just brew it! wrote:Chrispy_ wrote:Lithium batteries wear out faster when they're flat. Keep them topped up when possible and if you can, avoid running them all the way down to zero.
I've heard conflicting advice about this. Everyone seems to agree (and my experience confirms) that leaving them sit in a discharged state for extended periods of time will definitely wreck them. However, I've also seen a lot of sites claim that they are
least stressed when they are at around 40-50%. I'm not obsessive about topping up. E.g. if I know I've still got around 50% charge and only need it to last through my morning commute, I might not bother getting it out of the backpack and charging it the night before; I just wait and plug it in when I get to the office.
For thinkpads, check out 'tlp'. It's a thinkpad-oriented power-management daemon. It also allows setting thresholds for the battery charging circuitry. E.g. If you leave the laptop docked, start charging when the battery falls below 75%, but stop charging at 90% once you've hit diminishing returns on the charging curve (which correlates to increased wear on the battery in this case).
tlp also handles power management of the sata links, lan/wifi/wan connections, audio controller, usb ports, etc. I've been using it for a few years on a t440p and it's something that I set up once, and haven't touched since.
