Should i always leave my Surface CHarging?

[Surface Dude]

I heard awhile back from my dad that leaving my laptop on the charger all the time would kill my battery's overall live...Is it a bad idea to leave my Surface on the charger all the time, during use and when it is not in use or will it kill the battery's lifetime?

 

[DragonGamer]

That's.. hard to tell.. fact is that batteries "suffer" when they are loaded 100%
For perfect lifetime you should never charge your device over 80% and never use it below 20%. That's sort of a "fist-rule" which is ofcourse not really applicable in every day use.
What you could do is get over ebay the charger for the "Surface" or "Surface RT". Those are weaker (yet officially allowed to use on the SP 2) and some battery-worrying people use them since at average usage they can keep a SP(2) at an almost constant batterylevel.

That said, the difference is not thaaaat significant. I cannot tell numbers but quite surely even following that rules accurately wont elongate the battery by years or anything like that.
The people from iFixit who disassembled the Surface pro 2 revealed that it contains a rather high quality battery. So the lifetime should be quite good and most likely last as long till you will wish to get a new device.. xD Probably two Surface generations or more.

Besides that you can also elongate the batterytime about 60-70% by using the "Powercover" which will appear soon - of course at cost of more weight (about 1 pound).


EDIT: Another reason why on old laptops it was oftenly suggested either not to use the charger or to remove the battery was that batteries suffer the most from heat and laptop vents are often very close to the battery.
The SP 2 doesn't heat that much and it's main heat point isn't too close to the battery though. Yet it heats up from charging.

EDIT2: Whether you keep the charger conencted when not in use and when the battery is at 100% makes no difference though since the charging-curcuit cuts the power automatically at fully battery.

 

[the_new_normal]

From my reading, technically your dad is correct in that leaving device with a full charge all the time does degrade the battery. This is because the voltage increases as it nears 100% charge.
However devices these days are very good at managing charges, so I personally am not too concerned (but I do avoid leaving it plugged in all the time). What I do worry about is temperature, that will degrade my battery.
Keeping Your Laptop Plugged in All the Time Will Kill Its Battery Faster | Gadget Lab | Wired.com


Microsoft's battery care tips say:
"•Operating temperature: Surface is designed to work between 32°F and 95°F (or 0°C to 35°C). Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to high temperatures, so keep your Surface out of the sun and don’t leave it in a hot car.
•Recharge anytime: The battery doesn’t need to be empty or low before you recharge. You can recharge the battery whenever you’d like. However, it’s best to let the battery run to below 10 percent at least once per month before you recharge it."
Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 battery and power | Recharge Surface Pro

 

[Surface Dude]

Thanks i appreciate both your help!

That's.. hard to tell.. fact is that batteries "suffer" when they are loaded 100%
For perfect lifetime you should never charge your device over 80% and never use it below 20%. That's sort of a "fist-rule" which is ofcourse not really applicable in every day use.
What you could do is get over ebay the charger for the "Surface" or "Surface RT". Those are weaker (yet officially allowed to use on the SP 2) and some battery-worrying people use them since at average usage they can keep a SP(2) at an almost constant batterylevel.

That said, the difference is not thaaaat significant. I cannot tell numbers but quite surely even following that rules accurately wont elongate the battery by years or anything like that.
The people from iFixit who disassembled the Surface pro 2 revealed that it contains a rather high quality battery. So the lifetime should be quite good and most likely last as long till you will wish to get a new device.. xD Probably two Surface generations or more.

Besides that you can also elongate the batterytime about 60-70% by using the "Powercover" which will appear soon - of course at cost of more weight (about 1 pound).


EDIT: Another reason why on old laptops it was oftenly suggested either not to use the charger or to remove the battery was that batteries suffer the most from heat and laptop vents are often very close to the battery.
The SP 2 doesn't heat that much and it's main heat point isn't too close to the battery though. Yet it heats up from charging.

EDIT2: Whether you keep the charger conencted when not in use and when the battery is at 100% makes no difference though since the charging-curcuit cuts the power automatically at fully battery.

From my reading, technically your dad is correct in that leaving device with a full charge all the time does degrade the battery. This is because the voltage increases as it nears 100% charge.
However devices these days are very good at managing charges, so I personally am not too concerned (but I do avoid leaving it plugged in all the time). What I do worry about is temperature, that will degrade my battery.
Keeping Your Laptop Plugged in All the Time Will Kill Its Battery Faster | Gadget Lab | Wired.com


Microsoft's battery care tips say:
"•Operating temperature: Surface is designed to work between 32°F and 95°F (or 0°C to 35°C). Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to high temperatures, so keep your Surface out of the sun and don’t leave it in a hot car.
•Recharge anytime: The battery doesn’t need to be empty or low before you recharge. You can recharge the battery whenever you’d like. However, it’s best to let the battery run to below 10 percent at least once per month before you recharge it."
Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 battery and power | Recharge Surface Pro