9 Cell Battery dying in sleep mode?

[Darthpwner]

Hi I have a Dell XPS 15 which has a really terrible battery life, so I bought a 9 cell battery in the hopes of getting extended battery life. I get about 30 minutes extra, which is better than nothing, but not ideal. My problem is that, whenever the battery gets to a low level (10%), I put it to sleep to try to save the battery. However, when I turn it on about 30 minutes later, the battery is completely drained. Any advice?

 

[Matt1970]

See if there is a battery calibration utility in your bios.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My laptop will go into hibernate mode when the battery gets too low, even if the laptop is already in sleep mode.

 

[corkyg]

Why allow the battery to get so low? Sleep only reduces power consumption. Hibernation may be a better solution for your mode. Apparently you have no A/C power available?

 

[Darthpwner]

I have no outlet in the classroom at UCLA to plug into and I can't find the hibernate setting on my Windows 8 Dell XPS 15.

 

[Darthpwner]

On the Power options, it is only Sleep, Reset, and Shut Down. For some reason, when I shut down too, I can't turn my laptop back on after a while unless I charge it, in which it says the battery level is at 1%

 

[RU482]

best thing you can do with a "new" battery.... Do a full charge. Do a full discharge (use the computer normally, until the battery is fully discharged....nothing out of the ordinary, don't change any settings, just run it till it shuts off). Repeat 3-5 times. This will give your battery it's best start in life, in terms of capacity. Then, at least every 90 days (30 days is better), perform a full charge/discharge cycle.

Also, if possible, avoid extreme temperatures. Anything above 25C begins to degrade Li-Ion Chemistry. If you can keep that battery between 15 and 20C while operating, that is ideal.

 

[RU482]

also, I would guess you have some process (such as an AntiVirus program) that is running more often than it needs to. Eliminate all the bloatware you have on your computer, change the settings on your Antivirus software to minimize when it performs scans....ect

 

[corkyg]

For that type of usage, it might also pay to carry a spare battery. RU484's suggestion is worth a shot as well. And - here's how to enable Hibernate in Windows 8:
1. You'll need to access your system's power settings, which you can do any number of ways. My preferred method: press Win-W (that's the Windows key and the letter w) to bring up the Settings Search menu, then type power.
2. Click Change what the power buttons do.
3. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of that window to find the "Shutdown settings" section.
5. Click the box next to Hibernate to enable the option.
6. Click Save changes.

It's a mystery to me why MS decided to hide hibernate by default.

 

[Darthpwner]

Okay awesome advice! Thank you!