CMOS battery

I'm told the typical life of a CMOS battery may be anywhere from 5-9 years.

IF a computer is powered off most of the time {a spare backup computer},
will the battery last just as long?

Or, is the 5-9 year estimated life of the battery predicated upon the
computer being in regular use?

Thanks - james

James wrote:
> I'm told the typical life of a CMOS battery may be anywhere from 5-9
> years.
> IF a computer is powered off most of the time {a spare backup
> computer}, will the battery last just as long?
>
> Or, is the 5-9 year estimated life of the battery predicated upon the
> computer being in regular use?
>
> Thanks - james

Either.

On Tue, 22 May 2007 23:25:12 -0700, "James" <jc55@roadrunner.com>
wrote:

>I'm told the typical life of a CMOS battery may be anywhere from 5-9 years.
>
>IF a computer is powered off most of the time {a spare backup computer},
>will the battery last just as long?
>
>Or, is the 5-9 year estimated life of the battery predicated upon the
>computer being in regular use?



Actually, the battery is used *only* when the computer is powered off,
to maintain the CMOS setting. However, although I have no statistics,
I doubt very much if there's an appreciable difference in battery life
either way.

I also question whether the typical life of a battery is as long as
5-9 years. Again, I have no statistics, but I would have guessed
something more like 3-5 years.

And typical lifetimes don't really matter much, because your battery
may not be typical, and could fail *much* sooner.

Finally, it doesn't really matter much. Replacing a battery is very
inexpensive and easy to do.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Ken, thanks for the reply. I've already handwritten down all the CMOS
settings - just in case.

james


"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
>
>>I'm told the typical life of a CMOS battery may be anywhere from 5-9
>>years.
>>
>>IF a computer is powered off most of the time {a spare backup computer},
>>will the battery last just as long?
>>
>>Or, is the 5-9 year estimated life of the battery predicated upon the
>>computer being in regular use?
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Wed, 23 May 2007 09:19:53 -0700, "James" <jc55@roadrunner.com>
wrote:

>Ken, thanks for the reply. I've already handwritten down all the CMOS
>settings - just in case.



You're welcome. Glad to help. And yes, keeping a hard copy of those
settings--just in case--in a prudent thing to do.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> On Tue, 22 May 2007 23:25:12 -0700, "James" <jc55@roadrunner.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I'm told the typical life of a CMOS battery may be anywhere from 5-9 years.
>>
>> IF a computer is powered off most of the time {a spare backup computer},
>> will the battery last just as long?
>>
>> Or, is the 5-9 year estimated life of the battery predicated upon the
>> computer being in regular use?
>
>
>
> Actually, the battery is used *only* when the computer is powered off,
> to maintain the CMOS setting. However, although I have no statistics,
> I doubt very much if there's an appreciable difference in battery life
> either way.
>
> I also question whether the typical life of a battery is as long as
> 5-9 years. Again, I have no statistics, but I would have guessed
> something more like 3-5 years.
>
> And typical lifetimes don't really matter much, because your battery
> may not be typical, and could fail *much* sooner.
>
> Finally, it doesn't really matter much. Replacing a battery is very
> inexpensive and easy to do.
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup


"Replacing a battery is very inexpensive and easy to do."
Question: when removing the old battery and replacing it with a new one,
do you have a certain amount of time before the settings are lost? Or do
they vanish the second you pull out the old battery?

richard

On Fri, 25 May 2007 22:52:14 -0400, richard <rmk@wonderland.net>
wrote:


>> Finally, it doesn't really matter much. Replacing a battery is very
>> inexpensive and easy to do.
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
>> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>
>
>"Replacing a battery is very inexpensive and easy to do."
>Question: when removing the old battery and replacing it with a new one,
>do you have a certain amount of time before the settings are lost? Or do
>they vanish the second you pull out the old battery?



Yes, you have a little time. How long is variable, but it's usually a
minute or so, sometimes longer.

My view, however, is that it's not prudent to rely on this, but always
to make sure you have hard-copy record of what the settings are, just
in case.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup