Battery Safety

[atad6]

I was watching an article about battery safety on cnet tv today and some of the things they were saying seemed a bit ridiculous. First off they said it's not a good idea to keep the laptop plugged in when it's fully charged.

Since I use the mbp almost always as a desktop replacement I usually have the power cable plugged in most of the time. Is there anything wrong with this?

Also they suggested that when the battery is full and you need to use it plugged in that you should remove the battery. I also think this is ridiculous, plus the fact that the mbp throttles down to 1ghz when you do this doesn't really make it practical.

Is all this a bunch of hype after all the problems with batteries catching on fire and being recalled and such? Or is it something that should actually be taken into consideration. Thoughts?

 

[WildCowboy]

Under normal circumstances, the recommendations would be unrealistic. But they do limit the chances of your battery catching fire, so it would be nice if you could follow them. That said...the number of incidents is so small compared to the number of batteries on the market that the chances of you having a problem by not following the recommendations is still pretty darn small. For what it's worth, I haven't changed my behavior at all...I'm just waiting for my replacement battery to arrive.

 

[daneoni]

Extreme caution always sounds ridiculous but sometimes it can save your life. Fact is, i already practice all what CNET said not because of explosions because i dont want the charge on my batteries to deplete...especially iPod batteries

 

[atad6]

i thought if the battery was charged then the computer or power supply would stop charging it. is there any harm to the battery of keeping the power cable plugged in when it's fully charged?

 

[Finnxeon]

i was under the impression that the computer stops charging the battery once it is full...in fact i am sure it does

 

[extraextra]

I'm pretty sure the battery stops charging when it's full on my laptop.

iPod - I'm not so sure. If I leave it plugged in for a long time, it starts to get really hot. (not burning hot, but uncomfortable hot) I keep my iPod charging next to my pillow on my bed... uh I hope it doesn't explode or something.