is capable of. When im plugged in, i do have the brightness to 100% so my laptop screen is fully bright. Should i drop that to like 0 or 25%? I have 2 external monitors connected to it but i do use the laptop screen a bit as well but not much. Does making the percentage of brightness matter when plugged in? Or it has no effect on the battery? Also what about the battery mode? When plugged in, is it fine to have it 100% and best performance? I previously always had it 100% brightness and 100% best performance on my laptop when plugged in because i figure if its plugged in,then it doesn't matter. But if im on battery, i would make brightness to 25% and power saver mode at 0%.


Well i bought the battery a little over 1 year ago. So back then, it would been 6 months so i thought i couldn't wear the battery that much.


So what do you suggest now to make my battery not worn out faster? Again i got this laptop about 2.5 years ago. I had to buy a new battery for it about 2 years later because my battery pretty much only lasted under 10 minutes on battery. At the moment, i cannot get a new laptop battery. But you would say get it in a few months when it drops to say 20%? So when my original battery only lasted 10 minutes and less, it probably could charge up to like 5 to 10% only right?

As Try3 says, the problem is how many times you cycle charge the battery. Batteries have a limited number of recharge cycles. The way to extend its life is to use the Dell Power Manager to limit how high you charge the battery and how often you charge it. If you set the maximum charge to 80% or 85% and don't start a recharge until it drops to 50%, it will last a lot longer. My battery went bad (swelled) after I had my Dell XPS 9550 for about 16 months. I always had it plugged in when home. After Dell replaced it, I changed the Power Management settings to start charging at 50% and stop at 85%. I have had this new battery for 2 years. The Design Capacity is 83,995mWh and Full Charge Capacity is 82,855mWh. I don't use the laptop that much and keep it unplugged unless I intend to use it for an extended period of time.

JohnD

@Try3


Whenever i turn on my laptop everyday, i have it plugged in with the ac adapter. Thus its 100% pretty much almost always when i use it. Unless of course there is a power outage and then i have to be on battery mode. But everyday, laptop is plugged in and when you check it on the bottom right, it shows fully charged 100%. So this is the correct thing to do right?


Back then, what i do would be when its fully charged, i use it on battery till its low then charge it back to 100% because i thought that was the right thing to do. This was with the battery that came with my laptop when i first got it. I had thought if you have it plugged in always, that would make battery worst. But that is the correct way right? Well do you know how many charges the powerbank has? The powerbank cost around $100 or so when its on sale. The 56whr battery cost close to that last time. But the other issue is i have to go to a place to have it installed b/c i dont want to do it myself since i can damage it. But i check on ebay and battery now is like 60 dollars. So in terms of price, i rather get a new laptop battery instead. I mean to have battery installed on my laptop probably cost 35 dollars.


But i dont want to have say a powerbank that no longer works. But the powerbank wears out faster than the laptop battery right? I want to preserve it.

@johnpd


Where is this dell power setting where you can set the max to 80% or 85% and not have it recharge until it hits 50%? When you said battery swelled, how did you find this out? When battery no longer worked and then you opened it and notice the swelling was why it no longer worked? Okay so important thing here is set the max to 80% or 85%? So the recharge only when it drops to 50% is not necessary or doing both of these makes it better? So if i do this now, then my battery won't wear even faster? I had this battery for about a little over 1 year and it is about 40% only. When i first got the laptop, i had it for 1.5 years before i had to get a new battery because battery basically went to 10 minutes only. So most likely within the next few months, the same thing will happen then right? Both of these batteries are 56whr.


What whr is your battery? Okay so when you use this laptop, you use it unplugged until the battery is how much percentage? Example laptop is 80%. You use it for a bit and now 60%. You then turn it off. Next time you use it, you still use it on battery till how long percentage? So if you were using it for a long time, then you do those settings so basically your laptop battery would always be max 85%? But when it hits 85%, do you unplug it and use it unplugged until a certain percentage? Or you keep using it as is plugged in?

Okay so im watching a youtube on how to get better battery life. One of the things it mentions is check to see which apps are affecting battery life.


I notice it shows within 24 hours, and the apps with usage


Windows explorer shows 23

smart defrag updater shows 13%

Cortana 12 percent

feedback hub 10%

smart defrag 5 9%

microsft store 6%


Everything else is 1% or less than 1%. I do not use smart defrag updater, cortana or any of those things i mention. So if i fix this, it would make battery better?


Example i click on cortana


It shows in use: 0% Background 12%

Shows checked let windows decide when this app can run in the background


Do i uncheck it? If so, it now shows


Checked Reduce the work the app can do when its in the background

Unchecked Allow the app to run background tasks



But there is no option to never allow in background like in the youtube video?



Smart Defrag updater shows 11% in use. 1% background.



I don't use any of these programs. I don't even defrag because i read you never do that to an ssd correct?



So what should i do with these apps? Why can't i not allow any of these?

1. You need to install the Dell Command Power Manager or you can do it through BIOS. The Power Manager is better if you want to adjust the settings from time to time (for instance if you know you need to use the laptop off AC for an extended period, you might want to temporarily bump the max charge to 100%). Make sure you get the Dell Command Power Manager version for the XPS.

2. I found out the the battery was swelling when the trackpad starting lifting up and became non-functional.

3. Changing both the max and minimum settings is best. Lower the max to keep it from constantly going to 100%.

4. I have the 6-cell 84WHr battery.

5. The laptop is not my primary system. I have a desktop that I use most of the time at home. I normally use the laptop when I am away from home and I run it on the battery in that case. Occasionally I use it at home, then I will have it connected to AC as I may be running updates which may take a while. Once the laptop charge goes below 50% and I have it plugged into AC, it charges to 85%.

JohnD

1. Skip the UPS. If power goes out the battery will keep you going for several hours. If the outage lasts longer than that just do something else. Simple.

2. As for extending battery life ... just keep it charged all the time. Run on battery only when power is not available. Simple.

3. Does it really take a rocket scientist to figure this out?

@johnpd


Okay i did not know this. So this is the download link right?

Access Denied



1. You say if you know you will use the laptop off AC for an extended period of time, bump it to 100%. I am pretty much using my xps laptop at my apartment while plugged into the ac pretty much always. I rarely unplug it. I rarely even take my laptop outside if even at all. Its basically like a desktop. So that means i should just keep it plugged in 100% then right? I thought the proper thing to do even if you use your laptop like a desktop and have it plugged in always was make it max charge to only 80 or 85% and let it drop to 50% before you recharge it up again? Or thats only if you are using it on battery power?


2. Okay i have heard of this a while back. When i needed to replace my battery, it was because battery went bad. I was not eligible for the battery swelling for a free replacement.


3. What would be the idea percentage? 80%, 85%, 90%? So basically if i plug in all the time and use it while in apartment which is pretty much always, so i would want it to show like one of those numbers always? Thus it would stay at 85% the entire time and show like battery 85%, not charging? The only negative thing i see for this would be if there is power outage, well then i only have 85% battery as oppose to 100% which probably gives me an extra 20 minutes at the most. But this is obviously worth it right to preserve the battery? I will most likely have to replace this battery in a few months. Since the battery wear is now 40% only, is it fine to just use it as is or make it go to like 85% because i will need a replacement in few months anyway? Last time i got battery replacement, i had the laptop for about 1.5 years. Now its about 1 year or so with the new one i bought. So when i get a new battery, make sure i do that min and max so then my battery would last longer than 1.5 years? It probably would last 2 or so? Because i use my laptop pretty much everyday... laptop is on pretty much like 15 hours a day. So even if i do the max battery, i still have to replace it after 2 years right since of my usage?