colelini00 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) This will be my first year with LOR and I have one final question before I start my show Thanksgiving night. I know it is probably best to leave the controllers plugged in all the time but do you all leave the show computer on for the whole month you have the lights running? My only concern with this is the wear it could have on the battery of my laptop, being plugged in all the time. It's not a very big battery and it was a rather cheap laptop. I was just trying to save myself from having to turn the computer on everyday and start the show manually. I'm not always going to be home to do this. Edited November 24, 2015 by colelini00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robongar Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 If the computer is plugged into the mains, I would assume, it wouldn't effect the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 My show computer is a desktop, not a laptop so obviously it's plugged in all the time. However except if I'm doing something with it, it runs 24x7x365. It runs a year round landscape show which is why it runs all year. I do have it do a schedule re-boot every afternoon. For your laptop, running it plugged in all the time should not be a problem. Laptops for years have had fairly decent battery management systems so they don't cook batteries with extended plugged in operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zvacman Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Fellow newbie here. I had the same concern as you do. My cheap laptop has a lithium battery in it, so the charging regiment is more forgiving than NiCad batteries are. I connected my power supply for the laptop to a timer that shuts the power off for periods of time through the night and day except during show times. I don't know if this will help preserve the battery but it certainly can't hurt.Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 For your laptop, running it plugged in all the time should not be a problem. Laptops for years have had fairly decent battery management systems so they don't cook batteries with extended plugged in operation. I run my show with a laptop and leave it powered up and running 24/7. I never unplug the power cord to it. Not sure why I would want to either. If it's to cycle the battery, that's not a concern of mine. But for the month of December, I'm sure the battery would be fine not to cycle it and just leave it powered up all the time. But that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORisAwesome Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 k6ccc How do you schedule a reboot, and what do you do about the password screen? Belly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 k6ccc How do you schedule a reboot, and what do you do about the password screen? Belly The reboot is a scheduled task (on the control panel). Microsoft radically changed the Scheduled task setup with (I think) Windows Vista so any explanation may be off depending on what OS you have. You do have to have administrator rights to set it up, but not to run. As far as the password screen. Again depending on how your network is setup can change it a bit. For a fairly normal consumer computer setup, it's not hard to have it skip the logon completely. In my case I have the computer log into a domain so there is are a couple registry entries required to always log onto the domain. If you're fairly computer technical, a fast google search will give enough instructions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdNetman Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Leaving the computer on all the time should not be an issue, and the battery can be removed while the laptop is plugged in. This should help with any battery wear and tear concerns. I have my laptop plugged in and set to never sleep unless it gets undocked. Laptop and desktop get rebooted about once a month (patch Tuesday). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colelini00 Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Thank you everyone for your help. The battery in this laptop can be removed while plugged in like EdNetman said, which is a plus if anything does ever go wrong with the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary N Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 I use a Dell about a year old(laptop), The computer itself told me to set it to desktop mode to conserve on battery life if I was going to leave it pluged in all the time. You may want to check your power settings. Happy Lighting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msturtz Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Don't worry about the battery at all. The computer knows how to monitor the battery, it will charge it up, and then keep it charged. It won't damage it at all. (actually, its much better for your battery to be plugged in as much as possible -- batteries are actually rated in charge/discharge cycles more than age.) -Matt- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed K Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I have a 3.5 year old Sony Vaio i7 laptop, with a hard drive (i.e., not a solid state drive) that I have plugged in permanently to a port replicator. I rarely turn my laptop off, and I have not had any problems with it running all the time. Of course, because my laptop is plugged in, it's not running on the battery, but the battery is being charged. However, the Vaio is not technically charging the battery when the battery is at 100%, So, my experience has been that having my laptop up and running all the time has not done any harm to my laptop. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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