G4 TiBook Battery Question

[cpjakes]

I think I'm going to be in the market for a new TiBook battery soon, as my life has now dwindled to maybe about an hour. I bought my machine as a demo 3/03. It is a 550MHz, which had just been discontinued at the time. So I'm sure that this was the stock battery all that time on display too...

The machine is still serving me VERY well, although the battery life is a bit of a drag. I think I lost 70% playing a DVD for about 10 minutes the other day...

My question is about sustaining the battery life. My normal usage is this:
I leave it on all the time at work, it's plugged in. I sleep it. I go home. I surf/email/whatever. I sleep it overnight. I take it to work, plug it in to charge, etc...

Will this behavior decrease my battery life? Should it be drained fully before recharging? I know I've heard varying things and haven't really noticed a severe decline until the past week or two. When I get a new battery I want to keep it fresh for a while.

Thanks in advance!

cpjakes

 

[jevel]

I've read a lot of different things about these "smart" LiIon batteries, and one of them is that you should not let it drain fully before you recharge them. That will harm the battery, and charging whenever you feel like will not harm them, as they're resistant to the "memory" effects on older batteries.

After I've owned three laptops with LiIon batteries, I beg to differ. With my first one, I did as told. I charged whenever I felt like it, and the battery lasted about a year. My second laptop I used on batteries until they run low. I did not manage to wear the battery out before I sold the machine, but the capacity was about 70% of the original after 7 months. My last machine has a spanik new 43,20Wh (design capacity) staminabattery. I use it on the battery every day, and let it run out every time. As I write this, the cycle count on the battery is 14, and max capacity is 44,11Wh!!! That is almost 1 Wh above design capacity.

As a proof, I'll attach an image of the battery health tab.

I'll receive my new PBook soon, and I'll use the same policy on that one.

-KJ