The battery is the most essential part of any laptop, it is basically responsible for powering up your laptop, according to some, a bad battery can cause your laptop to overheat.
So in this guide I’m going to give you a detailed analysis of whether the statement is true or not.
But First, How Much Power Does A Laptop Draw In From The Battery?
A gaming laptop , on average, can draw in as much as 200watts from the battery, what this means is that your battery is being consumed at a faster pace.
And when the battery is being consumed at a faster pace this means that you’ll be charging the battery very frequently.
The latest laptops come with a Lithium-ion battery that loses a bit of it’s life everytime it’s being charged, typically, an average lithium-ion battery lasts 1000 charges, after that it needs replacement.
Can Your Laptop Battery Become Hot?
When you’re having an extreme gaming session or performing a CPU intensive task on your laptop, it’s also going to be drawing in a lot of power from the battery, which results in the battery performing hard to give power to the laptop.
And the laptop working even harder to deliver maximum performance, this cycle eventually leads to the battery becoming warm, and in some cases hot when there’s inadequate cooling.
How A Hot Battery Might Damage Your Laptop
A hot battery basically means that either your laptop has insufficient cooling , or you need a new battery replacement.
But when you don’t do either of those things, it usually leads to an overheating laptop, and in many cases, an underperforming laptop as well.
That’s because when your laptop isn’t getting the required watts from the battery, it won’t be able to perform up to the mark.
Another consequence a hot battery might have is that it becomes really unstable, sometimes it’ll be giving your laptop a proper amount of power, and other times, it will give your laptop components so much power that they may end up becoming damaged.
What You Can Do To Minimize Damage From A Very Hot Battery
- The first thing you should do is to ensure that your laptop is clean and there’s no blockage in the vents of your laptop.
- Check whether all of the fans are working, you can do this by either placing your ear on the bottom of your laptop or remove the back panel and check it manually.
- Give your laptop a little break, sometimes, all it needs it just a bit of rest.
- While gaming, don’t play on maximum settings.
- Keep an eye out for stutters, one of the main reasons your laptop lags is because its not getting proper voltage from the battery.
- Check the battery temperatures.
Always make sure that you periodically check the temperatures of your laptop battery, if it reaches above 85-90C then it’s a bad thing. It’s a sign that your laptop battery might be dying.
Signs Of A Laptop Battery Going Bad
- One of the earliest signs of your laptop battery going bad is an underperforming laptop, is your laptop suddenly really slow? is it providing proper frames in a game? if it’s not then you should check the battery.
- Check if your laptop is hot to the touch, if it’s really hot then it’s most likely due to the battery.
- Check if your laptop is bulging out from the bottom, if it feels bloated or if your laptop seems a bit puffed on the bottom then immediately get your battery replaced.
- Check the power adaptor, sometimes your power adaptor will get really hot as well, so keep an eye out for that as well.
These are some of the early signs that your laptop battery is going bad.
The Best Fix
The best way to fix a bad battery is to just replace it, trust me, you don’t want to lose your laptop because of a faulty battery.
Even though laptop batteries are a costly option, but this is the best one, and to minimize damage, don’t charge it too often, only when you need to and don’t let the battery drop below 20%.
Does Overheating Affect Battery Life?
If your gaming laptop has insufficient cooling then it’s indirectly affecting your battery as well, in a worst case scenario, an overheating laptop might make the battery hotter, leading it to bulge out or even catch fire.
So if you think that your laptop is overheating you should take measures immediately.
Can A Faulty Battery Cause A Laptop To Crash?
Malfunctioning batteries can have a negative effect on your laptop in many ways, and one of them is causing them to crash.
A laptop can crash because of a faulty battery mainly because it’s not being supplied enough power.
Do Gaming Laptops Have A Bad Battery Life?
No, if you don’t take care of your laptop and if you abuse it too much then the battery might become problematic, but in general, gaming laptops don’t have a bad battery life, however, they do have a shorter battery backup time than regular laptops.
Can An Old Battery Cause A Laptop To Overheat?
Old batteries typically don’t bring any harm to your laptop, unless there are compatibility issues.
But to be on the safe side you should always use a lithium-ion battery since it’s the safest option.
What Happens If A Laptop Battery Overheats?
Here are some of the things that can happen if your laptop battery overheats:
- A lot of stuttering and lagging
- Bloated battery
- Underperforming laptop
- Overheating laptop
- Damaged Components
So , can a bad battery cause laptop problems? 110%!
Does Heat Affect Laptop Battery Life?
Heat does affect laptop battery, in fact, exposing your laptop to high temperatures frequently will eventually lead to a self destructing battery.
You don’t want to expose your laptop to too much external heat, if the heat is within your laptop then it’s perfectly fine, because your laptop already has cooling mechanisms in place for that.
But if the heat is external i.e coming from outside of the laptop then you should take care of that because not only will it harm your battery, it will also harm other components , affecting the entire performance of the laptop.
Does Your Laptop Overheat When Plugged In But Runs Fine On Battery? Here’s a Fix
Your Laptop Is Getting TOO MUCH VOLTAGE. You read that right, if your laptop is overheating when plugged in and running perfectly fine on battery then it’s highly likely that it’s getting more electricity than required.
Buy a voltage stabilizer and it should fix the issue.
Does Removing Battery From The Laptop Improve Performance?
Many gamers think that removing the battery from a laptop is a good idea, it doesn’t improve performance, and it also takes away the portability factor from the laptop.
So you would only want to remove the battery as a last resort, other wise , never take out the battery from your laptop because it does not improve performance.
Can You Still Use Your Laptop If The Battery Needs Replacement?
In this case you could apply the above method and run the laptop with a removed battery, because if the battery needs replacement and if you’re still using your laptop on a bad battery then it might damage other components as well.
So you should remove the battery from the laptop until you get another replacement.
But What Happens If You Don’t Remove The Battery From Your Laptop?
On a worse case scenario, your laptop will blow up or catch fire, so trust me, you do not want to keep a bad battery inside your laptop.
What Is The Average Lifespan Of A Laptop Battery?
Most laptops nowadays come with the Lithium-ion battery, these kinds of batteries have a life expectancy on the basis of how many charges there are.
Typically a lithium-ion battery can last up to 1000 charges, but this number is not fixed, some batteries can even last upto 2000 charges if the laptop is well maintained.
So 1000 charges means almost 3-4 years.
Is 4 hours Of Battery Good For A Laptop?
If it’s a gaming laptop then 4 hours of battery back up is perfect, but if it’s a regular laptop then you should be worried, because most regular laptops last over 8 hours.
How Many Hours Should A Laptop Be Used In A Day?
You can use your laptop for as long as you want, but you should maintain it and clean it regularly. My Lenovo Legion 5 laptop is on for almost 13-14hours everyday and it runs perfect because it’s well maintained.
Conclusion
A bad battery can damage your gaming laptop in many ways, including overheating and the best way to fix it is to replace your battery and charge your laptop only when required.