Laptop's battery getting wonky

[MoodyBlues]

I rarely unplug my newer laptop. Yes, I *DO* know that you're not supposed to leave it plugged in all the time! It kills the battery, blah blah blah... Got it. But I do it anyway. Hence the reason my older laptop can ONLY be used when plugged in--its battery doesn't hold a charge for even a millisecond.

Anyway, I actually unplugged this one for a while today, and after less than two hours it was down to 4% charged. Oh dear. So I plugged it back in, and it's been charging all day, but now it's stuck at 93% charged, whereas it's always shown 100% before.

Does this sound like the beginning of the end...for yet ANOTHER one of my laptops' batteries?!

By the way, I actually NEED it to be charged up for tomorrow--Southern California Edison is turning off my power tomorrow. No, I didn't forget to pay the bill. :laugh: They're working on 'upgrading our equipment' and are 'sorry for the inconvenience' but the whole neighborhood will be without power, for any or all of 8:00am-5:00pm tomorrow.

I don't think it makes any difference, but the laptop is a 1-1/2 year old HP dv7t, running Linux, of course.

 

[nickdalzell]

some machines won't charge to 100% or even charge when the level drops to 94%. in my Kubuntu i got a battery status icon in Cairo Dock, and it will allow it to drop to around 89% before it starts charging again. either this is hard-coded into the BIOS (it did it also in Win8) or something is protecting the battery from this kind of failure. although i've never gotten two hours of use out of any laptop battery. they're no tablet that's for sure. i often think the battery is meant to be used as a UPS rather than a productivity or mobility feature.

 

[MoodyBlues]

When this laptop was new--and on the rare occasions when I did actually unplug it!--I'd get about 3-4 hours of battery life. It's been dropping steadily to today's low of less than 2 hours. But I don't do anything very battery intensive when it's running on battery, so that likely explains why I got as much battery time out of it as I did...before...

 

[nickdalzell]

laptop batteries only have a one-two year life span at best. they still don't make them as high-quality as those found in tablets or phones today. my iPad is probably as powerful if not more or slightly less than my laptop but i can get 7-8 hours of use out of it, even playing games. with my laptop, which isn't a year old yet (my ipad is approaching its 1-year birthday) the battery claims i can get 56 minutes out of it in my normal use, but if i turn the screen to unusably dim, mute the sound, disable wifi, and stop playing games, essentially making it into a word processor, it can go for one, maybe two hours. been that way since day one.

not sure about HP but with Dell, their batteries have a pre-determined death date of 300 full charge cycles or two years, whichever comes first. when that is exceeded the battery's electronics blow some kind of FET that is reported by the status LED or battery status LEDs itself blinking in a 1-3-5 pattern. on the computer, this is reported by 1 flash, pause, three flashes, pause and five flashes and repeats (using the charging indicator to do this) and the pack will flash LEDs 1, 3 and 5 at the same time for a few seconds if you tap the status button next to them. other codes, such as those for battery over-temp, battery short-circuit, or general failure also happen. i think they have made batteries do this since the days of the Latitude CP-series and apparently still do, after all the laptop fires that seem to be attributed to the explosion hazard of aging lithium-ion cells, if one dies, or drops it can set off some kind of weird meltdown in the pack.

Since i live in a camper trailer, and space is limited, i often only have a laptop on the table to function in leiu of a desktop computer and the bulk. i only carry my iPad on the go, as the mobility still exceeds that of a laptop today.

 

[mikedt]

I rarely unplug my newer laptop. Yes, I *DO* know that you're not supposed to leave it plugged in all the time! It kills the battery, blah blah blah... Got it. But I do it anyway. Hence the reason my older laptop can ONLY be used when plugged in--its battery doesn't hold a charge for even a millisecond.

I'm pretty sure leaving a laptop on power all the time with the battery in, does eventually kill it. I had a MacBook Pro that had been on power for almost two years, and almost never run on battery at all. When I actually needed to use it on battery for portable use, well there was a battery shaped object in the compartment that usually holds a battery. It was completely dead.

