Laptop battery leave in or take out?

I have an old Toshiba laptop that I use with W7 for software that can't run on W10. The battery is dead and will no longer charge so is it better to leave it in or remove it? At this stage the date and time are holding over extended periods (6 month+) so I assume the battery for that is fine.
 
Administrator
Joined 2007
Paid Member
There is normally a lithium coin cell for clock backup.

One thing I don't know regarding old laptop batteries is whether or not they are safe to keep in place (or in storage) once they are old and dead. I have an Acer laptop from 2006 and the battery is essentially useless but I leave it in place. The laptop hardly gets used though now.

I suspect on my Acer that the coin cell might be used in conjunction with the main battery meaning if the coin cell is dead but the battery OK then the clock keeps correct time. I am not 100% sure on that though and it may be device specific if so.

Try it and see on yours. Remove the main battery.
 
Hi Rabbitz,

As I do often repair old PC's for a caritative organisation, if it works without the main battery, remove it (the charger system on the mother board do disconnect the main battery if is under some defined voltage, so it's safe and the battery won't heat or explode )

For the clock there is a Lithium battery ( CR2032 or similar on the motherboard used to save the 'Bios default values', time, etc). This one can be changed to be able to use your PC for quite a long time...
 

PRR

Member
Joined 2003
Paid Member
Batteries for older laptops are sometimes quite affordable from anonymous vendors (but a known marketplace like Amazon). Our little laptop was on its third when the E key wore through; the last-century Dell may be on its fifth (it can eat two at a time). Even though these spend 99% of their life on wall-power, getting a fresh battery was never a burden or hard decision, knowing what damage can come of leaking and swelling.

Typical on Amazon: New Replacement PA5024U-1BRS Battery for Toshiba Satellite C55 C55-A C55T C55DT C55D C855 C855D L855 L875 P855 P875 S855 S875 Series Battery PA5109U-1BRS PA5026U-1BRS PABAS272-12 Months Warranty $26.99
 
Last edited:
Unless there's signs of physical affliction with the battery I leave mine in. Why? While they may not sustain the PC for a useful time as a portable device, they will ride through an accidental AC disconnect; allow moving the AC powered laptop from bedroom to kitchen table, etc.

As pointed out, batteries are sometimes, for some models, so cheap that it's worth replacing for the "hold up" advantage they give regarding AC power -
 
I bought this in 2009 and have changed the battery once. I only use the laptop about twice a year so buying a new battery probably isn't worth it as well as the new battery would remain discharged most of the time which would not help it's life or performance. These are not cheap in Oz and I'm a bit wary of ACME batteries after past experiences.

I've found out the RTC battery is rechargeable and holds it's power for around 30 days and as it's held the date etc after 8 months, I imagine it's been helped by the main battery even though it's dead IMO. To replace the RTC battery means pulling the machine completely apart (seen videos) as it lives under the keyboard and other junk.

I think as it has been no issue, I'll leave the battery in and occasionally check for any swelling or leakage. Just checked and the laptop will not boot up on battery alone so it's cactus.
 

Attachments

  • Toshiba_RTC.jpg
    Toshiba_RTC.jpg
    124.5 KB · Views: 111
Last edited:
I'll chime in really quick because well basically I am a lithium ion battery nut.
the problem with laptop batteries not having a much longer shelf life is because they have active circuitry that monitors the voltage and therefore there's a parasitic drain on the way my own batteries when you put them in storage.

if your use is twice a year? then there's absolutely no reason to buy a battery.
the cells that are commonly used in most laptops are the 18 650 and basically those things are sealed tight and you don't have to worry about them so you can leave it in there but again it's not going to make any difference.

the official recommendation is to leave the batteries out of the laptop.
some of these batteries May swell but again if they're in the 18 650 package more than likely they won't do anything.

if you are feeling adventurous you can rebuild the battery pack but again that's up to you and you can just use whatever new cells you can get your hands on. often the stuff you can scavenge at lithium-ion recycling bins allow the cells are still in good condition and you can get a battery tester and actually recondition the cells if you wish or reclaim them but again that's up to you I don't think you need to do anything like that because you only use it twice a year but it is a possibility.

as far as for AC power backups with laptops? That's a great use case but again if you're only using a twice a year and for a limited actual use there's really no reason you should expedite the cost for a brand new battery for something used twice a year.

I have an old Dell d610 laptop and I ordered a supposedly brand new battery from eBay but it came dead because it's been sitting in the warehouse so long that the battery naturally self discharged itself.

almost all the cells were literally dead once I took apart the pack and I was able to get a refund from the seller so that's cool but again they had been dead so long that they were unsalvageable as well.

any battery with a b m s? There is a wives tale that you're supposed to put them in the freezer and they will last longer. that's not bad advice for individual cells only problem is that since there's rbms now the bmms he's going to be working at the same time while it's in the freezer and now it has even more current draw from the cells that can't Supply the voltage or current needed so technically you're reducing its capacity and it's just going to make the problem worse so don't do that with batteries with that have active management circuits built on board.

today's modern lithium-ion pouch cells are usually Lithium Polymer. those are the ones that like to expand and as they age they actually fill with air on the inside and that's because of the way they were manufactured also it's one of the side effects of the power cells

the hard case of the 18650s and the other cylindrical cells stop that from happening.
this is the one where you can often see some kind of tablets where they have been overcharged like a typical Samsung tablet used in a lot of display locations at Best Buys in other places where the display is literally poofing up out of the product display.

these are the kind you really need to worry about here's an example but they look like:
(image courtesy of iFixit/ TheVerge)

download.jpg


I know that's probably more information than you were looking for but I thought I'd be through happy trails!
 
Thanks for your detailed explanation and confirms that a new battery would be useless due to long storage times.

At the moment when powered by AC adaptor (DC brick), the power light is on but the battery charging light goes out after 2 seconds indicating the battery is dead and will not accept a charge.
 
Worth noting -
Some laptops have charging options -
Maximum charge; longest use on single charge but at the expense of shorter total battery life expectancy.
Slightly less than maximum charge; longer total battery life expectancy.

Updating drivers will give you the latest charging parameters.