5 Ways to Keep Your Gaming Laptop Battery from Exploding – News Block

To avoid battery problems on a gaming laptop, set a lower maximum charge limit, use a laptop cooling pad to dissipate heat, turn up the laptop’s processor voltage, temporarily remove the battery when play while plugged in and adjust power settings to reduce heat and power consumption. .

Gaming laptops are a marvel of modern technology. They pack more power into one device than the supercomputers of yesteryear. However, every silver lining has a cloud, and in this case, that cloud can sometimes be too literal.

Why Batteries Swell and Explode

Batteries store a lot of energy in a very compact space, and when everything is working properly, we enjoy the benefits. And when the battery starts to fail? You are potentially facing thermal runaway. This catastrophic event occurs when a battery cell overheats, causing a ripple effect of heat generation. The result? A battery that could explode.

Thermal runaway becomes more likely if the battery begins to swell due to degradation and is restricted by the laptop’s case, increasing internal pressure, which can lead to all sorts of unpleasant results. Alternatively, the battery simply opens the laptop’s chassis when it becomes too big to contain it. It’s not exactly the flaming spectacle it could have been, but significant damage either way.

Gaming laptops are at a bit more risk of this, thanks to their large power requirements and slim designs that don’t always allow for optimal heat dissipation. While the chances of your gaming laptop battery experiencing thermal runaway are actually pretty low (though not zero!), there are a few things you can do to keep your battery in one piece.

RELATED: 4 Ways You’re Damaging Your Laptop Battery

1. Set a lower maximum upload limit

Batteries have a finite number of charge cycles, but charging the battery to its full capacity can also be a problem. It’s a bit like running a marathon; it’s stressful and can wear down your battery prematurely.

Many manufacturers allow you to set a maximum charge limit. This means that the battery will stop charging at a certain percentage, say 80%, even if it remains plugged in. This small act can help extend the life of your battery and prevent it from swelling or bursting.

2. Give your laptop some extra cooling

Heat is a major problem for batteries, and gaming laptops can get quite hot after hours of running high-end CPUs and GPUs at their peak.

An easy solution? Get yourself a laptop cooling pad. It’s a nifty piece of equipment that sits under your laptop and uses fans to help cool the device. It’s especially useful when you’re knee-deep in an intense gaming session and can’t afford any throttling, especially if it leads to an emergency shutdown. Even better, a cooling pad can also make your gaming laptop less noisy.

3. Lower the voltage of your laptop

Here’s a pro tip: lower the voltage on your laptop! In simple terms, undervoltage means reducing the voltage supplied to your laptop’s processor. Less voltage means less heat, which in turn means less stress on the battery.

However, be careful. Undervoltage can cause system instability if not done correctly. Fortunately, there are tools available to help, like Intel’s Extreme Tuning utility for your CPUs or MSI Afterburner. Some of these tools even have AI powered modes that can find the best voltage without your input. In general, lowering the voltages can’t damage anything permanently, and the worst that can happen is some instability. That being said, just like overclocking, you mess with your computer’s voltages at your own peril.

4. Remove the battery (temporarily)

If you’re planning a gaming marathon while connected to mains, consider taking out the battery. This reduces heat and stress on the battery. Just make sure your laptop can run on AC power without the battery. Also, if you’re storing the battery, keep it around 50% charge to avoid full drain, which is also a potential death sentence for a lithium battery.

Just keep in mind that many laptops these days don’t have batteries that can be easily and safely removed. Gaming laptops are more likely to have a battery that is easy to remove, but if you have to pull out a battery removal toolkit, it shouldn’t be repeatedly removed and reinserted.

5. Manage your power settings

Last but not least, don’t forget to manage your power settings!

For Windows users, you can adjust your power plan settings (and Linux has battery optimization tools, too). You can tell the system to slow down the processor or dim the screen after a certain period of inactivity. These settings can help reduce power consumption and heat, which in turn reduces stress on the battery.

Most gaming laptops have their own management utilities that allow you to choose between different power presets. So you can choose between full performance or a more modest performance profile while benefiting from less heat and noise.