Did my battery just shit the bed?

[Jeff7181]

Been using my laptop for a couple hours... battery usually lasts 3.5-4. All of a sudden it went from 53% to 7% and the light started flashing orange. (Latitude D520)
Is that usually what happens when a battery fails? Doesn't feel hot or anything, maybe a cell died?

 

[corkyg]

How old was the battery? Sometimes they simply die.

 

[Jeff7181]

It's about 1.5 years old. It's strange though because it hasn't shown any other sign of getting near the end of its life. It holds its charge, it lasts as long as it ever has.
I just recharged it, and it recharged to 44% and then quit charging. Now I've unplugged it so it's running on the battery and it says it has less than 2 hours of life with a "full" charge.
Looks like I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and get a new one.

 

[Jeff7181]

Dell wants $140 for replacement batteries. I see a bunch of no name ones on eBay for $20-40. Is it worth trying one of those or should I just fork over the $140 for one from Dell?

 

[Rottie]

I used other non brand name battery for my old laptop and it worked very well but I don't buy from ebay.

Directron website

 

[Fardor]

get it on eBay.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Rottie
I used other non brand name battery for my old laptop and it worked very well but I don't buy from ebay.

Directron website

I'm looking at a few batteries on that site and I don't see one specifically for mine, or one that has the same specs as mine.

This one is pretty close, but is only 4320 mAH and mine is supposedly 4700 mAH. And it's only $30 cheaper.

This one says it's for the D500 series, but doesn't look like it will fit and also doesn't have comparable specs.

This one looks exactly like mine, but it's 14.8 volts, not 11.1 and it's only 2200 mAH.

Back to eBay I go...

 

[manimal]

I started reading the thread looking for pictures of battery poop on a bed, was kind of disappointed lol


Surprisingly you can order OEM replacement batteries for relatively cheap from best buy.com look for partsearch or call 1800bestbuy for info. I got a 70 dollar battery for my wifes gateway from them.

 

[Jeff7181]

Looks like it wasn't the battery. I just got the replacement and it's acting exactly the same as the original one.
I got the new one, checked the battery gauge and it was at 0%.
Put it in the computer and booted it up... immediately went up to 37% and charged up to 100%.
I unplugged it and ran it on the battery. It got down to about 70% and then immediately dropped to 7% and the critical battery warning came on.

Now I'm thinking it's an internal problem.

 

[TC91]

it sounds like the battery is not charging properly, maybe a new power block/cable would help, or the battery's capacity is not being properly read/recognized; you can try reinstalling windows perhaps with the backup/recovery disc to see if that would help.

 

[Jeff7181]

Definitely not a Windows issue since Windows doesn't control the charging circuit.

Looks like it may have been the battery afterall. I took it to work today and ran it on the battery so I could try one of the AC adapters they have there, and it discharged normally, recharged normally, then partially discharged normally again before it was time for me to punch out.

/shrug

This new battery lasts longer too... I get almost 6 hours now without doing anything that sucks up power.

 

[zig3695]

li-ions only have a godd 2 year working lifespan anyway... you didnt get the most out of it but 1 and a half years isnt shabby either

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: zig3695
li-ions only have a godd 2 year working lifespan anyway... you didnt get the most out of it but 1 and a half years isnt shabby either

Really? I thought it was longer than that. Oh well... guess I didn't make out quite so bad afterall.

 

[TC91]

i believe li-ions have a 'lifespan' of 300-500 charge cycles depending on the battery. everytime you discahrge it fully and recharge it fully, that is one cycle. if you discharge it only half way and recharge it at that point, that is a half cycle, and so forth. in addition, if you have the laptop plugged in with a 100% charged battery often, that can really mess up the battery's capacity. my friend did that with his laptop, its only a year and half or so years old, and now he only gets 45min of battery opposed to the 3.5hrs he initially got.

 

[Jeff7181]

I set up monitoring in Windows to graphically show the problem I'm having. Looks like it's not resolved after all.

Image

As you can see, this is over a 2 hour period. Battery started at 100% charge and stopped logging when Windows shut down due to the critical battery alarm. Discharge rate remains fairly consistent, even where you see the remaining battery power take a nose dive. This graph is with my new battery installed... same thing happens with the old one.

 

[Tiamat]

any more resolution? I have the same problem but with my dell E1505. The battery is dead after 11 months. Dell wants 180$ for it! All the EBAY ones say they are compatible but have different voltage ratings -- not sure what that is supposed to be. I have Platinum Warranty but doesn't cover the battery itself.

You seem to still having the same problems even after replacing the battery?

 

[Jeff7181]

I described the problem to the place I bought the replacement battery from and the guy who answered seemed confident that it was a bad DC regulator on the motherboard. Said the whole motherboard would have to be replaced.
Right now I'm living with it... can't decide if I want to get a new motherboard for this one or get a different laptop.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I described the problem to the place I bought the replacement battery from and the guy who answered seemed confident that it was a bad DC regulator on the motherboard. Said the whole motherboard would have to be replaced.
Right now I'm living with it... can't decide if I want to get a new motherboard for this one or get a different laptop.