By the way, I actually NEED it to be charged up for tomorrow--Southern California Edison is turning off my power tomorrow. No, I didn't forget to pay the bill. :laugh: They're working on 'upgrading our equipment' and are 'sorry for the inconvenience' but the whole neighborhood will be without power, for any or all of 8:00am-5:00pm tomorrow.

Moody, you actually warned in advance when the power is going to be off for the day. The Inner Mongolia Electric Bureau and State Grid Corporation of China doesn't give us luxuries like that. So I still do leave the batteries in my laptops even when I'm not intending to use them out and about, because it's nice to have a UPS(uninterruptible power supply), just in case the power does go out without warning. They're not on power 24/7 like my MBP was though.

 

[mikedt]

laptop batteries only have a one-two year life span at best. they still don't make them as high-quality as those found in tablets or phones today. my iPad is probably as powerful if not more or slightly less than my laptop but i can get 7-8 hours of use out of it,

Is your laptop a cheap netbook or something? To be frank, the iPad was primarily designed to a low-powered mobile device, with an ARM CPU. I'd be disappointed if it didn't go for 7-8 hours, or even longer. But then you're hardly going to be playing full-blown Flight Sim X on it, or Medal of Honor or Counterstrike, etc. on it. Angry Birds or Cut the Rope more like.

Other thing with something like an iPad or a smart-phone, it's far less likely to be left on mains 24/7, burning up the battery.

l even playing games. with my laptop, which isn't a year old yet (my ipad is approaching its 1-year birthday) the battery claims i can get 56 minutes out of it in my normal use, but if i turn the screen to unusably dim, mute the sound, disable wifi, and stop playing games, essentially making it into a word processor, it can go for one, maybe two hours. been that way since day one.

Apple promises 10-15 hours with their MacBooks. But then those are $2000-$3000 laptops. On the other hand a small Lenovo S110 I bought a few months ago, which is running Linux NOT Windows, goes for around 3-4 hours on batteries. And that's with WiFi turned on, etc.

not sure about HP but with Dell, their batteries have a pre-determined death date of 300 full charge cycles or two years, whichever comes first. when that is exceeded the battery's electronics blow some kind of FET that is reported by the status LED or battery status LEDs itself blinking in a 1-3-5 pattern. on the computer, this is reported by 1 flash, pause, three flashes, pause and five flashes and repeats (using the charging indicator to do this) and the pack will flash LEDs 1, 3 and 5 at the same time for a few seconds if you tap the status button next to them. other codes, such as those for battery over-temp, battery short-circuit, or general failure also happen. i think they have made batteries do this since the days of the Latitude CP-series and apparently still do, after all the laptop fires that seem to be attributed to the explosion hazard of aging lithium-ion cells, if one dies, or drops it can set off some kind of weird meltdown in the pack.

I'm pretty sure that was a duff batch of made in China LiPo Sony batteries. Even Apple had to do a safety recall because of that, as well as HP, Dell, etc. There's a load of videos on YouTube that have spontaneously combusting laptops. Thing is a LiPo battery fire can be very dangerous, because it's a Class D metal fire, as well as been extremely toxic.

Since i live in a camper trailer, and space is limited, i often only have a laptop on the table to function in leiu of a desktop computer and the bulk. i only carry my iPad on the go, as the mobility still exceeds that of a laptop today.

I've seen some backpackers and other travellers, and sometimes all they have are tablets, and that's it. That's all they need for Facebook, Skype, e-mail, e-books, etc. They're not doing any heavyweight office productivity.

 

[eugenerudenko]

I'm pretty sure that's the end for your battery. You may start looking for a replacement.

 

[Speed Daemon]

Anyway, I actually unplugged this one for a while today, and after less than two hours it was down to 4% charged. Oh dear. So I plugged it back in, and it's been charging all day, but now it's stuck at 93% charged, whereas it's always shown 100% before.

FYI a lot of laptop charging circuits don't maintain a "float charge" on the battery, due to the lithium battery chemistry. If you leave yours plugged in for extended periods of time, it will help if you unplug the power cord from time to time, and run the battery down enough to start a new charging cycle when you plug it back in.

