Do I need to "break in" my new laptop battery?

[elfkin477]

My laptop (Dell Vostro 1000) is three-ish years old and the battery that came with it no longer holds a charge long, as completely expected given it’s three years old. I bought it a replacement battery from Amazon, which got delivered today.

A lot of websites say you should:
a. charge the new battery for 5-15 hours regardless of how much charge it says it has

then

b. run the battery down all the way 2 (or 4) times, fully charging it after each deep discharge

Doing this is supposed to “break in” the battery, making it so that it’ll hold a charge as long as it’s capable of doing so. Is this good advice? The battery was cheap, so I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but I’m curious if this common wisdom reflects reality.

[kanicbird]

@elfkin477

My laptop (Dell Vostro 1000) is three-ish years old and the battery that came with it no longer holds a charge long, as completely expected given it’s three years old. I bought it a replacement battery from Amazon, which got delivered today.

A lot of websites say you should:
a. charge the new battery for 5-15 hours regardless of how much charge it says it has

then

b. run the battery down all the way 2 (or 4) times, fully charging it after each deep discharge

Doing this is supposed to “break in” the battery, making it so that it’ll hold a charge as long as it’s capable of doing so. Is this good advice? The battery was cheap, so I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but I’m curious if this common wisdom reflects reality.

That was more for the older Nimh batteries then Li-ion, and deeply discharging Li-ion is harmful to them. But I think that advice helps the computer know the battery capacity more then breaking in the battery itself.

[Duckster]

If it was just delivered, let it sit by itself on the table for 24-48 hours before inserting it into your laptop so it acclimatizes to any temperature difference while it was being shipped and where it is now.

Then read this —> BatteryCare - Proper laptop battery usage guide

First of all it’s necessary to unfold a myth that persists in many peoples head.The battery memory effect.In lithium-based batteries this is in fact a myth, it only applies to older Nickle-based batteries. So fully discharging and charging the battery is completely useless and even harmful as we will see below.

                                                                                                                       The modern lithium battery can be charged regardless                                  of its current percentage, given that it has absolutely                                  no negative effect in its performance.

– snip –

Full battery discharges (until laptop power shutdown, 0%) should be avoided, because this stresses the battery a lot and can even damage it. It’s recommended to perform partial discharges to capacity levels of 20~30% and frequent charges, instead of performing a full discharging followed by a full charging.

[elfkin477]

Well, the point is moot at the moment because Amazon sent the wrong battery (fortunately they’re nice about it and even paying for return shipping), but when I do get the correct one, I should charge it first, right?