The battery charger is never really switched off when the battery is
fully charged unless there is a timer which switches off the charger.
For those without timers, there is a trickle flow of current needed to
measure the charge of the battery. Some kinds of rechargeable battery
is more susceptible to having the battery life shortened by continuous
charging, even trickle. Nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride are
more susceptible; lithium ion is less so.
Years ago, camcorder batteries were nickel-cadmium or even lead acid.
These batteries failed quickly (at least for me), but always the
warranty was not honored. The explanation from the vendor was always
that it was my fault because of the "memory" effect: I should let the
battery be completely discharged before recharging and my failure to do
so caused the battery to fail. This is utter poppycock. A lead-acid
battery has no memory effect, and the memory effect for nickel-cadmium,
although it exists, is very unlikely to happen with normal use of
consumer equipment. The real reason for failure was overcharging by
leaving the battery in the charger for too long, even though the charger
switched off when full charge was attained. Besides, the "memory"
excuse was convenient for voiding the warranty since few consumers keep
written records of the battery's charge before and after each recharging
to prove that it was discharged prior to recharging. (The battery in a
camcorder is never completely discharged by its operation: about 50%
battery charge or a little less is when the camcorder shuts off for lack
of charge.)
Other than possible shortening the lifetime of your battery, I can think
of no other reason why keeping the notebook PC plugged in is detrimental.
Bart Yount wrote:
Hi Folks,
If you leave the battery charger/power unit on and always plugged into the
notebook PC, even when the notebook is off, will that harm the battery, or
notebook for that matter?
Thanks
Bart
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