18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

[JustJason]

Why is it my 18V laptop battery is dead after a year. I take care of my laptop, keep it clean, never drop it ect.
.... but my 18V DeWalt batteries are going on 4 years now. I beat the crap out of them. Drop them. Get them wet. Drill and saw until the batt's are hot and dead, and they may sit on a charger for weeks with no usage. But 4 years later... they work just fine and have plenty of power and no perceptable notice in running time loss.

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Thats a good question.

I hope some one has an answer, Id love to hear it.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

One of the biggest problems in battery life is thermal fatigue, in a laptop battery, it runs hotter for a longer period of time than a battery in a cordless drill, heat and cool cycles can cause the inner working of the plates in a battery to separate, which of course leads to shorter life. It also depends on the type of charging system, then included with your system.

But there are many factors that can come into play when dealing with batteries, remember a laptop batter has to be a smart battery, in other words it is regulated to maintain a constant level of both voltage as well as milliamps or amps, where is in the drill battery, it is not as regulated or as precise..

Believe it or not, your laptop works your battery far worse than your cordless drill. Also, cordless drill batteries are built with it in mind they will be dropped and beat up, so they are constructed quite a bit better than the battery on the laptops, they don't expect you to drop them and beat them up the same way.

Dave

 

[bruceb58]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Besides heat, NiMh batteries used in tools can last over 1000 charge cycles where Lithium laptop batteries are probably good for less than half.

 

[191Seanymphstriper]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Also most people who use there tools usaully drain them all the way until there dead then charge them to full again then take them and put the battery back in the drill saw etc and sometime leave it there till next use.

So the battery gets a good drain and recharge and some sytems have memory. And most 18V tool charges have maintance and keep the battery charged then kick in a low voltage charge to maintain the charge!

Also most people who buy lets say a drill buy it because they have a project they nead it for right away. So they charge it to full then drain it to dead! Then keep that cycle going etc. And if they dont drain it to dead they leave it in there drill etc. Also most 18V batterys that come with drills tell you to drain them till dead the first 10 uses etc...


Now most people who own laptops from new don't really use the battery that often. So from the start the laptop gets a good charge and stays charged! Also older and still some newer laptops do not have a maintance mode. They just charge the battery to full constantly while running on A/C power. Your laptops battery indicater will read 100% full but it is still getting that full charge all the time.



If you buy a laptop cell phone etc brand spanking new. Open it out of the box and charge the battery until full for 2 days without turning the units on at all. Then after fully charged you take the device off the charger and use it until drained fully dead. then charge fully then drain to fully dead 5 times etc the battery memory will hold a better charge then if you get home plug in your laptop phone etc and turn it on charge it use it etc....


Also if you actually use the battery in your laptop alot then it will have a better life if yoy just charge it and never use it! The battery was made to serve a purpose and function. Not designed to sit on a charger all the time and eventaullt fry itself!


When i had a older nextel I had several batterys 6 of them. I had purchased 2 new batterys and 1 came with the phone and 3 were given from friends who upgraded there phones. The 1 battery that came with the phone diddnt last long because when i purchased the phone i had turned it on. Activated it and used it then charged it. 1 of the 3 batterys given to me lasted a very long time but I did not know the backround and the others lasted 4 to 7 hours.

But the 1 of the 2 batterys i had purchased I charged 1 with the phone off and 1 with the phone turned on but not in use. The battery charged with the device off gave me a full 14 hours of dailt phone use the other about 8 hours. Now I know with phones it is how much yoy use them etc but that 1 battery lasted a long time...


I also have a older c600 dell laptop and the battery it came with lasts about 2 hours then it died. So I purchased 2 batterys for it because on that laptop you can run 2 batterys at 1 time.

So the first battery i charged with the laptop off. the second I charged with the laptop on because i needed to use the laptop. Well the battery I charged with the laptop off lasts about 2 and a half hours...

The other that was charged with the laptop on and being used only lasts 1 and a half hours.


So on all my devices etc i alway charge them with the units off and then use them till dead then fully charge then use till dead and i find that after 5 to 10 times of doing this when I go back to regular use those batterys last longer!


I have a newer HP pavilion dv9610us And they battery on the H.P recommended setting not the High performance setting lasts about 3 and a half hours of strait use with wirless turned on and on the net etc.

Well I recently was on H.P website and found that they are having a major battery recall on certain laptops batterys. i filled in the questioneer with my mdel number and they sent me a battery about a wek ago. I charged the battery with the laptop off and then used it till dead etc ...

