{"id":2210,"date":"2017-12-15T12:19:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T12:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/?p=2210"},"modified":"2017-12-15T12:19:33","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T12:19:33","slug":"calibrate-notebooks-battery-accurate-battery-life-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/calibrate-notebooks-battery-accurate-battery-life-estimates.htm","title":{"rendered":"How to Calibrate Your Notebook\u2019s Battery for Accurate Battery Life Estimates"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you’re using your laptop, and suddenly, it’s dead. From Windows there is no battery warning, in fact, you have recently checked and Windows said you have 30% battery power to leave. What\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even if you\u00a0treat your laptop\u2019s battery properly, its capacity will decrease over time. Its built-in power meter estimates how much juice available and how much time on battery you have left\u2014but it can sometimes give you incorrect estimates.<\/p>\n

This basic technique will work in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista. Really, it will work for any device with a Apple a1322 laptop battery<\/a><\/strong>, including older MacBooks. It may not be necessary on some newer devices, however.<\/p>\n

Why Calibrating the Battery Is Necessary<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re\u00a0taking proper care of your laptop\u2019s battery, you should be allowing it to discharge somewhat before plugging it back in and topping it off. You shouldn\u2019t be allowing your laptop\u2019s battery to die completely each time you use it, or even get extremely low. Performing regular top-ups will extend your battery\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

However, this sort of behavior can confuse the laptop\u2019s battery meter. No matter how well you take care of the battery, its capacity will still decrease as a result of unavoidable factors like typical usage, age, and heat. If the battery isn\u2019t allowed to run from 100% down to 0%\u00a0occasionally<\/em>, the battery\u2019s power meter won\u2019t know how much juice is actually in the battery. That means your laptop may think it\u2019s at 30% capacity when it\u2019s really at 1%\u2014and then it shuts down unexpectedly.<\/p>\n

Calibrating the battery won\u2019t give you longer battery life, but it will give you more accurate estimates of how much battery power your device has left.<\/p>\n

How Often Should You Calibrate the Battery?<\/h2>\n

Manufacturers that do recommend calibration often calibrating the battery every two to three months. This helps keep your battery readings accurate.<\/p>\n

In reality, you likely don\u2019t have to do this that often if you\u2019re not too worried about your laptop\u2019s battery readings being completely precise. However, if you don\u2019t calibrate your battery regularly, you may eventually find your laptop suddenly dying on you when you\u2019re using it\u2014without any prior warnings. When this happens, it\u2019s definitely time to calibrate the battery.<\/p>\n

Some modern devices may not require battery calibration at all. For example,\u00a0Apple<\/a> recommends\u00a0battery calibration for older Macs with user-replaceable batteries, but says it\u2019s not required for modern portable Macs with built-in batteries. Check your device manufacturer\u2019s documentation to learn whether battery calibration is necessary on your device or not.<\/p>\n

Basic Calibration Instructions<\/h2>\n

Recalibrating your Apple a1175 notebook battery<\/a><\/strong> is simple: just let the battery run from 100% capacity straight down to almost dead, and then charging it back to full. The battery\u2019s power meter will see how long the battery actually lasts and get a much more accurate idea of how much capacity the battery has left.<\/p>\n

Some laptop manufacturers include utilities that will calibrate the battery for you. These tools will usually just make sure your laptop has a full battery, disable power management settings, and allow the battery to run to empty so the battery\u2019s internal circuitry can get an idea of how long the battery lasts. Check your laptop manufacturer\u2019s website for information on using any utilities they provide.<\/p>\n

You should also look at your laptop\u2019s manual or help files. Each manufacturer may recommend a slightly different calibration procedure or tool to ensure your laptop\u2019s battery is properly calibrated. Some manufacturers may even say this isn\u2019t necessary on their hardware (like Apple). However, there\u2019s no harm to performing a calibration, even if the manufacturer says it isn\u2019t necessary. It just takes some of your time. The calibration process essentially runs the battery through a full discharge and recharge cycle.<\/p>\n

How to Manually Calibrate a Battery<\/h2>\n

While it\u2019s a good idea to use any included utilities or just follow instructions specific to your laptop, you can also perform battery calibration without any specialized tools. The basic process is simple:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Charge your laptop\u2019s battery to full\u2014that\u2019s 100%.<\/li>\n
  • Let the battery rest for at least two hours, leaving the computer plugged in. This will ensure that the battery is cool and not still hot from the charging process. You\u2019re free to use your computer normally while it\u2019s plugged in, but be sure it doesn\u2019t get too hot. You want it to cool down.<\/li>\n
  • Go into your computer\u2019s\u00a0power management settings\u00a0and set it to automatically hibernate at 5% battery. To find these options, head to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings. Look under the \u201cBattery\u201d category for the \u201cCritical battery action\u201d and \u201cCritical battery level\u201d options. (If you can\u2019t set it to 5%, just set it as low as you can\u2014for example, on one of our PCs, we couldn\u2019t set these options below 7% battery.)<\/li>\n
  • Pull the power plug and leave your laptop running and discharging until it automatically\u00a0hibernates. You can keep using your computer normally while this happens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    NOTE: If you want to calibrate the battery while you aren\u2019t using the computer, be sure your computer isn\u2019t set to automatically sleep, hibernate, or turn its display off while idle. If your computer automatically enters power-saving mode while you\u2019re away, it will save power and won\u2019t discharge properly. To find these options, head to\u00a0Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change plan settings.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Allow your computer to sit for five hours or so after it automatically hibernates or shuts down.<\/li>\n
    • Plug your computer back into the outlet and charge it all the way back up to 100%. You can keep using your computer normally while it charges.<\/li>\n
    • Ensure any power management settings are set to their normal values. For example, you probably want your computer to automatically power off the display and then go to sleep when you\u2019re not using it to\u00a0save battery power. You can change these settings while the computer charges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Your laptop should now be reporting a more accurate amount of battery life, sparing you any surprise shutdowns and giving you a better idea of how much battery power you have at any given time.<\/p>\n

      The key to calibration is allowing the battery to run from 100% to almost empty, then charging it all the way up to 100% again, which may not happen in normal use. Once you\u2019ve gone through this full charge cycle, the battery will know how much juice it has and report more accurate readings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      So you’re using your laptop, and suddenly, it’s dead. From Windows there is no battery warning, in fact, you have recently checked and Windows said you have 30% battery power to leave. What\u2019s going on? Even if you\u00a0treat your laptop\u2019s battery properly, its capacity will decrease over time. Its built-in power meter estimates how much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,6],"tags":[898,906,463],"class_list":["post-2210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-battery-knowledge-base","category-how-to","category-laptop-batteries-tips","category-tech-info","tag-apple-a1175-notebook-battery","tag-apple-a1185-laptop-battery","tag-apple-a1322-laptop-battery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2213,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210\/revisions\/2213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}