How to calibrate a laptop battery that has started to "jump"? Before we begin to understand “how”, it is logical to answer “why”. Why calibrate a laptop battery? And what does "calibration" mean?
Calibration is "bringing to life" the electronic brains of the battery-controller. The latter monitors and controls the battery charge level. And over time, it goes astray and begins to show a higher level of charge than it really is. This is where complaints like “the battery runs out quickly”, “does not hold” and so on appear.
But it may not be the battery at all. It is possible that all this is the tricks of the controller. How to get him back on the right path? Calibrate the battery. Immediately, we note that our advice applies only to lithium-ion batteries. But if your gadget is quite modern, then with a probability of 99% it has such a battery on board.
The controller detects the voltage in the battery cells. And may display it correctly or incorrectly. In the latter case, calibration helps bring the controller back to life. The maximum voltage is equal to one hundred percent of the battery charge, or 4.2 V of cell voltage. After calibration, the controller will adequately display the percentage of charge.
How to calibrate the battery?
Any user can do the calibration. Special knowledge is not required for this. You just need to follow the following algorithm:
- Charge the battery fully.
- Discharge the battery completely.
- Charge the battery fully again.
With the first point, in theory, everything is very clear. Charge the battery, as usual, up to one hundred percent. But the second point can cause difficulties if you need to discharge quickly. For those wishing to speed up the process, we recommend a simple life hack.
To make the discharge faster, you can set the laptop battery to high performance while disconnecting the laptop from the network. So you will avoid the constant “falling asleep” of the laptop while you take breaks from work.
The operation is extremely easy: click "Start", select "Control Panel", click on the "Power Options" icon. The special function “Create a power plan” will help you, which is easy to understand. You need to find the line "High performance". In the name of the plan, without further ado, write "Battery Calibration", which is completely true.
In the plan settings, we prohibit turning off the display and switching to sleep mode. Don't forget to confirm your intentions by clicking the "Create" button. Your Power Plans now include the Battery Calibration plan you created. This is the item we choose.
After the battery has "sat down" completely, we charge it again up to 100 percent - this is important! It is also highly desirable to turn on the laptop “for charging” immediately after the battery “sits down” completely, without a long break. Only in this case can we assume that your battery is calibrated as it should.
Happened? Of course yes! And now your desktop friend is more capable than ever!
Calibration "for advanced"
Did you know that calibration can be done without waiting for the laptop to boot up? To do this, during the boot process, go into the BIOS. How to get there? One of the keys is responsible for this - Del, F2, F10 or Esc. If you don't know which one, you can try all four - one of them will definitely work!
Next, open the Boot tab, then Smart Battery Calibration (it may be called differently, but the meaning is the same). Wait for the window with the inscription "Would you run the Battery Calibration?", Click "Yes" and follow the development of the situation on the indicator "Current Battery Level: ...%".
In addition, the websites of laptop manufacturers (Acer, for example) often have special programs for calibration - even with a minimum level of computer literacy, it is quite possible to use them. Or download the Battery Doubler program (it is considered universal, but I personally had a successful experience calibrating only Acer batteries, namely Acer BAT-1010 batteries at 3260mAhr.
Whichever calibration method you choose, you need to remember that a one-time procedure is clearly not enough for a long and confident operation of your gadget. So that the laptop does not let you down further, you should observe simple rules use (they apply, by the way, to most electronic devices).
How to prolong battery life?
1. Refrain from working with a laptop at temperatures below minus 10 and above 35 degrees. Obviously, there are no such temperatures in the room, but the mobile computer device is good because it makes it possible to work anywhere, even on the street. Take care of this ability!
2. Recharge the laptop if it is dead, and unplug it from the mains if it is charged. It is equally harmful to keep the laptop completely discharged or constantly plugged into the network. A non-working organ atrophies - and a battery without workloads quickly becomes unusable.
