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Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off??

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Somewhere on teh intarwebs Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> wrote:
> I wonder whether the cooling is helping the Lithium-Ion cells or
> simply giving the control circuitry hell. I would suspect the second.
> In this case it's worth keeping in mind that charging up under voltage
> Lithium-Ion cells has the potential for causing a hot and perhaps
> firery death for the battery. With this in mind, I'd think twice
> before leaving the laptop to charge next to your curtains as normal
> or in some other situation where it tempts a firery fate.

It's things like mp3 players and some older cellphones that usually have 
fiery Li-Ion "batteries" (actually not a battery at all, rather a single 
cell used in 'dumb' mode). Part of the function of most laptop battery's 
electronics is to monitor temps, usually in at least two places in the 
pack - and to shut off or reduce charging current if / when temps go outside 
of a pre-defined range.

> Last year I pulled apart a laptop I was given in order to 1) replace
> the fan that sounded like a lawn mower (literally) and 2) try to kill
> the terrible rotting coffee smell that was emitted every time the
> laptop warmed up. Inside, there was coffee residue everywhere but in
> the screen. In areas on the motherboard where it was especially caked
> on, it seemed to have corroded parts of the solder and formed lumps
> that I couldn't get off in some areas for fear of breaking off
> components before the coffee gave way. I was amazed the whole time
> that the thing was still working.
>
> I completely disassembled everything but the screen then cleaned the
> motherboard and other complex electronics by hand before washing
> all the plastic and simple electronic parts in the sink. After a few
> minutes on, the thing still stinks of coffee, but at least not quite
> as bad.

As long as it's stripped down of all 'add-on' components a laptop's 
motherboard can be [a]safely soaked for a few minutes, then washed in warm 
water with a little mild detergent. As long as it's then rinsed thouroughly 
a couple times in similarly warm water afterwards and completely dried 
afterwards it should be fine[b].

[a] At your own risk of course. While I've safely done this myself I can't 
warrant that it will be fine for your machine - especially bearing in mind 
that there's likely to be an issue with it already or this wouldn't be 
undertaken.

[b] I live in New Zealand and know quite a few IT people, some of whom have 
worked for periods in the south Pacific Islands for periods of time. The 
environment there can be *extremely* hostile to electronics with fine salt 
spray blowing right across a lot of the low-lying islands.

I know of one guy in particular who worked in an island community in Samoa 
who would sell computers; both laptops and desktops, and offer a three-year 
warranty on them - but only if they were bought back for a week at the end 
of the first and second years. He would strip them down completely and he 
had slightly modified a dishwasher which he used to wash and dry the circuit 
boards of salty deposits each year. If customers were particularly close to 
the ocean he'd do it bi-annually.

IIRC afterwards he would 'mist' the boards (as well as a bunch of the stuff 
that he deemed too delicate to go through the washer) to the point wher 
ethey were dripping with pure isopropanol. He would then let that evaporate 
in a drying cabinet he had made up that was connected by ducts to a 
dehumidifier. He told me that the environment was so hostile that, if such a 
regime wasn't undertaken computers wouldn't usually last more than 18 months 
tops (and that most companies wouldn't give / honour warranties on hardware 
used in the islands).
-- 
/Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long, way when religious belief has a 
cozy little classification in the DSM."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1) 

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Thread

Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-02-24 01:57 -0500
  Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you> - 2013-02-24 09:04 +0000
    Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? Bert <bert@iphouse.com> - 2013-02-24 15:41 +0000
      Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-02-24 14:29 -0500
    Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-02-24 14:22 -0500
  Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? Bob_Villa <pheeh.zero@gmail.com> - 2013-02-24 06:27 -0800
    Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-02-24 14:37 -0500
  Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? Charlie Hoffpauir <invalid@invalid.com> - 2013-02-24 09:21 -0600
    Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-02-24 14:40 -0500
  Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-03-12 23:17 -0400
    Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukekohe@gmail.com> - 2013-03-14 19:17 +1300
      Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-03-14 12:48 -0400
        Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukekohe@gmail.com> - 2013-03-15 13:15 +1300
    Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? Top <top1sg@suddenlink.invalid> - 2013-03-16 16:45 -0500
      Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? micky <NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> - 2013-03-16 18:31 -0400
        Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2013-03-16 23:42 +0000
          Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukekohe@gmail.com> - 2013-03-17 15:14 +1300
            Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> - 2013-03-17 09:00 +0000
              Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukekohe@gmail.com> - 2013-03-18 01:29 +1300
                Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> - 2013-03-18 05:20 +0000
                Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukekohe@gmail.com> - 2013-03-19 11:39 +1300
                Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? "~misfit~" <shaun.at.pukekohe@gmail.com> - 2013-04-11 15:13 +1200
        Re: Laptop battery loses charge when off?? wrat@panix.com (the wharf rat) - 2013-03-19 15:45 +0000

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