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Playing with the G55VW without the battery on

arkmnrd
Level 7
Hi guys,

My friend suggested that when I play video games in my G55, removing the battery but leaving plugged to power source will help in extending the life of the Battery. I know this can be done but I'm not sure, I think this might harm the laptop. Do any of you guys do this? Is this safe or is my friend even right??
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9 REPLIES 9

RushTea
Level 7
My experience with any laptop is that if you use it as a desktop, keeping it plugged in 99% of the time, the battery's gonna be fine and dandy as long as it gets proper maintenance that last per cent. The biggest harm to batteries is when you keep the charger in only when charging, otherwise you let it discharge. If you avoid this, and keep the battery plugged in when you can do this without a major nuisance, your batteries should last 4-5 years like all my laptop batteries have.

Otherwise, yes, the charger for the laptop should only deliver the power needed. When your laptop battery is full, it's completely bypassed anyway.

Area_66
Level 11
battery need to fully discharge often if you want to keep them longer, if you leave them inactive ( out of the notebook , or notebook always connected) it will form a film around the electrode ( inside) and it will act like an insulator. Same with a UPS, I let them discharge once a week and I keep my battery over 5 years.

To avoid -defects-, you discharge it more often. To keep it lasting longer, you discharge it periodically, but not necessarily more than once a month. Defects should be a warranty issue if it dies within a year because you never discharged it.

dstrakele
Level 14
Check out http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries. Heat and deep discharges are the most damaging to Li-ion battery life. Operating the laptop without a battery installed will not harm it.

Gaming results in high laptop temperatures, which will reduce battery life, plus the battery cannot supply sufficient power to game at full performance on battery power alone anyway.

If you rarely run your laptop on battery, it may be something to consider. Li-ion batteries also need to be discharged/charged for maximum life, so you should pop the battery back in, charge it up, then drain it to 40% for storage about once every month. You have to make the call if it is worth the effort for you.
G74SX-A1 - stock hardware - BIOS 202 - 2nd Monitor VISIO VF551XVT

dstrakele wrote:
Check out http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries. Heat and deep discharges are the most damaging to Li-ion battery life. Operating the laptop without a battery installed will not harm it.

Gaming results in high laptop temperatures, which will reduce battery life, plus the battery cannot supply sufficient power to game at full performance on battery power alone anyway.

If you rarely run your laptop on battery, it may be something to consider. Li-ion batteries also need to be discharged/charged for maximum life, so you should pop the battery back in, charge it up, then drain it to 40% for storage about once every month. You have to make the call if it is worth the effort for you.


Thanks for all the replies guys. So basically all I need to do is just play as usual, leaving the battery in my laptop and plugged in at the same time and making sure to discharge once a month. Is that right?

dstrakele
Level 14
No - if you choose to leave the battery in your laptop, you don't need to do anything, unless you wish to recalibrate your battery. This choice will require less effort on your part, but will not maximize battery life.

If you choose to remove it, you can further maximize battery life by once a month fully charging the battery, using it until it drains to 40%, then removing it for storage to a cool, dry place.

Completely discharging the battery will reduce Li-ion battery life (as shown conclusively in "Table 2: Cycle life as a function of depth of discharge" in the article I referenced), but is required for recalibration. Heat and deep discharges are the most damaging to Li-ion battery life.

Nickel-Cadmium batteries require a periodic full discharge and I believe that is the type of battery other posters were thinking of when they made their recommendations. The battery in your laptop is a Lithium Ion battery and should be treated differently.
G74SX-A1 - stock hardware - BIOS 202 - 2nd Monitor VISIO VF551XVT

Would this effort on trying to prolong battery life have an effect on the performance of my laptop? Since I read somewhere in this forum that the ROG laptops perform better plugged in as it uses a lot of power.

dstrakele
Level 14
Your laptop can achieve maximum performance only when plugged in. I don't believe removing the battery would have any effect on increasing or reducing laptop performance, it would only prolong battery life.
G74SX-A1 - stock hardware - BIOS 202 - 2nd Monitor VISIO VF551XVT

Thanks dude! you've been really helpful. I'll do that then.