All About Laptop Batteries

With the increased usage of laptop computers nowadays, the demand for laptop batteries have reached its peak. Laptop batteries are specific to the make and model of the laptop. There are lots of laptop battery manufactures like septechnologies who are capable of supplying batteries that are compatible with most of the laptops that are available in the market today. Though there are a lot of manufactures of laptop batteries, there are a few things that have to be taken into consideration while choosing a laptop battery.

ALL BATTERIES ARE NOT THE SAME
Most of the laptop users still believe that all the laptop batteries are the same. Though the laptop batteries work on the common principle that ‘electrochemical reaction created forces a stream of electrons that traverse from one position to another in the laptop batteries and the negative and positive terminals send and receive electrons’, there are also many differences between the laptop batteries that are available in the market today. To start with, the location and shape of different terminals of the battery may vary across different models. Moreover, there are three different types of laptop batteries that are available in the market today:

NICKEL CADMIUM BATTERIES
The Nickel Cadmium batteries were the ones used in laptops in earlier days. These batteries were preferred in earlier days as they delivered high output at low cost. However, these NiCd batteries have many drawbacks like overcharging, cell reversing, memory & lazy battery effects and dentritic shorting. Moreover, these NiCd laptop batteries are not environment friendly. Cadmium which is a very heavy toxic metal requires special care during disposal. With these difficulties taken into account, these batteries are not widely used today.

NICKEL METAL HYDRIDE BATTERIES
Nickel Metal hydride batteries are better replacements for NiCd batteries. These NiMH batteries are compatible with most of the older laptops. The elimination of the toxic cadmium in this type of battery makes it environmentally safe than the NiCd batteries. Also these batteries are easily available in the market for a cheaper price.

LITHIUM ION BATTERIES
The lithium ion rechargeable batteries are the type of batteries in which the lithium ion moves between the anode and the cathode. Lithium ion batteries are the most commonly used ones in consumer electronics. They are currently the most popular batteries that are used in most of the portable devices. These LiON batteries have excellent energy to weight ratio, no memory effect, and slow loss of charge when not in use. However, the unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life span is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles. So an older battery will not last as long as a new battery due solely to its age, unlike other batteries. Though the LiON batteries have this disadvantage, the advantages overweigh them is hence it is most preferred laptop battery in use today.