I finally stopped frying my laptop battery by leaving it plugged in

My old Dell Inspiron's battery swelled up after about 18 months, and I couldn't figure out why. I read a support article that said keeping it at 100% charge all the time stresses the cells. Now I use the built-in battery saver mode that caps the charge at 80% when it's on my desk. The new battery has lasted over two years with no issues. Anyone else have a good software or habit for managing battery health?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencerperez1mo ago

Guess we all learned the hard way not to cook our batteries... @jenniferlane's friend Sarah and her pillow MacBook prove it. My laptop is basically on a permanent diet now, never getting to 100%.

jenniferlane1mo ago

My friend Sarah had her MacBook Pro battery swell up like a pillow after two years. She always kept it plugged in on her kitchen counter. The repair guy told her the same thing, that keeping it at full charge all the time cooks the battery. Now she uses an app called AlDente to limit the charge to 75% when she's working from home. It seems like such a simple fix for a pretty big problem.

phoenix_wells1mo ago

Yeah that "cooks the battery" line is so true. I just use the built in limiter now too, seems to work fine.