How Do I Keep My Electronic's Battery Healthy?

It happens to phones, laptops, tablets, and everything else that uses rechargeable batteries (which seems to be increasing with every year). At first everything is fine, but slowly... eventually... you notice that the battery just doesn't seem to hold a charge as well as it used to. Maybe you used to only have to plug your phone in once every couple days, but now you have to charge it multiple times a day. Maybe your laptop used to never dip below 60% between uses, but now you get low-battery warnings regularly. Here are some tips for maximizing your electronic's batteries:

1. Check your settings- There are many things you can turn off, minimize that will help save on battery usage. Similar to how a car that's laden with weight uses more gas, a computer with lots of things turned on will use more electricity.
1. Turn off unneeded settings- New devices will often come with certain settings turned on by default to help maximize your user experience, but you may find that they're not needed for what you use the device for. For example, many devices come with bluetooth turned on. Bluetooth is a wireless technology used for connecting to different devices like wireless keyboards, your car, or wireless headphones. (You can read more about bluetooth here: What is Bluetooth?) 

   

   If you see this symbol, it likely means bluetooth is turned on for your device.

2. Dim your screen/keyboard backlighting-  Most electronic screens nowadays have the ability to adjust their brightness levels, and some computers even have light-up keyboards to make it easier to type in dim lighting. While these make it easier to use the device, they can also use a lot of battery power. Set your screen brightness as low as is comfortable for you, and if your device has it (Apple products like iPhones, iPads and Macs have this, for example) turn on auto-brightness so the screen automatically brightens and dims according to the amount of light around.
3. Put your device to sleep/turn off as needed- Not using your device for awhile? You can turn the screen off by either clicking the lock/unlock button (for mobile devices), or you can put your laptop to sleep by simply closing the lid. Depending on how long you'll be away from you computer, you may choose to turn it to screensaver, put it to sleep, hibernate, or turn it all the way off. You can learn more about which option is best for you here at When should I turn off my computer?
2. Don't completely drain it- Completely draining a battery (to the point the device shuts off) is bad for the battery, and while doing it once or twice likely won't have any noticeable effect on it's long-term lifespan, repeatedly doing it will put unnecessary wear on it. Think of it like exercising- you go until you're tired, but not until you pass out from exhaustion.
3. Don't be afraid to use it either though- On the other end of the spectrum, some people get laptops, but then leave them plugged in 99% of the time because they're afraid of using the battery. This can be just as harmful as the battery can "forget" how to hold a charge. Using the exercise analogy again, you don't train for a marathon by sitting around conserving your energy for weeks before.
4. Avoid extreme temperatures- "Don't leave electronics in any conditions you wouldn't leave your child." Both extreme heat (leaving it in the car for hours in the middle of summer) and extreme cold (leaving it in the car overnight during winter) can have detrimental effects on your battery. The optimal operating temperatures for lithium ion batteries- the kind used in most rechargeable electronics- are the same temperatures that you'd feel comfortable in. Because of this, also be mindful about using laptops on beds where blankets and pillows will retain heat and warm up the laptop unnecessarily- use a surface that wicks away heat like a wooden desk or plastic stand. You can read more about other weather dangers here at Hidden Winter Hazards for Your Electronics.

When should I turn off my computer?

This topic was recommended to me by a friend. She writes:

If you use a computer all the time, is it better to leave it on or shut it down each night? Does running a computer for long periods of time cause harm?

This is a very good question, and even people who have been using computers their entire lives are slightly confused on this topic, and with good reason!

It used to be that it was widely recommended to shut your computer down (aka turn it off) whenever you weren't using it- just like your car. You only left your computer on if you were going to be coming back to it soon. This was because older computers needed that break to clear out their RAM (see our last topic!), and they used a lot of electricity even when they were in "sleep mode" (more on that in a bit).

Nowadays, it's generally recommended to shut your computer down once a month, or if you won't be using it for a few days or more. I've had my own personal computer for almost five years now and it's only ever been turned off for about a month's worth of time in total, and most of that was when I was away on vacation.

Here's some quick terminology tidbits to help explain things:

• Shut Down- Completely turns the computer off. The computer has a routine it goes through before turning off (just like people do before going to bed), and then it stop taking in electricity. It's at this point that it's safe to unplug your computer from the wall.
• Sleep/Stand By- This mode can vary slightly between types of computers, but it does a good job of drawing it's own analogy. Just like how people don't completely stop all our functions while we're asleep, in sleep mode neither does the computer. The screen is dark, the computer isn't doing anything, but it can quickly be "woken up" by tapping a few keys on the keyboard or wiggling the mouse around. This is the mode generally recommended if you plan to return to your computer within 48 hours. (That's not a hard and fast rule, by the way, just a loose recommendation.)
• Screen Saver- The screen saver is the simple animation that shows up on your screen if you haven't interacted with your computer in awhile. The screen saver usually comes up before the computer goes to sleep. It's called a "screen saver" because it used to save your screen from getting what's known as "burn in". If a particular image was left on the screen of an older CRT monitor (the ones that looked boxier and were much heavier) , it would literally burn in, and no matter what you wanted to see later, you would always have the hint of that previous imagine there. Think of a double-exposed picture for any camera/film aficionados out there.
• Restart- Restarting tells your computer to shut down, but riiiiight before it powers off, to turn back on again. More on this later!

So why the switch? Sleep mode on most computers nowadays uses so little power that it's almost negligible, and most computers come with enough RAM that an average user can use the computer for long lengths of time without noticing a difference. That added with the increased attention of computer manufacturers to make computers that don't need to rest means that there are few reasons to turn off your computer, especially when it usually takes more electricity to turn a computer on than to leave it running in sleep mode for a few days.

Why turn it off at all then? Turning the computer off does still let it rest and clear out it's RAM- read the PTD (Practical Tip of the Day) for why that's important, but the biggest issue usually is safety. Don't worry, not for you, but for the computer. Coming from Florida, I'm used to having to go around the house and make sure all the electronics were turned off for the big thunder storms. If the power goes out when your computer is turned on, the computer will shut down without getting to go through it's routine. Imagine if you've ever gone to bed without getting to brush your teeth, check the doors, etc. You wake up feeling a bit off. Same with your computer!

Practical Tip of the Day:
Is your computer starting to slow down? It does take longer than normal to open a program or check a web page? Is it being cranky and not doing what you're telling it to? Try restarting your computer. By restarting, you're allowing the computer to shut down, clear out it's RAM, and then start again fresh. Restarting a computer is like letting your computer take a nap- it's only "asleep" for a few seconds, but just like that refreshed feeling you get after a short nap, your computer will be perkier, quicker, and ready to go after a quick restart!