Would This Be Possible.. Or Practical?

[Sir Face]

After just reading another forum member's post concerning "battery wear", I was just wondering, if the SP2's internal battery has worn itself down by 4% within 16 charges or so, would it be practical to use the Power Cover continuously, never let it's battery "zero out" and prevent the SP2's internal battery from ever running down any, and therefore reduce it's "wear"? It sure would be cheaper to replace a Power Cover than the SP2. Does that make any sense whatsoever?

 

[jefhart]

Microsoft says to drain the battery once a month for max lifetime. Saw it on their website somewhere...

 

[jnjroach]

The Power Cover make the Surface Pro an Ultrabook, kills the flexibility of the device. These are disposable devices at this point, you can expect 2 to 3 years depending on usage. I use the Power Cover when I will not have the ability to plug in during the day lasting 7+ hours (I.e. today). It isn't an everyday blade as far as I'm concerned, my Touch Cover 2 is with me to switch out when the cover has exhausted it charge.

 

[javispedro]

The "weird" power cover charging algorithm seems exactly designed to ensure that most of the wear goes to the power cover.

 

[Rvacha]

FWIW I *think* the battery wear metric is not entirely accurate in the early weeks. When you take it out of the box, it has already been "told" what the capacity should be, then adaptively learns about "actual" capacity via the "fuel gage" function. Thus if the capacity of the new battery was less than initially told, it will appear to have more wear after a few dozen cycles. I saw similar fast wearing on my SPs, but after a month or so the wearing slowed rather dramatically

 

[jrapdx]

FWIW I *think* the battery wear metric is not entirely accurate in the early weeks. When you take it out of the box, it has already been "told" what the capacity should be, then adaptively learns about "actual" capacity via the "fuel gage" function. Thus if the capacity of the new battery was less than initially told, it will appear to have more wear after a few dozen cycles. I saw similar fast wearing on my SPs, but after a month or so the wearing slowed rather dramatically

Hmm, I vaguely remember learning years ago that rechargeable batteries lose capacity more quickly when new, then the rate of loss "flattens out", settling in to a slow decline until near EOL, and then can "die" quickly.

Of course, battery formulation technologies have evolved like so many other technologies, so this "rule of thumb" may apply to less degree than before. I'd defer to others with more up-to-date info, but quite possibly the old idea still has some merit.

As usual, looks like I have still more to learn...