is it safe to leave the battery in all the time?

[Greta2013]

hi, everyone. I've been having quite a bit of problems for my 610 battery lately, and i am very worried that whether it is about to go heaven. when first bought, it has 2.5-3 hours battery life while it is just 1 hr now. Sounds crazy, I was doubting that if i have make some mistakes when using the battery. I always leave it in the notebook though the external power adapter is connected,. Is it safe exactly?

From technical points of view online, there are three options: 1. remove the battery and only use the ac adapter to power the laptop. 2. only use the battery to keep the laptop work after it is fully charged. 3 leave the battery in all the time even when the ac adapter is connecting. both are fairly reasonable. what option will be the better way? I bought it from a 3rd party website http://www.laptopbatteryselling.com/compaq-laptop-battery/compaq-610-battery-6-cell-5200mah-10-8v.html and have asked for help, they gave me an uncertain answer.

Any thoughts? Oh... and sorry for the long post!

[David (PassMark)]

It depends on the battery chemistry, how good the charging circuit is and how you use the laptop.

The older NiCds for example don't like being overcharged, nor being run down until they are dead flat. Newer NiMH aren't much better.

They also self discharge if you have them disconnected.

If the laptop manufacturer has done a good job and matched a good quality charging circuit with the battery type they are using then you should be able to leave the battery in the machine.