IME the percentage indicators rarely show 100% charged under real world conditions. If it doesn't get past 95% or so after a complete charge, that's a good indicator that the battery isn't going to be reliable for running on batteries alone for very long. If you never run it not plugged-in, this shouldn't be much of a worry for you.

Does this sound like the beginning of the end...for yet ANOTHER one of my laptops' batteries?!

Sure. They don't last forever.

By the way, I actually NEED it to be charged up for tomorrow--Southern California Edison is turning off my power tomorrow.

It may be a little late to buy a replacement battery due to the 24 hour "full charge" period. Unless you have an AC inverter, or are willing to buy one (and a deep cycle battery to run it off of), you may need to start looking for the nearest wall outlet that works. Spend the day at the local Starbucks or something.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Thanks, everybody! My power just came back on. Yay! I took some cool shots of the Edison workers installing a new pole in my next door neighbors' yard. What a sight that was, especially since today was super windy.

I amused myself in a variety of ways, including not getting out of bed until noon. Before my mom died I HAD to be up in the morning, had to disarm the alarm system, unlock the front door [so our aide could come in], check in on Mom, put the coffee on, etc. Since she died I've allowed myself the luxury of staying in bed until 10:00, 11:00--even noon! I charged up my Android phone, so at least I had that today--of course I get ZERO BARS here at home...thanks AT&T. But I played games on it and stuff.

As for my laptop's battery, after shutting down last night and turning it on this morning (on battery), the laptop was again showing 100% charged. I only ran it for about 15 minutes--since I couldn't do anything, like check my e-mail, pay bills, visit AF...but after only 15 minutes it showed 88%. Yeah, I think I've killed yet another laptop's battery. Oh well, I've been doing this for years. It's plugged in now and showing 100%.

I really almost NEVER use my laptops without electricity. The laptop I keep in the living room is always plugged in, as is the one I keep in my bedroom. When I'm out on the patio, I have a power outlet right there. When my Internet was out after storms a while back, both the local coffee shop I went to and the main library in Pasadena had outlets available, so I used those along with their wifi. I can barely recall the last time I actually needed to run this laptop on battery power, so I'm not going to sweat it. I never bothered buying a new battery for...well, for ANY of the laptops I've done this to! Why start now? :laugh:

 

[nickdalzell]

for me to get two hours out of a *new* battery meant turning everything off making the laptop little more than a word processor with pretty desktop wallpaper. turning off wifi, sound, slowing the CPU in whatever is known as 'power saver' and dimming the screen to where i have to squint to see it or turn off all the house lights. if i leave it internet-capable and the CPU on normal or max, it will be at 88% in 15 minutes too.

Just like my Android tablets, if i unplugged my computer right now, i could literally watch the battery drain. i think the problem is the laptops have gotten more advanced/powerful but batteries remain the same. with my first school-rented Contura-Aero (a 486 that pretty much passed for a 'netbook' in 1998) i could go all day with a charge, but keep in mind it was only used *as* a word processor. the modem didn't exist, no wifi (it was a PC-Card expandable that i didn't have), it only had Windows 3.1, and MS word, Solitaire. that was it. it had no sound, only standard greyscale VGA, and a 33 MHz CPU. of course it'd go all day.

I really kinda miss that little computer though. i'd kill for one made today with a trackball instead of those stupid touchpads they all come with now

 

[dlamber7]

Also, if you plan to use your laptop as a desktop, you should really invest in a battery backup, keep your battery out of the laptop, but plug the laptop in the battery backup. I've had my netbook for 4 years and I still get 6 plus hours out of the battery, using WiFi, Bluetooth, and a USB powered fan. It's only a 6 cell battery too.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Just like my Android tablets, if i unplugged my computer right now, i could literally watch the battery drain. i think the problem is the laptops have gotten more advanced/powerful but batteries remain the same.

You're probably right on that. I'm no battery expert, but that certainly makes sense.

