Common battery life tips for any device

Question

Even though many devices are very different, there are often common settings or features that can be turned off (or on, in some cases) to get better battery life, such as background lights.

What are good things to look at setting on any device when trying to save some juice?

Answer 1

Screen brightness is the #1 thing I change. After that, any network service that's constantly polling for a connection is big - Bluetooth is a huge power hog (at least on my cell and notebook).

Answer 2

• Avoid moving optical mouse devices when not in use (they trip into active state)
• Keep mobile phones away from heat (like deep in your pockets) and, away from tightly confined places (where they see lower signal strength)
• On any screen that allows dimming, use lower intensity settings
• For older CRT Monitors, keep the BIOS setting to turn off on idle
• Do no run-down Li-Ion batteries completely (however, consider a recalibration with full discharge about once a year)
• When using laptop on batteries for a longer time, try a Ubuntu USB Boot if possible and turn off the HDD with hdparm (saves battery by lower heat and power)
• If you keep your chargeable battery powered devices fully charged and plugged to AC power (think laptop), check that they are not overheating. That would be bad for battery life.

Finally, to get deeper on your battery chemistry and longevity read up relevant parts from BatteryUniversity pages.

Answer 3

On anything with a screen that runs on battery power, turn off that backlight!

Answer 4

I often turn off any wireless radio devices such as WiFi and BlueTooth and unplug anything I'm not using from ports, as they all draw power...