laptop battery

I’ve blogged about ways to extend the life of the battery in that laptop you’ve purchased for your legal nurse consulting business. I’ve also blogged about the need for every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant to have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) on every computer and expensive electronic device in your home. I’ve even discussed the ways that a laptop dock can extend your workspace into multiple monitors and keep you from having to constantly plug and unplug peripheral equipment.

Today, I’m going to address a question that has no answer – should I keep my battery in my laptop when it’s in the dock? That’s an interesting question and I believe the non-answer depends on a couple of different variables. In the good old days (weren’t they all?) before Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, it was necessary to run older Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cad) batteries through full cycles, or close to full cycles, between charges. Constantly topping off a battery by charging it after every use degraded the battery’s life and reduced the time a legal nurse consultant could work off-site and on battery power.

Today, a combination of new technology and Lithium does more than make you feel good, it eliminates some of the need for battery “maintenance.” According to Dell, their newer batteries are designed to stop charging when they register full. This means that while your computer is docked, the battery is not charging. Dell also states that topping off and cycling are no longer issues. Apple takes a more conservative approach and recommends that you fully cycle your battery at least once a month and store it with a 50% charge if you’re not going to use if for six months (as if we could figure that out in advance).

So who’s right? I think both are. I leave one battery in my docked computer trusting it won’t get damaged by the heat and will be fully charged when I grab the laptop for an emergency run to Starbucks. I also try and fully discharge my battery on a regular basis, but will still top it off any chance I get while traveling. Finally, I agree with both Dell and Apple that the average laptop battery will last 18-24 months before requiring replacement.

Now, back to my original question, why leave a battery in the laptop? Well, if you don’t have a UPS and your electrical power fails while you’re writing a report for your CLNC^® business’s most important attorney-client, your laptop will seamlessly switch back to the battery (if it’s in place) without a loss of work. If you don’t have a UPS and have removed the battery, your computer will black out just like the lights and your work will be lost.

If you have a UPS in place, it will continue to supply power to your electronics for some indeterminate period of time (depending upon the size of the UPS and the power drain). This is one situation where bigger truly is better – a bigger UPS will power your laptop and your dual monitors longer than a smaller one. If you are working with the battery in your laptop, you can pull the laptop’s power plug out of the UPS and the UPS will run just the monitors and the laptop will run on its battery until the power comes back on (if you don’t mind working in the dark where I usually am anyway).

What it comes down to is that a docked laptop with an installed battery and a UPS is like having two insurance policies. Just like insurance, hopefully you’ll never need it but when you do need it, you’ll be glad you have it for your legal nurse consulting business. A docked laptop without a battery and without a UPS is an accident waiting to happen. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of repounding that keyboard to try and recreate your work. So dock your laptop with the battery in place and keep a good battery in your UPS.

Keep on techin’ (even in the dark),

Tom

A couple of months ago I jumped on an airplane to Las Vegas for the Institute’s CLNC^® 6-Day Certification Program. I normally work on flights. I carry my own water, jack my iPod^® Classic into my Bose^® sound-reducing headphones and crank up Prince. I’m so self-contained that the only thing that can ruin my flight is when the guy in front of me leans his seat back into my lap so he can sleep.

Even before we take off, I have my laptop on my lap waiting for the double bell that allows real business travelers to work and fake business travelers to sleep (or suck down as many free drinks as they can if they’re in first class). Vegas can be 3½ hours from Houston and this time I got lucky – no sleepers. I cranked up the laptop, got to work, didn’t look up until final approach into LAS and I didn’t think anything of it.

In Vegas, I was comparing flight notes with another staff member who told me her laptop conked out somewhere around West Texas, about 1½ hours into the flight. We have the same model laptop so I was a little confused why I could work for 3 hours and she couldn’t (no it’s not just stamina). I volunteered to take a look at her laptop (it makes me look good even though it’s my job). After two minutes, I figured out her issues, at least the ones related to her laptop. One of those issues was the strain on the laptop’s battery.

Based on this experience, here are some steps and tips to extend the life of your laptop batteries whether you’re flying across the country, working in the medical library or soaking up the free Wi-Fi at Starbucks^®.

Keep a Low-Power Profile

• Right click My Computer on your desktop, click Hardware and click Hardware Profiles. If you’re undocked, copy the profile you are in and rename it to Undocked-Normal.
• Click Start, Settings, Network Connections and Panel and disable your Wireless Network Connection. (When you’re in the air or out of range of the wireless Internet, the computer will keep trying to connect and runs down the battery trying).
• Highlight the current profile, click Rename and name it Undocked-No Wireless.
• Dim the laptop screen a couple of notches. You don’t need a tan while you work, so maximum brightness is not necessary.
• Click Start, Control Panel and Power.

• Next time you boot up your laptop it will give you a choice of which profile to select so if you’re out of range of wireless, pick the Undocked-No Wireless and your laptop battery will get extended life.

Stick It in Your Ear

• Don’t listen to music on your laptop – get an iPod or Zune^® and use the ear-buds or a Bose headset.

Empty It Out

• Don’t watch DVDs or listen to CDs on your laptop and make darn sure you don’t have a CD or DVD hiding in the built-in player.

Ditch It and Stick It

• Pull out the CD/DVD player and replace it with a second battery.
• Buy the battery with the highest number of cells (6-12) and look for a high watt-hour (WHr) rating. The more cells and higher WHr, the longer it will last.
• You probably won’t be listening to CDs or watching DVDs on the road but if you think you will, just toss the modular player in your computer case and only use it when plugged into a wall jack.
• Some computers have portable battery packs you can attach – consider one.

Juice Up Every Chance You Get

• Use your charger right up to the last second in the airport or Starbucks. Any time spent on the ground using your battery is less time in the air on your battery. Don’t be afraid to top off unless you have an older non Li-ion battery.
• Once you’re on the ground, run the battery(ies) completely down and charge them overnight. Do this each night. It’s always good to run through a full power cycle as often as possible.

Make New Friends at the Airport (You Won’t See Them for Long)

• I carry one of those goofy power plugs from my local hardware store that allows me to plug three cords into one wall plug. If I need to juice it at Starbucks and some sandaled, goatee-type is already plugged into the wall socket I can usually talk him (or her) into letting me share by plugging in the adapter so we can all make nice.

I’ve flown New York City to San Diego on one charge using the above methods and highly recommend them. The only problem is my batteries last so long I can’t use the dead-battery excuse so I can shut down and dig deep into the latest Lee Child thriller.

Here’s one last tip. If your airport doesn’t have free Wi-Fi (a lot do), find the closest airline club, one club-member benefit is usually free, unsecured, wireless Internet. You’ll locate it quickly by looking for the laptop owners crouched against the club’s wall desperately downloading email.

Keep on Techin’, (and I’ll see you at the wall socket!)

Tom