I really kinda miss that little computer though. i'd kill for one made today with a trackball instead of those stupid touchpads they all come with now

I NEVER use my laptops' touchpads--I can't stand them. I always use a trackball. When I needed a new one most recently, I found to my dismay that Logitech had discontinued its corded Trackmans, so I had to bite the bullet and go with cordless. I ordered a Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball, but had a bad feeling that there would be problems...you know, designed for windoze, 'we don't support Linux,' etc. Much to my delight, it works fine! Straight out of the box. No software needed, nothing.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Also, if you plan to use your laptop as a desktop, you should really invest in a battery backup, keep your battery out of the laptop, but plug the laptop in the battery backup.

Nah, too much work. I have several desktops--and never use them (except via my network, but never actually sitting in front of them). Since I can't even remember the last time I really NEEDED to use one of my laptops on battery power, I'm fine as is.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I took some cool shots of the Edison workers installing a new pole in my next door neighbors' yard. What a sight that was, especially since today was super windy.

I was meaning to ask you how the Santa Ana was treating you.

 

[nickdalzell]

I left behind Desktops back when they still had beige cases lol but i did build some cool gaming rigs with fancy neon lights, clear windows and front LCD temp/CPU panels. then the novelty wore off for me and i lost interest.

i wish trackballs were still built-in laptops. the touchpad has the habit of making the cursor go all crazy (especially if my hands are dirty) and my wrists end up sending commands during typing. they are located dead center and that's not natural. a trackball on the lower right corner and the buttons on the side felt so natural. thumb controlled the movement with perfect precision, and my index finger would do left and right clicks. today one has to buy some external wireless mouse/trackball which makes a laptop appear bulky and defeats the mobility. also requires extra batteries or a dongle cord that plugs into USB. external devices make it look like some old 1980s rig with all the add-ons plugging into the serial ports. kinda like my TI-99-4/A computer.

right now Linux is telling me i'm at 93% and i've used it five minutes. it claims i have 3 hours and one half left but it was never correct about it. if i continue browsing the web right now i can expect the same lifetime as my ZTE Merit doing the same thing. about a hour, maybe two. it's been this way since day one. i highly doubt the 'leaving it plugged in fries batteries' is correct. probably was a problem back in the age of Ni-Cd batteries and primitive laptop power supplies, but these days it's a popular myth. i can leave my iPhone plugged in all day and it doesn't harm the battery.

check it out for yourself. if you start charging a 'dead' battery feel how warm the power supply gets. it will likely be red hot. this means all the power is coming out of it and to charge the battery. now wait until your battery is at close to 90% full. the power supply is only a tiny bit warm, possibly cool. today, power supplies only give as much power as the computer needs. when the battery is full, they don't keep charging or float charging. as i stated before these days they stop charging and wait until the battery level falls to a certain percent until they start recharging again.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I was meaning to ask you how the Santa Ana was treating you.

It was crazy windy* yesterday. Seems to have pretty much stopped now, though. It was quite a sight watching the telephone pole swaying in the wind, rotating from the crane hook it was hanging from.

*Don't forget--I lived in hurricane and tornado country! Compared to THOSE winds, these were like gentle breezes.

 

[MoodyBlues]

a trackball on the lower right corner and the buttons on the side felt so natural. thumb controlled the movement with perfect precision, and my index finger would do left and right clicks.

The Logitech Trackman trackballs that I've used forever have thumb-controlled trackballs. I tried using a different kind and hated it, where the trackball was in the middle. Ugh.

today one has to buy some external wireless mouse/trackball which makes a laptop appear bulky and defeats the mobility. also requires extra batteries or a dongle cord that plugs into USB.

The piece that plugs into a USB port for my Logitech M570 is tiny; you can barely see it, and it doesn't get in the way or add bulk or anything. The battery in the trackball is supposed to last for 10 years or something (I don't really remember what it said, but it's a LONG time).

external devices make it look like some old 1980s rig with all the add-ons plugging into the serial ports. kinda like my TI-99-4/A computer.

