Should the laptop charger always be plugged in? Is it safe or not?

 Should the laptop charger always be plugged in? Is it safe or not? Things you need to know! 

Although a huge demand of today’s computing is being met by pocket computer devices and smartphones, but a computer is a computer, isn’t it? - I know, there are many hardcore computer/laptop users on this blog, who spend most of their day computing. Of course, laptop is an important computing device, which is much more powerful than any high-end smartphone, so to extend the life time of this wonderful computing device, it is necessary to have a good and clear understanding of some important terms.

 And it’s a very common question, “Should a laptop always have a charger plugged in?” Or should the laptop charger be unplugged when its battery goes fully charged? What are the best practices for laptop batteries? Let’s find out the answers to these questions, along with some other important information, so why the delay?

Battery over charging

That's the old days of electronic devices, when battery overcharging was especially feared. Although many still think this principle works, but once again I assure you, whether it is a smartphone or a laptop, all portable electronic devices are equipped with a battery over-charging circuit, so there is no question of over-charging! (Should you leave your phone on charge overnight?)

You have to thing into your head, lithium ion lithium polymer - whichever technology your device has in the battery, it's definitely a very good technology and there's no question of overcharging the battery. When the device is connected to the charger and the battery is charged to 100%, the battery will automatically stop charging. 

After that, the laptop will run on battery, one side will charge a little less, the other side will charge a little, it will continue like this. However, if some laptops are connected to the charger after 100% charge, it runs on power from the charger instead of power from the battery. And some laptops work like on-line UPS.

The battery will be dead 

Also you must accept this  fact, no matter how expensive the device you are using, it is quite normal for your phone or laptop battery or any device to drop performance over time. And there is no way you can save it from happening. Maybe following the right rules will slow down the process of battery death, but it will happen. 

The laptop battery will surely go down slowly, if the laptop has been used for at least 6 months or 1 year, be sure to note that the battery backup is not what it used to be. Although different laptops, different brands, different batteries may perform slower or faster, roughly 500 recharge cycles can be desired from this battery.

A recharge cycle is when the battery goes from 100% to 0% and then recharges. In this way, the battery can last up to 500 times. Now you must be thinking, “then I will not allow the battery to discharge”  no, that cannot be done either. Always storing high charge in the battery is also harmful for the battery. Again charging full means the battery gets very hot, and as I’ve made clear in many battery related articles, the overheating problem definitely shortens battery life.

In my opinion the best laptop battery charging level is to keep it at 80% or thereabouts, and of course keep an eye on whether the laptop heats up. I would recommend laptop users to buy a cooler from the market. Today’s laptops are getting slimmer day by day, the cooling system is facing a lot of challenges. Laptop coolers are available in the market starting from 500 rupees, by keeping the laptop cool you will be able to get better computing performance and secondly you will be able to increase the battery life.

If it is possible to remove your laptop battery, be sure to use the laptop after removing the battery and plugging in the charger when the laptop heats up. If really planning to extend the laptop battery life then of course the battery should not be kept in hot environment. 

If you don’t want to open the battery, definitely invest in a good cooler, if you spend around 1000 rupees you can get a very good quality cooler. Those with gaming laptops, in particular, must purchase coolers, or remove the battery module if the laptop heats up. Although many of today's modern laptops cannot the battery, this method will not work there.

So should i keep the charger on or take it off?

In fact, the matter is not so simple that i will give you the answer in one word. As I said above, it is best to keep the charge at or around 80%, this means you have to charge the battery frequently and using more charging cycles will reduce the battery life. Again, it is true that battery life is reduced even if it is kept at 100% charge all the time. That means no matter how you move, your battery life will suffer, and that’s the truth. But you can slow down battery degradation if you want.

Many laptop manufacturers don’t say whether you leave the charger plugged in or unplugged. Many people say that there is no problem even if the charger is attached. So which do you do? Actually the answer is very confusing. But I would recommend that you can keep the charger on if you want, but if the computer gets too hot, remove the battery. Discharge the battery from 100% to 0% at least once in a month. Try to keep the laptop as cool as possible, never use the laptop on the bed or lap. Make sure that enough air is supplied to the laptop. Make sure that the laptop default cooling fan is not covered by anything.

I have learned from many online researches that it best to charge the laptop battery up to 80% and then  according to experts you can charge it up to 40% and plug the charger again. As more charge accumulates in the battery cell, the voltage level increases and the stress level of the battery increases. 

According to experts, it is normal to recharge-discharge up to 4 times a day, there is no problem in this. But for more use, I would definitely recommend using the laptop on the charger with the battery removed if you do hardcore computing all day. If you use the battery at 100% full charge you will get 300-500 cycles, while if you use the battery at 70-80% charge you can get at least 1200-2000 cycles.

Your laptop battery isn't going to last forever, and you have to accept that fact. No matter how you use it, the battery will die at some point, but following the above mentioned points will slow down the dead process.

No problem, you can use the laptop even after the battery is dead, just plug in the charger and use it, just like a desktop computer. If you want, you can buy a better battery. Almost any laptop battery can be bought these days. For those who prefer to work portable, a good battery backup is essential.