3. Calibrate the battery every two to three months, depending on the intensity of daily use of the gadget. So you prevent unnecessary malfunctions of the controller and you will always be aware of “what you are in” and how long your laptop will last without charging.
Now you know everything or almost everything that a conscious laptop user needs to know who wants to use the device to a ripe old age - his or even his own. Enjoy surfing the Internet and meaningful work on your laptop!
Batterygator project - batteries for laptops of all brands and models.
It is not uncommon for a laptop battery to stop holding capacity. Time battery life the battery is reduced significantly, and accordingly, the laptop loses its advantages over the PC. The cause of the defect is the use of a laptop with a permanent connection to AC power.
Causes of battery failure
Due to the fact that the battery cells have a “memory effect” and a variety of properties, the battery does not charge smoothly. Some elements have already reached full charge, others - did not receive even 50% of the norm. The voltage on the cells that are already charged increases. The controller thinks the process is complete and reduces the capacity by half. Over time, the controller amplifies this phenomenon, and the growth is observed exponentially. The laptop battery may become completely inoperable.
You can fix the battery on your own, but first you need to find out what type of battery is in the laptop. As a rule, there are:
- Gel
- Nickel metal hydride
- Lithium-ion (most popular).
Battery calibration
Before you restore the battery, you can calibrate it.
A laptop charging test option can be seen in the video:
Calibration will show the level of discharge and charge of the battery capacity, will allow you to independently correct the operation of the controller. For a battery using lithium, calibration is an effective method of getting rid of the "memory effect" of the controller. If the battery that the laptop has can be calibrated through the BIOS program, you need to try.
Program Phoenix BIOS works like this:
- To enter the BIOS, you can press F2 or Delete (it all depends on the laptop model)
- Next, in the BIOS, select Boot -> SmartCalibration and click "Yes" in response to the program's suggestion to calibrate the battery
- The program will show the percentage of charge
To perform calibration through BIOS, you must completely discharge the laptop battery. The program should work with the power supply turned off, only when the laptop is charging from the battery. Through the BIOS, it is recommended to run the "training cycle" monthly. This will save the device from the “memory effect” and preserve the autonomy that the laptop has. If it is impossible to calibrate through BIOS, there are third-party utilities that allow you to study laptop charging on Windows.
Calibration via BatteryCare
In particular, you can use BatteryCare, which works on various Windows versions. Calibration principle with this software product similar to what happens in BIOS. Of course, you can’t bypass the physics of the battery, but you can optimize the charge consumption.
The BatteryCare interface is shown in the photo:
- 1 is the controller loading indicator
- 2- change the level of charge
- 3- current charge value
It also shows the approximate time that the laptop will last at the indicated capacity level. The application also performs process optimization on Windows and allows you to change the power plan.
How to repair a laptop with your own hands
If the battery has already been damaged during improper use of the laptop, you can try to restore the capacity yourself.
To repair the device, you will need a multimeter, car light bulbs, super glue, a breadboard knife and a soldering iron. Next, you need to do the following:
- Disassemble the laptop and remove the battery. The element must be divided into two parts along the seam.
- Check if it is discharged (on each section of the device, you need to lower the voltage to 3.2 V). This is necessary so that the controller can charge the laptop from scratch.
- If the charge is zero, you need to connect the power source through a 5W lamp (the circuit will be in series) and wait until the voltage is 3.4V.
- At the end of the repair, you can start assembling the battery with your own hands. For bonding, cyanoacrylate adhesive is used.
How to repair a laptop, shown in the video:
However, it is not enough to repair the battery, you need to properly operate it in the future in order to extend its life and not “mislead” the controller.
Most laptops have a built-in battery that allows you to work on the device for some time without being connected to the network. Often such equipment is configured incorrectly, which leads to inefficient use of charge. You can also optimize all settings and set up a suitable power plan manually using the built-in tools operating system. However, it is much more convenient and correct to perform this process through specialized software. We will consider several representatives of such programs in this article.
