brand new laptop battery went from fully charged to 30 percent after two months?

[VirtualLarry]

Is this normal? Or is there something wrong with the battery? I think I charged it to 100% when I got it, and then just let it sit for a couple of months. I pulled it out, fired it up, and it was reading 30%. Then I plugged it in, and then it was reading 19%, within the span of two minutes, just sitting at the desktop. It's a 6-cell battery.

 

[corkyg]

It is probably within tolerance. It is not recommended to store a battery at 100% charge. The recommended charge for that is about 40%.

 

[jvroig]

That's pretty much what happened to a 6-cell I had. Almost same story, except mine is older. Over a year old, but still performed close enough to brand new. Then I ended up storing it away for I don't know how long, couple of months. Next time I decided to bring it along was on a plane flight, and I was surprised it was only giving me 30 minutes, when last I remembered it was still good for over 1.5 hours.

I knew better than to leave it at 100% charge, but accidents happen, it's not like I planned to not use it for an extended period, I just didn't. Learning experience.

 

[jimhsu]

If you do have to leave it at full charge, put it somewhere just above freezing (i.e. your fridge). Try to put it in a bag to minimize condensation and "freezer smell". The suggestion is still to store it with about 50% charge. The lifetime is Li-ion batteries is primarily dictated by a) # of charge cycles (from empty to full), b) ambient temperature, and c) average charge level.

At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the time at 25 °C or 77 °F will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. However, a battery in a poorly ventilated laptop may be subject to a prolonged exposure to much higher temperatures, which will significantly shorten its life. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C (32 °F), 20% at 25 °C (77 °F), and 35% at 40 °C (104 °F). When stored at 40%–60% charge level, the capacity loss is reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively.[36][citation needed]

 

[jvroig]

I have seen some articles that say it is healthy to completely drain the battery a few times a month or something like that. Then I also read some that said the complete opposite, that you should avoid completely draining your battery.

I personally follow the "drain your laptop battery and full charge it once in a while" guideline. I wonder if the opposite is actually beneficial, to never let the battery get empty?

 

[Emulex]

1. poor charger (or non factory model) - variance of 1% can kill a battery
2. you left it in the laptop for a month or two in crappy weather without using it
3. always topped it up (not letting it run down ever)

would not surprise me one bit if you went cheap and bought aftermarket.

 

[VirtualLarry]

1. poor charger (or non factory model) - variance of 1% can kill a battery
2. you left it in the laptop for a month or two in crappy weather without using it
3. always topped it up (not letting it run down ever)

would not surprise me one bit if you went cheap and bought aftermarket.

It's a brand-new factory-fresh OEM battery that came with the laptop. Only charged once.

I wasn't saying that the maximum charge possible is now only 30%, only that the stored charge went from 100% down to 30% available in a span of two months. I thought that the stored charge would last longer than that. I charged it back up anyways.