How is the battery life of a laptop calculated?

How is the battery life of a laptop calculated?

The battery cycle count is an important metric for understanding the health and lifespan of your battery. A battery cycle refers to a complete charge and discharge process, and it plays a significant role in determining the longevity of your laptop or smartphone battery. In this article, we will break down what battery cycles are, how they work, and how you can check the cycle count on both Windows and macOS devices.

What is a Battery Cycle Count and How Does It Affect Battery Life?

Battery cycle count is a crucial indicator of your battery’s health. It refers to the total number of complete charge and discharge cycles a battery goes through. Each battery cycle affects the overall lifespan of your laptop battery. The more cycles a battery completes, the closer it gets to the end of its useful life, which may result in reduced battery performance and shorter battery life.

The number of battery cycles and charging cycles are inextricably linked. The so-called battery cycle charging, that is, completing a complete charge and discharge cycle, then the number of cycles is a calculation method for the charging cycle. When the battery reaches a complete charging cycle, the number of battery cycles will be +1.

Many people mistakenly think that battery cycle count refers to the number of times a device is plugged in to charge. However, it's actually a count of the number of complete charging cycles—that is, the full process of charging and discharging the battery from 0% to 100%. It is important to understand this distinction to get an accurate idea of your battery health.

For example, you have a battery in front of you, it has 100% power now, you use it up to 0% at once, and then charge it to 100%, this is a charge-discharge cycle. At this time, the battery cycle number is 1, and the charging number is 1.

For example, you still have a battery in front of you, it has 100% power now, you use it down to 40% for the first time, then charge it to 100%, the second time you use it down to 60%, then charge it to 100%. These two uses together are also a complete charge and discharge cycle. At this time, the battery cycle number is 1, but the charging number is 2.

Therefore, a complete 100% power consumption/charging cycle can be charged only once, or it can be charged 3 times, 4 times or even 5 times. But it is the number of cycles, not the number of charges, that ultimately determines the life of a lithium battery.

There is a misunderstanding here: battery cycle number = charging number. There is actually a big difference between the two. Battery cycle number refers to the number of times a mobile phone battery completes a complete charging cycle, that is, a complete charging and discharging process, and the cycle number is +1. However, the number of charging times we often talk about is mostly understood as each time the mobile phone is plugged in and unplugged for charging, it is +1. There is a big difference in the definition of the two. The battery cycle number does not represent the number of charging times.

How to Check Laptop Battery Cycle Count

Checking the battery cycle count on Windows

Generate a battery report:

Press the Windows + X keys and select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin).

Type the following command and press Enter: powercfg /batteryreport

This command will generate a battery-report.html file in the current user's folder.

View the report:

Open File Explorer and navigate to your user folder (for example, C:\Users\YourUsername).

Locate and open the battery-report.html file.

Find the Battery cycle count in the file. This will show the current cycle count of your laptop battery.

View battery cycle count on macOS

Click the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the screen) and select " About This Mac ".

In the pop-up window, select " System Report " .

In the hardware section on the left , select Battery .

On the right side of the information, you can see the Cycle Count, which is the number of cycles the battery has been through.

These methods can help you check the health of your battery and whether it needs to be replaced .

By checking the number of cycles on your battery, you can assess the health of your battery. If the number of cycles is too high, your battery may be nearing the end of its useful life, resulting in reduced battery life, and you may need to replace the battery .

If this article still doesn't help your laptop battery, you can buy a new battery at  BatteryMall.com

If you want to learn more about batteries, please visit: BatteryMall.com/blogs/suppor

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