The main purpose of Battery Eater is to test battery performance. It has a built-in unique test algorithm that will determine the approximate discharge rate, stability and condition of the battery in a short time. Such diagnostics are carried out automatically, and the user can only observe the process itself, and after that, get acquainted with the results obtained and, based on them, adjust the power supply.
From additional features and tools, I would like to note the presence of a general summary of the components installed in the laptop. In addition, there is also a test that allows you to determine the condition of the equipment, the speed of work and the load on it. You can also find more detailed information about the battery in the system information window. Battery Eater - free program and is available for download on the official website of the developer.
BatteryCare
Immediately after launching BatteryCare, the main window opens in front of the user, which displays basic data on the state of the laptop's battery. There is a scale of operating time and the exact percentage of battery charge. temperature is shown below CPU and hard drive. Additional Information about installed battery is in a separate tab. The declared capacity, voltage and power are displayed here.
The settings menu contains a power control panel, which helps each user to set the necessary parameters that would be suitable for the battery installed in the device and maximize its operation without connecting to the network. In addition, BatteryCare has a well-implemented notification system, which allows you to always be aware of various events and battery level.
Battery Optimizer
The last representative on our list is Battery Optimizer. This program automatically diagnoses the battery status, and then displays detailed information about it and allows you to set up a power plan. The user is prompted to manually disable certain hardware and features in order to prolong the operation of the laptop without connecting to the network.
Battery Optimizer allows you to save multiple profiles, making it possible to instantly switch power plans to work in different conditions. In the software in question, all the actions performed are saved in a separate window. Not only their monitoring is available here, but also rollback. The notification system will allow you to receive messages about low battery or remaining time without connecting to the network. Battery Optimizer is freely available on the official website of the developer.
Above, we looked at several programs for calibrating a laptop battery. All of them work according to unique algorithms, provide a different set of tools and additional features. Choosing the right software is quite simple, you just need to build on its functionality and pay attention to the availability of tools of interest.
Even if you know how to properly manage your laptop battery, the capacity of the built-in battery will degrade over time. Each laptop has a built-in mechanism for calculating the remaining battery capacity, and it is also responsible for displaying the remaining time. It happens that these indicators begin to show incorrect data, as a result of which the user cannot properly charge the computer and may suffer from a sudden shutdown.
To prevent such a sad scenario from happening to you, calibrate the battery of your laptop or tablet.
Why calibrate a laptop battery
In order for the computer battery to last as long as possible, users are advised not to let the device die from zero percent charge or go to extreme low values. It is also recommended to charge the battery to 100% only from time to time and remove the device from charging mostly a few percent before completion.
There is a downside to this practice - the remaining charge and time meter can go crazy and start displaying incorrect data. In other words, there may be another 10% in the battery, and the computer will consider that the battery is already almost at zero. The result is a sudden shutdown.
For reference A: Calibrating a battery won't miraculously extend its life. Rather, this procedure will simply make the device display more accurate information about the remaining charge and operating time. The instruction is relevant for laptops on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
It should also be emphasized that this process will not harm the battery, as some might argue. Calibration is nothing more than going through the usual cycle of charge to 100%, discharge to 0% and charge back. No matter what anyone says, calibration does not harm the computer in any way.
How often should the battery be calibrated
It is most reasonable to calibrate the battery of a laptop or tablet once every two to three months. In this way, the values will remain more or less up-to-date and accurate. However, if you are sure that the computer is doing the calculations correctly, you can omit the calibration. But that doesn't mean it can be not carry out at all. If your computer turned off for no apparent reason, then the first thing you need to do is calibrate the battery.
It is worth considering that modern devices may not require battery settings at all. For example, Apple recommends battery calibration for older laptops that use removable batteries. At the same time, the developers note that a Macbook with a non-removable battery does not need to be calibrated. If you do not know whether your device needs calibration or not, you can consult the manufacturer's technical support. In any case, the setting will not harm your computer, so you can safely proceed to this matter.
