Battery Calibration

How often should I calibrate the battery of my laptop?
I have a Dell Inspiron 15-7506 laptop which I mostly use at home (I change rooms but it is mostly plugged in).
I calibrate it every 6-8 weeks. Is it OK?
Thanks.

My Alienware laptop is 7 months old, not calibrated the battery yet. Not even contemplated it

I am with @CornishRattler on that, mine is a year and a half old and spends most of it's life plugged in. I always thought it was a waste of time things like that. If it starts to go flat, I charge it.

The-Hive said:

I am with @CornishRattler on that, mine is a year and a half old and spends most of it's life plugged in. I always thought it was a waste of time things like that. If it starts to go flat, I charge it.

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Bang on.

OK, thank you.

mm71 said:

OK, thank you.

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Hope that helped, I think the general consensus is don't bother :)

The-Hive said:

Hope that helped, I think the general consensus is don't bother :)

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The general consensus of 2 anyway

CornishRattler said:

The general consensus of 2 anyway

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Well that's a 100% in agreement then

The-Hive said:

Well that's a 100% in agreement then

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True enough, thinking about it though, I had 5290 for about 5 years and never ever calibrated the battery and didn't have any issues

CornishRattler said:

True enough, thinking about it though, I had 5290 for about 5 years and never ever calibrated the battery and didn't have any issues

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I have never done it, never thought about it, in fact it wasn't until the other day I even knew you could it

I'll be the one to give a different answer, but only a subtle difference :)

I'll agree that if you are not having a problem, don't bother. However, if you see weird behavior such as the laptop shuts down when you still have 15% battery left, or when you fully charge the battery it says you are at 97% full and never reach 100%, they try a calibration. NOTE: Numbers I use are only samples, could be something else, but you get the idea.

These issues tend to affect older systems more.

hsehestedt said:

I'll be the one to give a different answer, but only a subtle difference :)

I'll agree that if you are not having a problem, don't bother. However, if you see weird behavior such as the laptop shuts down when you still have 15% battery left, or when you fully charge the battery it says you are at 97% full and never reach 100%, they try a calibration. NOTE: Numbers I use are only samples, could be something else, but you get the idea.

These issues tend to affect older systems more.

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It is working fine (it is only 4 months old anyway). Once I did have a strange issue as I had used the laptop as a tablet (it is a 2-in-1 laptop) and didn't plug it in. Then when I plugged it in to recharge the battery it said it didn't recognize it and didn't want to recharge it, but the real strange issue is that it recognized it in any other plug (it was a multi-plug adaptor) or also everywhere else, just not that plug, and it is not faulty because I can recharge other devices or connect them...

The-Hive said:

I think the general consensus is don't bother :)

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CornishRattler said:

The general consensus of 2 anyway

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Make that another one here (or half a dozen if you count all my laptops individually )

mm71 said:

Once I did have a strange issue as I had used the laptop as a tablet (it is a 2-in-1 laptop) and didn't plug it in. Then when I plugged it in to recharge the battery it said it didn't recognize it and didn't want to recharge it

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That's not a calibration issue. Your Dell Inspiron 7506 has a three wire charger socket, two wires for the power, and a third data wire that identifies the charger's capabilities. If this 3rd wire doesn't connect, or is misread, then your Dell may not charge.

Genuine Dell laptop power supplies use the 1-Wire protocol to send data via the third wire to the laptop computer about power, current and voltage ratings. The laptop will then refuse charging if the adapter does not meet requirements.

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It is genuine, as it is the one that came with the laptop (bought from Dell), and it works in other sockets. Maybe that socket had a problem, even if I could use it for other devices, I don't know. It was very old and I have since bought a new set. I never had a problem again...

I just replaced the battery in my laptop.
I want to make sure that this one lasts me a bit longer than the last two.

I read so many conflicting views about breaking in a new battery to ensure a long lifespan.
But it seems that some of you guys don't worry about it.

i also never calibrate the battery in the laptop.

Thanks for the feedback, @pparks1

I don't get much life out of laptop batteries. At least not with ASUS laptops.
I'm on my third battery. That's about one per year. They eventually refuse to hold a charge.

So, I thought that this time after I replace it, I'd try something proactive to increase its lifespan.
The new one is currently holding a charge very nicely. But, for how long?

I never calibrate either.
I think the last time I did so was in 2000. A NiCd / MiMH battery, I suppose.
Calibration is the act of aligning the value shown on the gauge to the actual value. So you are not 'calibrating your battery', you are 'calibrating your battery's gauge'
Calibration has nothing to do with 'battery care'.

Stigg said:

I read so many conflicting views about breaking in a new battery to ensure a long lifespan.
But it seems that some of you guys don't worry about it.

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Nobody publishes the data upon which to base a rational decision.
Batteries are components of the 'Battery management systems' within our computers so they should not be considered in isolation anyway.
So much of the current advice matches that given for previous generations of battery technologies that I worry that the advice has merely been cut & pasted from earlier documents without any thought being given to its possible continued applicability.

Your first link incorrectly refers to, "Tests conducted by battery university". But that pretentiously-named website makes no claims to have conducted any tests itself. It does not even identify its data sources.

BatteryUniversity said:

The information is compiled from the manufacturer's specifications, test labs and crowdsourcing. The tutorials differ from scientific papers by taking average readings because lab tests cannot always be repeated in real life.

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That pretentiously-named website also claims to be based on an indispensable book about batteries. It does not mention that the website & the indispensable book are written by the same person.
Perhaps he had something useful to say a decade ago for previous battery technologies.
As for

BatteryUniversity said:

The tutorials differ from scientific papers by taking average readings because lab tests cannot always be repeated in real life.

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That is utter cobblers. Perhaps it is an attempt to mask the selection of data to fit the conclusion that has already been decided upon.

Dell support now say that there is no point taking any precautions and that we might just as well fully charge our lithium batteries all the time.
my ditty - Dell Tech support video about battery use [post #8] - TenForums
But they don't publish the data upon which that recommendation is based either.
Some purchasers of new Dell systems say that Dell have withdrawn the utility that used to let users choose to limit charging to 80% etc.


All the best,
Denis

I think the bottom line is, battery technology has a long way to go.
It hasn't really progressed much in several years.