[larryinlc]

I have a nice little Sony Vaio 8 inch netbook(older model but still new) that I use on battery power 100% of the time. It's a proprietary battery that is no longer being produced. They're still available, but I suppose that will dry up in time. While I don't need one now, I worry that when I do, I won't be able to get one.

My question concerns shelf life of this type of battery. Would it be stupid to buy an extra now and never use it and expect it to still have the normal charge/discharge cycles of a fresh battery even though it might sit in the closet for a year or more? They are the typical Lithium-Ion used today.

Larry

[KxBlaze]

After only 1 year the battery should still be very close to 100%. If it sits for 2 or more years is when I would start to worry a bit. Can you find the battery from a 3rd party? I have a Vaio laptop that is over 5 years old and have recently bought a 3rd party battery that performs as well as the sony one did.

[wlachan]

From what I have read, but with no way to verify, rechargeable lithium batteries lose their capacity even in storage and have about 3 year shelf life. If that was true, you might be better off buying 3rd party notebook batteries when needed in the future. Quality probably varies greatly however. Then again, you might not be using the same computer anymore 3 years later.