Laptop battery dying too quickly

[Questi4110]

I bought an HP laptop about 10 months ago and when I first got it, the battery would last approximately 2.75 hours.

However, now I am lucky if it lasts about 1 hour.

I have only recharged the battery when it has been under 3% remaining to prevent it from developing a memory.


I was watching the battery levels the other day and in a matter of two minutes the battery jumped from 25% remaining to 5% remaining...What is going on?


Please help by answering these questions:

1. Why does the battery jump from 25-5 (maybe at some other points as well that I have not noticed yet) so quickly?

2. How long do these batteries usually last?

3. What can I do to preserve battery life?

4. Why has the battery life gone from 2.75 hours to less than 1 hour in a matter of 10 months?

5. Any other advice?


THANKS

 

[chazzzer]

I'm guessing that you normally use it with AC power? They tend to develop a memory when they rarely get used on battery. Thing is, it's not the actual batteries that have the memory, it's the intelligent (or no so intelligent, as it turns out) circuitry in the battery pack that tells the notebook how much power is left.

You can usually fix this by doing the following (these instructions are for Windows XP): In the Control Panel, open the Power Options applet. Click the Alarms tab and uncheck both boxes. This will make Windows stop listening to the stupid battery circuitry. Click back to the Power Schemes tab and set the power scheme to Always On, then change all of the battery options to Never. This ensures that your laptop will draw maximum power. Click OK and then unplug the AC power and let it sit. Eventually you'll see the battery hit 0%, but the laptop will keep running...usually for at least another 30 minutes. When it finally exhausts the battery, plug in the AC power and let it fully charge before turning it on. When you do boot it up, get it into Windows and then pull the AC plug again. It will do the same thing, though usually the power decline will be more gradual and it won't hit 0% nearly as fast. Run it all the way down again and then charge it back up again without turning it on.

Two cycles is usually enough to do it, but I've seen it take three before on a very old battery. What you're doing is retraining the circuitry as to what 0% really is, and also as to what 100% really is. Part of the problem is that the battery tells the computer that it's empty when it's not, and the other part is that it says it's full when it's not. Li-Ion cells don't have a memory, only the 'intelligent' controller in the battery does.

Don't forget to go back in and set the power scheme to Portable/Laptop and to turn the battery alarms back on after you're finished.

Batteries usually last 2.5 - 3 years whether you use them or not. That's because there's a charge-cycle lifetime of about 1000 cycles. Even if your computer has the AC power connected 24/7, the battery goes into a charge cycle for a short period of time every so often just to top off the battery. So, subtract one from the charge-cycle lifetime for every time that happens (about once a day). Plugging your laptop in for 30 minutes and then running off to the next meeting might seem like a good idea, but subtract one more charge-cycle each time you do this. I've seen batteries die after two years when the laptop has never been used on battery. If you really want your battery to last, leave it in the laptop bag when you're running off of AC power. The downside is that you usually can't just snap it on your computer when it's time to undock, you have to hibernate, undock, snap on the battery, then run to your meeting. If you don't use a docking station, you can snap it on before pulling the AC power.

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: chazzzer
I'm guessing that you normally use it with AC power? They tend to develop a memory when they rarely get used on battery. Thing is, it's not the actual batteries that have the memory, it's the intelligent (or no so intelligent, as it turns out) circuitry in the battery pack that tells the notebook how much power is left.

You can usually fix this by doing the following (these instructions are for Windows XP): In the Control Panel, open the Power Options applet. Click the Alarms tab and uncheck both boxes. This will make Windows stop listening to the stupid battery circuitry. Click back to the Power Schemes tab and set the power scheme to Always On, then change all of the battery options to Never. This ensures that your laptop will draw maximum power. Click OK and then unplug the AC power and let it sit. Eventually you'll see the battery hit 0%, but the laptop will keep running...usually for at least another 30 minutes. When it finally exhausts the battery, plug in the AC power and let it fully charge before turning it on. When you do boot it up, get it into Windows and then pull the AC plug again. It will do the same thing, though usually the power decline will be more gradual and it won't hit 0% nearly as fast. Run it all the way down again and then charge it back up again without turning it on.

Two cycles is usually enough to do it, but I've seen it take three before on a very old battery. What you're doing is retraining the circuitry as to what 0% really is, and also as to what 100% really is. Part of the problem is that the battery tells the computer that it's empty when it's not, and the other part is that it says it's full when it's not. Li-Ion cells don't have a memory, only the 'intelligent' controller in the battery does.

Don't forget to go back in and set the power scheme to Portable/Laptop and to turn the battery alarms back on after you're finished.

Batteries usually last 2.5 - 3 years whether you use them or not. That's because there's a charge-cycle lifetime of about 1000 cycles. Even if your computer has the AC power connected 24/7, the battery goes into a charge cycle for a short period of time every so often just to top off the battery. So, subtract one from the charge-cycle lifetime for every time that happens (about once a day). Plugging your laptop in for 30 minutes and then running off to the next meeting might seem like a good idea, but subtract one more charge-cycle each time you do this. I've seen batteries die after two years when the laptop has never been used on battery. If you really want your battery to last, leave it in the laptop bag when you're running off of AC power. The downside is that you usually can't just snap it on your computer when it's time to undock, you have to hibernate, undock, snap on the battery, then run to your meeting. If you don't use a docking station, you can snap it on before pulling the AC power.

THANKS!

Very detailed instructions...I will try them soon!

 

[Questi4110]

Alright I tried the instructions and no success. I did exactly what you stated and ran the cycle 3 times but the laptop battery still has the same problem - dying down too quickly.

To answer your previous question about whether I primarily used the laptop (in the past 10 months) through AC power hooked up, then no. I used to let the battery drain down to 1-3% and then hook up the AC power to it and let it charge to 100% (either while using it or not) and then disconnect the AC power from it.

Any other ideas and solutions please?



THANKS

 

[Questi4110]

bump

 

[FoBoT]

buy a new battery

don't drain it like that, modern Lithium batteries don't have a memory, just plug it up whenever you can, don't purposely drain it like that

 

[Questi4110]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
buy a new battery

don't drain it like that, modern Lithium batteries don't have a memory, just plug it up whenever you can, don't purposely drain it like that

I never drained it down. Sorry, I must have phrased it incorrectly. I use to use the laptop until the power level went to 1-3% and then started to charge it. I didn't purposely drain it down to 1-3% even when not using it.

 

[chazzzer]

Sounds like it might have been defective from the start; I've never heard of one failing so quickly. I did a quick search and it looks like HP warrants their batteries for one year, so you might want to call their Technical Support to see if it's covered.