Laptop Battery Problems

[OriginHacker21]

Dell Inspiron 600m (1.6Ghz Pentium M)

Purchased the laptop near Christmas of 2004. Since then it has been on an average of 8+ hours everyday. 99% of the time it has been plugged in. Only a handfull of times did I use it without the power cable and let it get close to 10% battery left.

At work last week Friday - I accidentally forgot to plug in the power supply and noticed that about 5-6 minutes after powering on the laptop it turned off at a pre-set shut down when the battery gets to 3% life left.

Well, yesterday and today I tested it out - the battery lasts anywhere from 5-12 minutes before shutting down to standbye. This morning I kept track - the last I saw before it went off was 80% battery left with 2:25 hours left. Looked away for a few minutes and boom - laptop off.


Do I need a new battery?

Co-worker suggest I try several drain & fills to revitalize the battery ("worked or his laptop"). I thought this only worked with the older nickle cadium batteries with memory effect - Lithium Ion isn't supposed to have a memory effect, no?

Thanks for your help, comments, experiences -Paul

 

[97tbird]

Did you check to see if any of your power/battery management settings have changed for some reason?

 

[OriginHacker21]

Went over everything - looks to be ok... I noticed that the when Running on batteries - turn off monitor: After 30 minutes and Turn off Hard Disks: After 30 minutes. I don't think I ever got close to 30 minutes though.

Talked to another co-worker and he said his laptop is doing the same thing after the laptop aged 2+ years. His new laptop (1 year old) only lasts 1 hour compared to 6+ when he first bought it. He was saying something about keeping it always plugged in really hurts the battery and you should be draining it / filling it regularly to keep the battery happy.

Interesting.

 

[Trucku]

I have same issue with older Toshiba. I ran the a toshiba battery utility where it drains then charges the battery. I used it an worked a few times when my battery would no longer fully charge, but now I need a replacement. Looks like your supposed to utilize the battery instead of treating it like a desktop. If I knew about the Toshiba utility long time ago I would have been using it regularly

 

[97tbird]

yeah, one thing that I always do is take the battery out if it's plugged in, and if I'm charging the battery and take the battery out asa it's 100% charged.
also, I can almost double the battery life by turning down the brightness of the screen by half...

 

[OriginHacker21]

Good idea 97tbird - thanks for the info Trucku. I'll have to remember this for my new laptop when I get one.

My dell laptop's battery has one of the laptop's supporting posts to the ground on it - so if I take out the battery the laptop leans off to the side - lol - oh well.

Yeah 97tbird - I remember when I first got the laptop - turning down the brightness took the life from 5hours to about 7.

Pretty interesting how much power those screens use even though they are LCD.

 

[Trucku]

your welcome

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I have a Compaq V2000. According to instructions HP provided, once a month the battery is to be fully discharged and a calibration procedure followed (if battery is rarely discharged fully with normal use). I started this late in the game, but now am on a regular schedule. Also, it says to remove the battery from the notebook if plugged into AC power continuously for more than two weeks. I use mine enough at work sites to use it unplugged every week or so. So far, the battery seems to have full capacity/time after one year. It seems like every computer manufacturer would list battery care practices at their website.

 

[punisher]

If you really want to go to the trouble to prolong the life of a LiIon battery: Store it in a cool place at ~40-50% charge status. Avoid discharging it below 10% at any time. The only thing worse than storing a LiIon in a hot plugged in laptop is freezing it.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

Quote:

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If you really want to go to the trouble to prolong the life of a LiIon battery: Store it in a cool place at ~40-50% charge status. Avoid discharging it below 10% at any time. The only thing worse than storing a LiIon in a hot plugged in laptop is freezing it.

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So why is HP saying to discharge the battery? I was under the assumption that it was for longevity, but maybe that part is more getting a accurate battery calibration. My battery will cost $150, so I would like to prolong its life.

 

[RTexasF]

Quote:

---

I have same issue with older Toshiba. I ran the a toshiba battery utility where it drains then charges the battery. I used it an worked a few times when my battery would no longer fully charge, but now I need a replacement. Looks like your supposed to utilize the battery instead of treating it like a desktop. If I knew about the Toshiba utility long time ago I would have been using it regularly

---

Did this utility come on your machine or can it be downloaded?

 

[Trucku]

I downloaded it off of Toshiba's web site. Unfortunately I made use of it too late.