Heal a Sick Battery

You can rejuvenate a worn-out battery.

This isn’t, strictly speaking, the case. You can’t make old lithium hold more electrons than it can currently manage.

But if the battery is running out unexpectedly fast, or if your laptop is having trouble figuring out how much power it has left, you might be able to fix the battery’s “gas gauge,” so it at least gives a more accurate reading.

If you suspect the battery can’t tell if it’s charged or not, run it through a couple of cycles. Drain it of all its power (yes, this is the exception to the “don’t drain the battery” rule mentioned above), recharge it to 100 percent, and then repeat.

But how do you drain the battery when Windows won’t let you do just that? Don’t bother with the settings described above. They’re not safe (you might forget to change them back), they may not be getting an accurate reading, and they quite possibly won’t let you set the critical battery level to 0 percent. (If they did, it would crash Windows.)

Instead, unplug your AC power and keep your laptop running (you can work on it if you like) until it automatically hibernates. Then reboot your PC back and go directly to the system setup program.

I can’t tell you exactly how to get there; each computer is different. Turn on your PC and look for an onscreen message (one of the first you’ll see) that says something like “Press the X key for setup.” Immediately press the designated key.

It may take a couple of times to get the timing right. If there isn’t enough power to let it boot, plug in AC until you’re at the setup program, then unplug it.

Leave the notebook on until it shuts off. This can take some time (45 minutes on my laptop); setup uses a lot less power than Windows.

Once the PC is off, plug in the AC power, then wait a few hours before rebooting to Windows and making sure you’ve got a full recharge.

Repeat the process once or twice.

With luck and proper care, your battery will still be useful when you’re looking for a new laptop.

Panasonic Corp. is considering building a photovoltaic battery plant at its factory that makes panels used for the firm’s plasma TVs, located in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, The Nikkei learned Wednesday.

The new facility will be operated by Sanyo Electric Co., Japan’s third-largest solar cell producer, which became a Panasonic subsidiary late last year.

In January, Panasonic disclosed a plan to invest 100 billion yen through fiscal 2015 to raise Sanyo’s output of the environment-friendly batteries.

The new plant will be built on the premises of or adjacent to the Amagasaki factory, with construction expected to start as early as fiscal 2011.

Panasonic has yet to decide on the specific amount of money to be injected into the plant, or on its output capacity.

Give It a Rest

If you’re going to be working exclusively on AC power for a week or more, remove the battery first.

Otherwise, you’ll be wearing out the battery–constantly charging and discharging it–at a time when you don’t need to use it at all. You’re also heating it up.

You don’t want it too empty when you take it out. An unused battery loses power over time, and you don’t want all the power to drain away, so remove it when it’s at least half-charged.

Never remove the battery while the computer is on, or even in standby or sleep mode; doing so will crash your system and possibly damage your hardware. Even inserting a battery into a running laptop can damage the system. So only remove or reinsert the battery when the laptop is completely off or hibernating.

If you’ve never removed your laptop’s battery and don’t know how, check your documentation. (If you don’t have it, you can probably find it online.) The instructions generally involve turning the laptop upside-down and holding down a button while you slide out the battery.

Refrigerate your battery.

Some people recommend you store it in the refrigerator, inside a plastic bag. While you should keep a battery cool, the last thing you want is a wet battery, and condensation is a real danger in the fridge. Instead, store it in a dry place at room temperature. A filing cabinet works fine.

You don’t want the battery to go too long without exercise or let it empty out entirely. If you go without the battery for more than two months, put it in the PC and use it for a few hours, then remove it again.

Also, before you take the laptop on the road, reinsert the battery and let it charge for a few hours before unplugging the machine. Allow the battery time to get a full charge before you remove the AC power.

mPhase Technologies, Inc., the developer of Power On Command(TM) battery technologies, announced at the NanoBusiness Conference/NYC, an event sponsored by the NanoBusiness Alliance, that it has successfully bonded a glass reservoir capable of holding various electrolytes to the microfluidic structured layer of the mPhase Smart NanoBattery — a key step in the packaging and assembly phases of this innovative new power source.

The smart nanostructured membrane, which allows for the precise control of the liquid electrolyte, is the heart of the mPhase Smart NanoBattery. In its inactivate state, the electrolyte remains atop the battery’s membrane surface; once triggered, the electrolyte comes in contact with the electrode material, producing voltage. The initial activation of the battery can be remotely controlled and pre-programmed.

The proprietary nanostructured membrane was created by mPhase and enabled by advances in microfluidics, nanotechnology and MEMS processing. In order to contain the electrolyte in its inactive state, mPhase had to create a hermetic bond between a glass reservoir holding the electrolyte and the nanostructured porous silicon membrane. “This was no easy task,” said Ronald A. Durando, CEO of mPhase Technologies. “We had to bring together the expertise of our technical team, a MEMS foundry, and experts in glass machining and bonding, as the packaging and assembly of the elements of the battery are essential to the overall success of the project. The successful bonding of the glass reservoir to the microfluidic structured surface represents a key advance in the development path of commercializing the world’s first Smart NanoBattery.”

mPhase is on target to deliver a working battery this fall to the U.S. Army under a two-year STTR grant. The battery is designed to provide critical backup power to a computer’s memory and can be diversified into many other applications.

You should never recharge your battery all the way.

There’s considerable controversy on this point, and in researching this article I interviewed experts both for and against. But I’ve come down on the side of recharging all the way. The advantages of leaving home with a fully-charged battery–you can use your PC longer without AC power–are worth the slight risk of doing damage.

Keep It Cool

Heat breaks down the battery, and reduces its overall life.

When you use your laptop, make sure the vents are unblocked. Never work with the laptop on pillows or cushions. If possible, put it on a raised stand that allows for plenty of airflow.

Also, clean the vents every so often with a can of compressed air. You can buy this for a few dollars at any computer store. Be sure to follow the directions on the can, and do this only when the notebook is off.