How many hours does your battery last after one year you've got Inspiron?

[wanchan]

I've got my Inspiron 5150 thirteen months ago. I just measured how many hours and mins my battery last per one full charge, The result turned out to be appx 2.5 hours. The battery life was about 3 hours when brand new, and Dell claimed, was up to 4 hours.

I made a critical mistake as a result of my ignorance. I didn't know I could run the laptop using directly main power via the AC adapter. So throughout the one-year heavy use mostly on my desk, I had the battery kept inside the laptop. However, I was aware however the battery life would be shortened if it got continously charged. I always unpluged the AC adapter when fully charged and pluged it back when the battery ran out.

According to the thisDell KB
, the type of the battery I have gets max 500 charges. Well, knowing no too much I can do at this point, I would appreciate you tell me "How many hours your battery lasts after one year you've got Inspiron?"

I did a couple of tests while working on non-system-intensive apps. My battery lasted about 2.5 hrs before the battery meter hit 3% and went stand-by. Mine was always set 15% before the alarm popped up.

Another question is about dust-control actually. I am a clean-freak Taking out the battery opens a big door on my Inspiron. Is there any way, I can minimize the dust being sucked into the Inspiron? I will use the laptop mostly using main eletricity power without the battery since it is too heady for me to carry around...

 

[Abhi]

Mine used to last 3.5 hrs....

after 10 months.... it started overheating... and started lasted only 1 hr 30 mins or so.

I got a new battery under warranty... so now i am back to 3 hours + ...

 

[wanchan]

1:30 hrs in mo? That is a whole lot less.
Just curious how much you paid for the new one. Guess I need another myself.

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: wanchan
1:30 hrs in mo? That is a whole lot less.

There was some malfunction with my battery. One day i noticed the battery overheating ... (it got too hot too touch). I called Dell and reported the matter. They wrote it off and told me there was nothing to worry about.

Then after that, whenver I left the battery plugged in to the laptop with A/C on, the battery kept overheating. Also, the standby time decreased from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours... I guess the battery must have been damaged from the overheating. I guess that it was overcharging itself.

After 30 mins on the phone they agreed to replace the battery under warranty....

Just curious how much you paid for the new one. Guess I need another myself.

It got replaced free of cost, since it was under warranty.

 

[htmlmasterdave]

er, wtf? Why would you have to take the battery out when it's plugged in, doesn't it stop charging it when it's been fully charged? Also it shouldn't have a memory, so draining it all the time seems pointless.