Well i have been on my laptop on this couch for about 4 and a half hours now. Same battery amps etc etc the old battery just had a defect that caused the battery to get hot while charging and could cause a fire when the life of the battery was at half of a life left!

So I hope my experience and post helped some!

 

[tanti]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Hi JustJason

Have you ever tried to make calibration? So i mean, You finish all of the battery and than you charge again..You make this method twice times..

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Another common mistake with laptops is that people leave them plugged in entirely too long. When they finally get to unplugging them for travel they realize that the battery just does not last as long.

 

[JustJason]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Yes i've done the battery calibration about once every other month. I do have a habit of leaving my laptop plugged in all the time. It will run approx 2 minutes then crap out if the powers not plugged in.
Is it the charger thats crap? I mean... I can leave my drill batterys on the charger for weeks and they have no problem.
Has anybody tried rebuilding thier laptop batteries before? I've seen tutorials on drill batts and they are nothing more than a bunch of AA's wired in series. In my laptop the case of the battery looks like it may be the same thing.

 

[JustJason]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Just a quick note, my laptop uses LiOn batts and my walts are nicads.

 

[Adjuster]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Check this out. I in no way recommend or endorse something like this but it is very interesting. Do more internet research.


http://www.instructables.com/id/Revive-Nicad-Batteries-by-Zapping-with-a-Welder/

 

[bruceb58]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Yes i've done the battery calibration about once every other month. I do have a habit of leaving my laptop plugged in all the time.

read your manual and see if it is ok to leave the battery out while the laptop is plugged in. The heat from running your laptop is what is killing your battery.

 

[And-Con]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

I cant advise you as to why one lasts so much longer than the other, however i have a fried battery in my laptop and picked up four 1850 li-ion cells for about 20 bucks and am hoping to try the rebuild shortly, If i ever get around to it I'll tell you how it went.

 

[JustJason]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

If you wouldn't mind letting me know how that goes that would be great!

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Yes i've done the battery calibration about once every other month. I do have a habit of leaving my laptop plugged in all the time. It will run approx 2 minutes then crap out if the powers not plugged in.
Is it the charger thats crap? I mean... I can leave my drill batterys on the charger for weeks and they have no problem.

The battery charger for your drill normally stops charging when the charge is complete. The laptop power supply does not. It is either all or none.

 

[bassman284]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

read your manual and see if it is ok to leave the battery out while the laptop is plugged in. The heat from running your laptop is what is killing your battery.

Whn I bought my Acer last fall recommended that if I was going to use it plugged in for long periods to remove the battery (fully charged).

 

[womy]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

where did you buy the battery, http://www.battery4us.com??

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

A year isn't much life for a laptop battery and they should last much longer. There are multiple sources for laptop batteries with higher amp hour ratings and more cells. Batteries plus is one store that I know of. They can usually put together a battery for you if you don't like what they have in stock.

You might have just got a lemon and it's time for a new one.

 

[dolluper]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

Adjuster is still alive for now ....just wait for the bang lols

 

[generator12]

Re: 18V laptop battery vs my 18V Dewalt batteries... what gives?

There are three predominant factors in the lithium ion battery life cycle. (And most laptops are powered by this type.)

1. Operating temperature
2. Recharging cycles
3. Actual life (years/months since assembled)

The temperature in a working laptop tends to be high - witness the heat you feel if you actually place it onto your lap...!

Recharging cycles is an interesting phenomenon in laptops. When it charges fully, the charge regulator shuts off the charge. The battery at rest immediately begins a slow discharge, as occurs with all rechargeables including nickel cadmium. After only a short interval - i.e., a minor discharge over a short period - the battery in a laptop that is stored plugged into its charger will recharge. This discharge/recharge cycle will continue as long as the unit is plugged in, and it counts against the number of recharging cycles for which the lithium ion battery is rated. So, leaving it plugged in is one good way to reduce the life of a laptop battery.

The third factor - chronological age is not controllable once we have purchased a laptop battery. But the deterioration begins as soon as the battery is constructed and is aided by the other two factors.

So that, my friends, is why laptop batteries don't perform as well over time as we have become accustomed to with nickel-cads in other electronic items.

One advantage is that they don't seem to exhibit the "memory" characteristics of nickel-cads, wherein the batteries must be virtually completely discharged each time they are recharged so as to retain full capacity. Lithium ion units simply count the number of discharge/recharge cycles, and discount the depth of the discharge.