That sounds crappy. Dell wants e to buy their 180$ battery before further troubleshooting. I wish there were a way I could coax dell into checking the DC regulator on my motherboard under warranty without me forking 180$ for a battery that i might not need...

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I described the problem to the place I bought the replacement battery from and the guy who answered seemed confident that it was a bad DC regulator on the motherboard. Said the whole motherboard would have to be replaced.
Right now I'm living with it... can't decide if I want to get a new motherboard for this one or get a different laptop.

That sounds crappy. Dell wants e to buy their 180$ battery before further troubleshooting. I wish there were a way I could coax dell into checking the DC regulator on my motherboard under warranty without me forking 180$ for a battery that i might not need...

Find out what the return policy is on the battery. If you can return it, go ahead and do so... if not, keep asking to speak to supervisors/managers until they agree to look at the laptop before you buy a $180 battery that may or may not fix the problem. Point out that throwing parts at it hoping it solves the problem is poor troubleshooting and poor customer support.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I described the problem to the place I bought the replacement battery from and the guy who answered seemed confident that it was a bad DC regulator on the motherboard. Said the whole motherboard would have to be replaced.
Right now I'm living with it... can't decide if I want to get a new motherboard for this one or get a different laptop.

That sounds crappy. Dell wants e to buy their 180$ battery before further troubleshooting. I wish there were a way I could coax dell into checking the DC regulator on my motherboard under warranty without me forking 180$ for a battery that i might not need...

Find out what the return policy is on the battery. If you can return it, go ahead and do so... if not, keep asking to speak to supervisors/managers until they agree to look at the laptop before you buy a $180 battery that may or may not fix the problem. Point out that throwing parts at it hoping it solves the problem is poor troubleshooting and poor customer support.

Very good points, thanks for the tips. I hope you are able to resolve your problem as well, but if you have to replace the mainboard out of warranty, seems like you could just buy a new laptop and solve all potential problems

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I set up monitoring in Windows to graphically show the problem I'm having. Looks like it's not resolved after all.

Image

As you can see, this is over a 2 hour period. Battery started at 100% charge and stopped logging when Windows shut down due to the critical battery alarm. Discharge rate remains fairly consistent, even where you see the remaining battery power take a nose dive. This graph is with my new battery installed... same thing happens with the old one.

What program is that?

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: TC91
i believe li-ions have a 'lifespan' of 300-500 charge cycles depending on the battery. everytime you discahrge it fully and recharge it fully, that is one cycle. if you discharge it only half way and recharge it at that point, that is a half cycle, and so forth. in addition, if you have the laptop plugged in with a 100% charged battery often, that can really mess up the battery's capacity. my friend did that with his laptop, its only a year and half or so years old, and now he only gets 45min of battery opposed to the 3.5hrs he initially got.

What's bad is unplugging it and replugging it too soon. You are supposed to let the battery run out a bit first.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: TC91
i believe li-ions have a 'lifespan' of 300-500 charge cycles depending on the battery. everytime you discahrge it fully and recharge it fully, that is one cycle. if you discharge it only half way and recharge it at that point, that is a half cycle, and so forth. in addition, if you have the laptop plugged in with a 100% charged battery often, that can really mess up the battery's capacity. my friend did that with his laptop, its only a year and half or so years old, and now he only gets 45min of battery opposed to the 3.5hrs he initially got.

What's bad is unplugging it and replugging it too soon. You are supposed to let the battery run out a bit first.

problem is I have to run the battery while using AC power because the battery has one of the pads on the bottom of it that levels the laptop. IF i remove the battery, the laptop bounces around as I type

Talk about dell designing for failure of battery!

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I set up monitoring in Windows to graphically show the problem I'm having. Looks like it's not resolved after all.

Image

As you can see, this is over a 2 hour period. Battery started at 100% charge and stopped logging when Windows shut down due to the critical battery alarm. Discharge rate remains fairly consistent, even where you see the remaining battery power take a nose dive. This graph is with my new battery installed... same thing happens with the old one.

What program is that?

Event Viewer in Vista.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I described the problem to the place I bought the replacement battery from and the guy who answered seemed confident that it was a bad DC regulator on the motherboard. Said the whole motherboard would have to be replaced.
Right now I'm living with it... can't decide if I want to get a new motherboard for this one or get a different laptop.

That sounds crappy. Dell wants e to buy their 180$ battery before further troubleshooting. I wish there were a way I could coax dell into checking the DC regulator on my motherboard under warranty without me forking 180$ for a battery that i might not need...

Find out what the return policy is on the battery. If you can return it, go ahead and do so... if not, keep asking to speak to supervisors/managers until they agree to look at the laptop before you buy a $180 battery that may or may not fix the problem. Point out that throwing parts at it hoping it solves the problem is poor troubleshooting and poor customer support.

Very good points, thanks for the tips. I hope you are able to resolve your problem as well, but if you have to replace the mainboard out of warranty, seems like you could just buy a new laptop and solve all potential problems

Yes, I'm considering it. I might do that when the Mobile Penryns are out in force. I think I'll stay away from Dell this time. Heck, I might even go with a Mac and dual boot OS X and Vista Business.