Is it time i get new laptop battery?

[LanceC09]

Hi, first off the laptop was bought in May 2014.

Recently i had it on charge and noticed that it said 1 min till full charge yet it was on 98% and did not go any higher. I turned off charge and its losing more than 1% every minute during all of this i am not gaming i am browsing the web. Then when it time to charge again i charges very quickly and this time gets stuck at 97%. Then looking online i read something about it displaying the battery capacity incorrectly to let it drain out then leave it for 5 hour then full recharge. So i have done that and just now been charging it, and just this second it was on 86% and said it needed 6 minutes till its fully charged, and then its just instantly said its at 100% percent fully charged.

Is it time for a new battery?

Ok so cause it said its fully charged i unplug it after again around a minute its on 99% and a bit later it just jumped from 99 to 96

 

[ubuysa]

It's quite common for the Windows battery monitor (which is terribly inaccurate in any case) to get out of sync with the actual state of charge of the battery. To re-sync them do the following:

1. Switch the laptop off, plug in the charger and leave it on charge for 24 hours. Do not use it at all during this period.

2. Unplug the charger and switch the laptop on. Ensure that in the power option settings the low battery level is set to 10% and the action is notify, and the critical battery level is set to 5% and the action is shutdown (these are the defaults). Turn off sleep and hibernate and leave the laptop on until it's shutdown by the critical battery level setting. You can use the laptop normally during this time but do not shutdown manually and do not switch it off manually.

3. Plug in the charger and leave the laptop on charge for 24 hours. Do not use it at all during this period.

You should now have a fully charged battery and Windows battery monitor should be in sync with it. Now remove the charger and see how long the battery will power the laptop under normal use, if it's less than about 30 minutes then you probably do need to think about a new battery.

 

[LanceC09]

If i had to get a new battery do you or anyone else reading this know of where to get one.

 

[SpyderTracks]

If i had to get a new battery do you or anyone else reading this know of where to get one.

You can log into your main PCS site account and go to upgrades section to check if they still have some.

I picked up one not long ago for my laptop bought in early 2014

 

[LanceC09]

It's quite common for the Windows battery monitor (which is terribly inaccurate in any case) to get out of sync with the actual state of charge of the battery. To re-sync them do the following:

1. Switch the laptop off, plug in the charger and leave it on charge for 24 hours. Do not use it at all during this period.

2. Unplug the charger and switch the laptop on. Ensure that in the power option settings the low battery level is set to 10% and the action is notify, and the critical battery level is set to 5% and the action is shutdown (these are the defaults). Turn off sleep and hibernate and leave the laptop on until it's shutdown by the critical battery level setting. You can use the laptop normally during this time but do not shutdown manually and do not switch it off manually.

3. Plug in the charger and leave the laptop on charge for 24 hours. Do not use it at all during this period.

You should now have a fully charged battery and Windows battery monitor should be in sync with it. Now remove the charger and see how long the battery will power the laptop under normal use, if it's less than about 30 minutes then you probably do need to think about a new battery.

Well ive just tried this as i had time to do it. When ive turned it on and should have a full battery it was on 80%, i timed it and after 2 minutes and about 30 seconds it went down to 71% and then when it was on for about 5 minutes it just died. So i think ill have to get a new battery.

Also if someone knows when i game on the laptop is it ok to not have the battery in it and just have it plugged in? Reason being i think ive heard somewhere that if you keep the battery in it and have it plugged in while the battery is fully charged it will kill the battery quicker.

 

[ubuysa]

Well ive just tried this as i had time to do it. When ive turned it on and should have a full battery it was on 80%, i timed it and after 2 minutes and about 30 seconds it went down to 71% and then when it was on for about 5 minutes it just died. So i think ill have to get a new battery.

Also if someone knows when i game on the laptop is it ok to not have the battery in it and just have it plugged in? Reason being i think ive heard somewhere that if you keep the battery in it and have it plugged in while the battery is fully charged it will kill the battery quicker.

I agree, it sounds as though your battery has died. If PCS don't have one then use the model number on the bottom and Google to see whether they can be had from anywhere else. Be aware that 'no name equivalent' batteries (especially cheap ones) may not last more than a few months.

It is ok to have it plugged in and the battery out - unless the mains power fails of course. Laptops are not designed to fail gracefully if the mains dies because the battery will continue to run it, so a mains failure whilst running with the battery out might have unintended consequences.

Modern laptops have very intelligent charge protection systems and there is no danger of reducing the life of a battery by leaving it on power all the time. The biggest cause of Li-Ion battery failure is heat, they like to be kept cool so a laptop cooling stand (fan assisted) not only lengthens the life of your laptop it also lengthens the life of your battery.

That said, if you know the battery has died it's very unwise to leave it in with the laptop on power, that's because you don't know how the battery has failed, if it's developed an internal short circuit you could damage the laptop's charging system and could even be at risk of a fire.