The construction and power behavior of laptop battery are often neglected especially if the battery works without any problem. But knowing the truth about the battery chemistry and structure will help you understand its mechanism and eventually, provides you ideas on how to take care and prolong the life of your laptop battery.

Below are some facts about Lithium-ion Laptop battery

- Lithium-ion battery is the most widely used and preferred laptop battery due to its high energy density and great power features

- It has no “memory effect”. This means that you don’t have to fully drain the battery before recharging it unlike other batteries like Nickel Cadmium battery, which is advisable to use until empty before charging it to full.  Still, draining the Li-ion battery once in a while before recharging it again is being done as a good battery exercise to activate its partial capacitance.

- Li-ion battery has a tendency to self-discharge if not being used; however this type of battery has the lowest self-discharge rates. This characteristic allows Li-ion laptop battery to retain its charge power for a longer period of time than other kind of batteries.

- A fully charged battery will not get damage if the power adapter is connected to the laptop. This is because the charging portion will cut the battery off once it is completely full. Also, the power circuitry of laptops will bypass the battery unless it is needed.

- Modern Li-ion battery like the Dell XPS M1210 battery has power safety features; so overheating, exploding or short circuit will not be a problem.

- Generally, Lithium-ion battery can manage hundreds of charge/discharge cycles than other types of notebook battery.

If your laptop battery is not charging here are a few steps that you can do to determine why your laptop is not able to charge:

1.    Remove the battery from your laptop and try to turn on your laptop by connecting the ac adapter to your laptop. If your laptop doesn’t turn on, ask your friend or someone to lend you their ac adapter and try to turn on your laptop again using the new ac adapter. This is to determine if your ac adapter is defective or not. The power circuit of your laptop’s motherboard might be damaged if the second ac adapter does not work as well. Check your receipt if your laptop is still under warranty and if not call a technician and ask a quote for the repair.

2.    If your laptop turns on when you use your ac adapter then can conclude that your ac adapter is not the problem. Check if the battery contacts are aligned with your laptop or if it is loose then try it again. If it still doesn’t work then try using a 2nd battery. Test if the battery is able to charge or not. Make sure that the 2nd battery that you will going to use works fine on another laptop. If the 2nd battery is working fin in your laptop then the battery you have may be already be defective. You can also check if your battery is ok by testing it in another laptop. If it  is working properly then your problem maybe caused by software problems.

3.    Sometimes the problem lies on the software of your laptop. You should check if the problem is not because of any software related issues. It is possible that your laptop software is causing the problem and that your battery is ok. If your problem is software related then you should try power resetting your unit. Unplug your laptop and remove the battery then hold the power down for a minute. After that place the battery and ac adapter back in and boot your laptop. Your laptop’s motherboard probably was still holding power when the battery died causing a “glitch” in your laptop’s system. Power resetting may resolve this kind of problem.

4.    If your laptop’s battery stops charging always whenever it reaches 96-98% then you might need to recalibrate your laptop for the new battery. You can easily recalibrate your laptop properly via the Windows power management.

With Windows XP, you can change the battery settings by navigating to Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Power Options. Once you find it change the “Power Schemes” to “Always On”. Under “Alarms”, uncheck “Low battery alarm” and “Critical battery alarm”. Under “Hibernate”, uncheck “Enable hibernation”, and then click on Apply.

This is the only time that we recommend taking the battery all the way down to zero %. You should also unplug the ac adapter and let the battery drain all the way down until your laptop shuts off. After that, plug the ac adapter back and charge it to 100%. You may need to repeat this process about 2-3 times before it actually reaches 100%.

If any of these procedures does not solve your laptop problems then we highly suggest that you bring it to repair center and let a skilled technician have a look on your laptop.

There is an ongoing discussion on forums and other messaging boards on the Internet about buying laptop replacement batteries vs. original equipment manufacturer or a branded product. For me both has their own pros and cons and knowing which one works best for you can help you decide which one to get. Today, you can buy aftermarket batteries for different electronics equipments and gadgets like cameras, camcorders, cell phones, and more.

Advantage of getting an aftermarket product includes saving money, increased battery life span, better customer service, and product warranty. Aside from that when you follow their advices and other guidelines in using their product you can surely prolong the lifespan of their product. You can find a lot of place to buy an aftermarket laptop batteries and researching for a good shop is advisable. Always make sure that you make background check and check the shop’s reviews on after sales support before you buy anything from any specific store. It is also advisable to look for long-time and well-established companies if you want to shop online. This is to ensure that the company has been there long enough and have history of giving good services to their clients.

Remember to always check the shop’s history or track record when you are buying from a non-OEM battery manufacturer or retailer. Aside from that compare their performance against other companies and see if they offer other kind of freebies. All these tips help you ensure that you are buying from a trustworthy company and will fall as a victim to internet fraud or buying a substandard laptop/ computer batteries.

Another thing that you should check is the power information of the product that the company or shop is offering. You should make sure that it matches your laptop requirements because you do not want to purchase an inferior battery that doesn’t offer the same power charge that your laptop needs. Keep in mind to always check the battery information that the manufacturer advertises like the battery voltage and mAh capacity. While surge protection technology, thermal-cut-off, and short-circuit protection are some of the other extra features that you should also check. These added features can greatly improve your batteries life and performance and making sure that it runs effectively and properly.

Replacement batteries can either have a memory effect or no memory effect. Older batteries are susceptible to having a “memory effect,” which means that when you charge the battery and didn’t reach the max charging capacity, it will be its new maximum output range. While no memory effect batteries can be charged anytime without the risk of lowering your laptop battery’s lifespan. With new batteries today, you no longer have to worry about “memory effect”.

In conclusion, with proper research you can save a lot of money on computer and laptop batteries when you buy from non-OEM manufacturers. This option is best for those who are on a tight budget but needs the same performance of an original battery from OEM manufacturers. Even for other electronics and gadgets, aftermarket batteries are an excellent substitute to OEM batteries and a lot cheaper too.