Guidelines for Adapter Care

Easy steps to pick the right laptop AC adapters.

1. Finding the right "tips" - Different laptops have different connectors. You need the right tip for your laptop. This is very simply to find. Basically, laptop AC adapters comprise of 2 ends. One end is male power outlet. You use this end to plug into wall power outlet. The other end is called "TIP" which you will plug this tip into the "DC IN" in your laptop. Your laptop won't work on the wrong tip. You can only use the “matching Tips" DO NOT try to force it in.
   
2. Finding the right "output voltage" - Different laptops were designed to consume power varied by equipments such as CD-Rom, LCD size, CPU maker and CPU speed. You require using the "matching voltage”. Only use the laptop AC adapters output the matching voltage of your laptops. You can easily locate your laptop voltage. Mostly, voltage is printed on your laptops. You also can check your laptop manual.

Guidelines for Battery Care

1. Use the battery at an ambient temperature between 20°C and 25°C.
   
   Keep the Battery charge between 30% and 50%. Avoid long usage in a docking station while charging is in continuance. If continuous power is supplied through an AC outlet, remove the battery from the laptop.
   
   If the laptop is to be stored for over two weeks, remove the battery from the laptop and store separately. Do not short circuit, disassemble, crush, drop, hit, puncture or otherwise abuse the battery. Do not expose to moisture or rain, or dispose off in water. Keep away from fire or other source of extreme heat. This may result in explosion. Use the battery only for the specified purpose.
   
   
2. How to Conserve Battery Power
   
   Adjust brightness of the screen at the minimum possible level. Switch off power to the laptop or hibernate if not in use.
   Disconnect peripherals which consume power from the battery, if they are not in active use e.g. CD/DVD Drive, external HDD, cards etc.
   
   Turn off the speakers unless absolutely necessary. Adjust power management settings on laptop to turn off hard disk and monitor when not in use for an extended period. Remove unnecessary files from startup to minimize the time consumed to get started. Remove unwanted applications and temporary files regularly from the laptop to perform desired tasks swiftly.
   
   
3. Factors Affecting Battery Life
   

   Li-Ion batteries lose capacity to hold charge with every charge-discharge cycle. One cycle of charging the battery and using it before recharging is called charge-discharge cycle. The loss is gradual, but irreversible. Battery life depends upon the ambient temperature at which it is used. Higher temperature hastens ageing. High charge level hastens permanent capacity loss. For example, running the laptop for an extended period on a docking station while power is supplied through an AC wall socket, results in high charge level, which may harm the battery.

   Frequent full discharge harms the battery, while partial discharge/ recharge are better for longer life. Battery self-discharges at a higher rate if left in an unpowered laptop. Leaving the battery at very low voltage level for an extended period accelerates loss of Full Charge Capacity ( FCC). High end applications reduce battery life e.g. animation software or 3D games reduces battery life more than word processors.
   
   
4. What do the power ratings mean - mAh, Volts, and Watts?
   

   MAh (Milliamperes) represents the amount of stored energy in your battery. 1000 Milliamperes = 1 Ampere. The more mAh capacity - the longer your battery will last. Several batteries from LaptopBatteryExpress.com have higher mAh ratings than your original battery brand. This does not mean that the battery is not the correct replacement, but rather it is a longer lasting battery. Voltage in a battery refers to the volume of electricity that is delivered to your computer. The amount of energy that comes from your wall outlet is far in excess of what you need to operate the tiny circuits of a computer. Hence your power adapter contains a brick or bar like box that decreases the energy to a much lower voltage rating. Each computer manufacturer designs their computers for the appropriate voltage requirement. Your battery pack will then be engineered to match the voltage of the power AC adapter. Laptop battery packs are composed of several battery cells that are wired together in series. By combining the cells in this fashion, higher volumes of energy can be delivered to your laptop computer.

5. Can I specifically calculate my battery run time?
   

   You can determine your laptops run time when you know how many watts your laptop computer uses and the total power capacity your notebook battery has. Here is how you can calculate this yourself. Battery capacity can also be measured in Watt-Hours. Watt-Hours are calculated by multiplying Volts x Milliamperes.
   Here is an example: 14.8 Volts X 4060mAh (4000mAh is equal to 4.06 Amperes).
   Is also equivalent to: 14.8 x 4.06 = 60.09 Watt-Hours
   Watt-Hours measure the energy which powers one watt for one hour. If your laptop runs at 20 watts, your run time will be: 3.004 hours (60.09 Watt-Hours / 20.0 watts Laptop pc power use)

6. Will a higher milliamp (mAh) rating on my battery damage my laptop?
   
   No. Higher mAh ratings indicate that your battery will last longer. Although the milliamps may be higher, the voltage will always remain the same. If you have received a laptop battery that has a completely different voltage than your original laptop battery, please contact us immediately.

Lithium-Ion ( Li-Ion ) battery facts

Lithium Ion ( Li-Ion) batteries are rechargeable in which a Lithium Ion moves from the anode to the cathode during discharge and from cathode to the anode while charging.

Nickel Cadmium ( NiCad) and Nickel Metal Hydride ( NiMH) are also rechargeable batteries. However Li-Ion batteries are now almost the de-facto standards, as they are lighter, have higher energy storing capacity and retain charge longer than similar sized Nickel-based batteries.

Li-Ion batteries are environment friendly as they do not contain toxic material such as Cadmium or Mercury.