Windows 7: Settings to charge battery automatically, is it possible?

Hello everyone, I have a small doubt and will love to get some quick solutions on it.

My laptop battery is almost dead. I had purchased it almost 2 years back and now it gives me a battery backup of just around 40 minutes. So most of the time I have to keep the charger connected. To be honest, I don't find it safe to connect the charger all the time as the battery may get further damaged due to over-charging.

My question is that is there any software which would stop my charger from charging the battery till say around 30% and when the battery drains to 30%, the charging resumes automatically. When completed (reaches 100%), it stops charging again (but the charger is still connected) and then waits for the battery to drain to 30% and restarts the process.

This will not only help me prevent the over-charging issue but also will save my little time and energy that is wasted in disconnecting and re-connecting the charger again and again.

Any kind of help is appreciated.

Thanks.



Regards,
Abhishek Sharma

Stumbled across this:

winapi - How can I programmatically stop a notebook battery from charging - Stack Overflow

Maybe it helps!

There's no danger in leaving the laptop plugged in all the time. I'm not sure how or why this myth ever started, but your laptop is designed to not overcharge the battery. If it is plugged in, the battery will charge fully, and stay there, until you remove it from the power cable.

Actually it can lessen the useful life of any rechargable battery if it is constantly kept at a 100% charged level. The best thing to do is at least occasionally let the battery discharge till almost empty and then recharge again. The current NiMh are almost completely unaffected by the battery "memory" problem that older NiCad types had, but any style of rechargable should be allowed to occasionally discharge to maintain a long service life.

Pretty sure most laptop batteries these days are Lithium based? Li-ion or Li-Polymer.

Short discharges and recharges can affect the life, but that doesn't happen when it is constantly connected to the AC power source. I have 30 laptops in use, and the majority of them never leave their docking stations. If a person does use the battery, it is good to do a full discharge once a month/two months and then let it fully recharge.

It is a myth that leaving the laptop on an AC power source hurts the battery's life....one that has no basis in fact and really should be dispelled completely.

Dunno about India AS, but here in the US some of us are maniacs about saving energy, and put cheap timers on some things, not only to save batteries from over-exuberant charging circuits (some of which don't treat batteries very well) but also to save the energy consumed by the transformer or "wall-wart" which also throws-off heat you have to then Air Condition...

Our 24hour timers are dirt cheap, e.g. less than $10US, and permit any number of on-off cycles thruout a day. Get one and pick cycles that fit your usage scenario.

I have been using my old laptop (Dell Vostro 1400 with a 9 cell battery) in my home for the last 4 years continuously connected to AC power with battery in the laptop. Sometimes I check the battery without AC power and I notice, the battery still have enough power to last 4 hours.

The latest Lithium Ion batteries have intelligent technology (digital circuits) built-in and in conjunction with digitally controlled power supplies, do not get overcharged so easily. Once the battery gets fully charged, the charging current into the battery will be reduced to a trickle to keep the battery floating (means not charged/discharged).

This is similar to our mobile phones with Li-Ion batteries when connected to the chargers, show red color LED while charging turns to green when fully charged.

The laptop battery over a period of time tends to lose the charge, and when this happens, the digital circuits inside the battery senses the reduced battery voltage and again increases the charging current from AC power supply. This is how the charging cycle continues.

So the Li-Ion battery connected to the laptop always keeps fully charged and ready to supply power when power supply is disconnected.

So to answer your question, the automatic disconnection after fully charging and start charging after discharging is already built-in to the modern laptop batteries and power supplies.

You need to worry for the battery only when it gets heated up inside the laptop. The heat buid-up in the battery will damage the electronic circuits controlling the charging cycle. This will cause the battery to get overcharged and damaged.

As long as the battery is properly ventilated and kept cool there is nothing to worry.

If your battery becomes old and does not retain charge, it is time to replace the battery. Like everything in this world .... even the batteries have a limited lifespan .... Follow these tips and maximise your laptop battery's life ....

Long Live Your Laptop Battery!

I'm sorry but I didn't understand most of it.

If this is true then I have nothing to worry about!

BTW how can I check whether my laptop has a Li-Ion battery or not?

It is a Lithium Ion battery. You would have to go far out of your way to get one that is not. Or have a really really old laptop, I mean old well over 10 years.