Should I keep it plugged for better battery life?

[4ndy]

Hello,

very basic question, if I use the SP4 at home, should I leave the power connector plugged in when fully charged or take it off? I'm asking because batterybar shows A/C when fully charged, and was wondering if the juice when fully charged is taken directly from the power supply or still from the battery. Had about 7% battery wear off with a SP3 in 1 year btw.

 

[jnjroach]

From the Surface Support Site:

Battery care
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 any time. The battery doesn’t need to be empty or low before you recharge. You can recharge the battery whenever you 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 battery and power | Recharge Surface

 

[Philtastic]

On top of what jnjroach said, because you cannot remove and store the battery separate of the device, it is generally better to have the device plugged in whenever you can (unless you're trying to do that once-a-month drain) which prevents the battery from being used, thus lowering your number of used charges. In an ideal world, you would always have your battery hovering around 50% since keeping batteries fully charged degrades them.

 

[4ndy]

So if I understand correctly:
I should prefer keeping it plugged in at 100% if the device is used at home (something like 50% would be ideal but afaik there is no way to change the threshold). Because then it takes the energy out of the power cord, not touching the battery and decreasing that way the number of charging cycles.

 

[Zkyevolved]

I use my device 90% of the time while plugged in. My usage is very strange. My Surface Pro 2, more than 2 years later, has very very good battery life just because I used it mostly on the charger, and I discharged about once or twice a month (when I used it, especially while out and about, like at people's homes or work or transport). I say 90% of the time it's plugged in because I used my device at least 5-6 hours a day for work, and being at a desk most of the time it worked out just fine.

But remember one thing: It's a device you bought. Use it as you like. IF You're at home and you don't mind, keep it plugged in, but if you want to run around town or go to the couch and relax with it, do it! What's the point of paying all this money for a device just to be tethered down! Then again, my partner with a SP3 sits at a desk with the charger NOT plugged in and waits haha. It drives me nuts, but hey! To each his own, right?

 

[4ndy]

Thank you for your description. I use it as I like, when I am out in the wild I don't care much about charging (where is the fun at having such a beast, without getting comfortable with it on the couch x) ). As i have a portable charger with 12v supply (rawpower) and a chinese cable adapter for the Surface, it really leaves me with 1 less concern (getting through a long day at university without worrying when I should charge it). The mystery for me was the 8 hour at desk scenario, which has been solved thanks to you guys .

 

[Philtastic]

Basically, just use the device however you feel like it because, by the time the battery has suffered significant loss of maximum charge from wear in maybe 3-4 years, a much better device will be out that you'll probably want to upgrade to.