How to extend the life of your battery

by Steve Macrie steve@serviceteam.co.uk

Sometimes you just forget to put things on charge. And most of the time it doesn't cause you too much bother. You just stick the device on charge and don't give it a moments thought.

And then there are the times when you're out and about. You're expecting a call from someone to meet you somewhere and you're down to 1 bar of charge. Nightmare. Do you turn the phone off and wait for a missed call or leave it on hoping they'll call in the next 5 minutes. Or do you send a text?

Well, here are a few ideas to keep the power on as long as possible…

1. If you're running low on juice with a Smartphone or a laptop, turn off the wireless the wireless capability. This sucks power. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G or GPS.

2. Dim the screen. Most laptops come with the ability to dim the screen. This can save you some vital juice.

3. Cut down programs or applications running in the background. Multi-processing costs battery power.

4. If you've got a laptop, plug in more Ram. It stops your computer using the hard drive to store temp files. Hard drives are electro mechanical devices and take more energy to spin.

5. Keep your laptop or Smartphone cool. Not too cool and not too hot. Battery life decrease with extremes of temperature. And of course, if the fan keeps blowing in your laptop, this will use up more power.

6. Download the latest drivers for your laptop and Smartphone. Manufacturers are always looking for ways to improve battery life and often upgrade their power management software.

7. Unplug your battery from your laptop when you're using mains power. Over time it reduces the storage efficiency of the battery.

8. If you're really smart you'll get an emergency mobile phone charger. They cost about £5, fit on your key ring and mean that you'll never get caught with your pants down again.

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