How to Choose the Right Battery for Your Computer

There are many things to consider when you are buying or replacing the battery for your computer. The first thing you want to look into is whether the computer manufacturer states that the battery you are planning to purchase is compatible with your computer. You do not want to buy a battery for your Toshiba if Toshiba says that is not a compatible battery for your make and model. If it is not compatible, you will ruin your computer.

Computer batteries are very expensive so make sure you get the right one. Most modern portable computers, or laptops, use the lithium-ion battery. The lithium-ion battery works cooler and longer than a nickel-based battery. With a nickel-based battery, each time you plug it in to power, it will put a constant charge on the battery until it is full. It stops charging when there is a rise in temperature, which indicates the battery is fully charged. Not putting a constant charge on the battery extends its life. Nickel-based batteries will only last two to three months due to overcharging which causes them to heat up. This is why they do not use them as much as they used to. Another way to extend the life of any battery is to keep it in a cool temperature. Leaving your computer in the car in the heat will reduce the life of the battery.

The lithium-ion battery when plugged in will only receive power if it is low. This gives them a longer life expectancy. Make sure that you get the right power rating for your computer. The rating is the volts and amperes or in the case of computer batteries, milliamps (mAh). You get the watt-hours, which is the amount of time the battery will hold a charge on its own, by multiplying the volts by the amperes. One thousand milliamps represents 1 ampere. If we have a battery that is 14.4 volts and 3600 mAh, (which equals 3.6 amperes), we can determine how long the battery will last by multiplying them together to get the watt-hours. A watt-hour is how long it will take one watt to power an object for one hour.

Example: 14.4 volts x 3.6 amperes = 51.84 watt-hours

For the sake of the example above, if your computer runs at 25.92 watt-hours, it will last two hours on its own power. You want to get the battery with the highest milliamps rating, the higher the mAh rating the longer the life of the battery. A battery with a 2500mAh will last half as long as a battery with a 5000mAh rating. Excessive multi-tasking or running several programs at the same time while on battery power will lower the life expectancy of your battery.

A lithium-ion battery will normally last for about 750 charges. Manufacturers of batteries have come up with new technology that greatly increases the life of computer batteries. It is lithium-manganese oxide batteries. Currently most lithium-oxide batteries use cobalt oxide electrodes, which is the main cause for them overheating. To increase storage capabilities and reduce the overheating problem, manufacturers have started using manganese oxide instead. Manganese oxide acts as a stabilizing force with more inactive materials that balance out the electrochemically active ones. The lithium-manganese battery has twice the life expectancy as lithium-ion with approximately 1500 charges instead of just 750. When looking for a replacement battery, specify a lithium-manganese battery.

Make sure that you get a minimum of one-year warranty on your battery. If the manufacturer is willing to stand behind his product, it will last longer because they are not in the business to give away free batteries.