Notebook Battery Calibration Rules
Calibrating a tablet or laptop battery is very simple: charge the device to 100% (you can keep it on charge longer than usual to make sure it is fully charged), and then let it discharge to a dead state. After that, charge your computer back to 100%. The battery meter will count how many really time it takes the device lives on a single charge, after which it will more accurately display the percentage of remaining charge and the approximate life time.
Some laptop manufacturers include in the list software simple utilities for automatic battery calibration. Usually these applications check full charge batteries, turn off the power management settings and allow the battery to drain to zero so that the laptop's brains can correctly calculate the lifespan. Check your computer manufacturer's website to see if they have such a utility or not. You can also look at the user manual online or what is in the box with a laptop or tablet.
How to manually calibrate the battery on a laptop or tablet
After all these procedures, the battery meters should show normal values, and you will no longer experience sudden shutdowns due to incorrect battery calibration.
Your Asus laptop is your workhorse and has served you faithfully, but lately have you noticed that it drains much faster? And at the same time, the charge indicator shows that the battery is still ready to work. Do not rush to panic and urgently look. Try calibrating the battery first. How to do it right, you will learn from the article.
Why do you need an Asus battery calibration?
Before getting down to business, you need to tell what calibration is. This is the process by which the correct parameters of the battery and laptop controllers are set. As a result, the charge indicator displays reliable information, and the battery serves as it should. The laptop stops turning off when it wants to. Calibration allows the battery to charge the battery to 100% percent and, accordingly, to discharge longer.
The battery life of the laptop after this procedure is noticeably increased.
Most often calibration is required rechargeable batteries notebooks : , and (from )
Asus battery calibration step by step guide
Briefly, the Asus battery calibration process consists of three steps:
- Charging the battery up to 100%.
- Full discharge to zero.
- Recharge to 100 percent.
Each stage has its own nuances that you need to know in order for the result to meet your expectations. Let's talk about everything in order.
Fully charged battery.
- it is necessary to prepare the computer for calibration: disable the transition to sleep mode (hibernation). Do the following one by one: From the Start menu, select Control Panel, then Hardware and Sound. In the "Power Options" tab, check the icon next to "Never". Great, now the device will not “go to sleep” ahead of time;
- connect the laptop to the network and wait until it is fully charged. At the same time, work on the device as usual, or leave it alone - this will reduce the charging time.
Discharging the battery.
- when the indicator showed that the Asus battery is 100% charged, unplug the laptop from the power supply;
- now wait until the device is discharged to 0. You can “help” the battery by using the laptop to the fullest: watch videos, listen to music, play your favorite games, run other energy-intensive programs;
- keep an eye on the charging indicator - the lithium-ion battery must not be completely discharged. Full discharge is easy to check: the screen is off and the laptop does not start even when you press the power button.
Charging the battery up to 100%.
- as soon as the laptop is completely discharged, immediately connect it to the mains. Leave the computer alone or work in the usual mode - it's up to you, there is no consensus among experts.
- After fully charged, unplug the device from the power supply. Calibration completed, battery is now Asus laptop should work correctly, the indicator will reflect reliable information.
In addition to manual calibration, there are special utilities that will carry out the entire process on their own. You can start this operation through the BIOS, or by downloading a special utility.
A few words about the correct attitude to the Asus battery
You can extend the life of your Asus Li-Ion battery by knowing and following a few simple rules:
- Keep an eye on the temperature: it is impossible for the laptop to be turned on in the cold -100 or in the heat from 350C. Severe cold has a detrimental effect on a charged battery, it can instantly discharge or even fail. High temperatures increase the risk of damage and even explosion of the battery during operation.
- Do not allow the battery to remain completely discharged for a long time. An “empty” battery takes 10-14 days to deteriorate permanently.
- If you constantly work from the network, it is better to disconnect the battery so that it does not wear out.
- Calibrate your laptop every 2-3 months to keep the battery working properly.