I don't have a problem with adding a trackball to a laptop; it's well worth the trade off, having a little extra bulk for MUCH easier and more comfortable navigating. But I certainly see your point that having a built-in trackball on laptops would be nice.

 

[Speed Daemon]

*Don't forget--I lived in hurricane and tornado country! Compared to THOSE winds, these were like gentle breezes.

I live in tornado country, and occasionally (and increasingly) see sustained winds of 30-50MPH with gusts up to 80MPH, and that's when there's not a storm!

We've had plenty of barns blown down around where I live, and not too long ago in Chicago a brick building got blown down by straight line winds! Three Little Pigs, be scared. Be very scared! :laugh:

 

[MoodyBlues]

I live in tornado country, and occasionally (and increasingly) see sustained winds of 30-50MPH with gusts up to 80MPH, and that's when there's not a storm!

Yeah, that's frightening. And sobering when you think of how much damage such strong winds can do.

We've had plenty of barns blown down around where I live, and not too long ago in Chicago a brick building got blown down by straight line winds! Three Little Pigs, be scared. Be very scared! :laugh:

Having lived in Tornado Alley for years, I hear you!

One time when my mom came to visit when I was living in Dallas, the weather quickly turned, as it often did. The sky got black, there was that spooky stillness/quietness that happens, then all of a sudden the sky opened up--and the tornado warning sirens in my neighborhood went off. Let's just say Mom was startled. She had never seen horizontal rain before--and her idea of a HEAVY rainstorm (i.e., a few drops) was blown away by rain coming down like Niagara Falls. She was stunned as my patio furniture suddenly was three inches deep in water, and waves were lapping at my patio doors. And I was like, oh, yeah, this happens all the time.

She was born and raised in New Joisey, but came here to SoCal at 16. She quickly became a weather wimp. Although I'm a born and raised Angeleno, having lived in states with REAL weather for many years, I have yet to relapse into a weather wimp...yet.

 

[350X]

spring day with the wind ripping across the empty corn fields on a motorcycle, you look like your in the mist of a race, leaned over draggin your knee, but your going straight, pass a farm house and you snap back upright like a bobber in the water, then past the house your back over draggin pegs.

 

[Speed Daemon]

One time when my mom came to visit when I was living in Dallas, the weather quickly turned, as it often did. The sky got black, there was that spooky stillness/quietness that happens, then all of a sudden the sky opened up--and the tornado warning sirens in my neighborhood went off. Let's just say Mom was startled. She had never seen horizontal rain before--and her idea of a HEAVY rainstorm (i.e., a few drops) was blown away by rain coming down like Niagara Falls. She was stunned as my patio furniture suddenly was three inches deep in water, and waves were lapping at my patio doors. And I was like, oh, yeah, this happens all the time.

Great story! Maybe that's why the Southern relatives never came to visit us near Chicago when I was a kid. Back then it wasn't a bit unusual to see a funnel cloud on a stormy day, and we had a lot of 'em.

A cousin of mine used to live in Dallas, and it seemed like every time we went to visit her in the winter, there would be a blizzard going on there. And since I was coming from Chicago, most people suspected me of bringing the snow down with me.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Great story! Maybe that's why the Southern relatives never came to visit us near Chicago when I was a kid. Back then it wasn't a bit unusual to see a funnel cloud on a stormy day, and we had a lot of 'em.

Could be!

A cousin of mine used to live in Dallas, and it seemed like every time we went to visit her in the winter, there would be a blizzard going on there. And since I was coming from Chicago, most people suspected me of bringing the snow down with me.

You know, one of the common misconceptions I've come across is that people think Dallas is in the sunbelt, and has weather comparable to Los Angeles. Ha! Nothing could be further from the truth. I will never forget its miserable winters, complete with ice storms that knocked out power for days, and snow, and single digit HIGH temperatures. Even though I've been back home for almost 7 years now, I still have that primal response when I hear 'snow is in the forecast' on the local stations. SNOW?!! Oh, in the mountains! *huge sigh of relief* That's the kind of snow I like, the kind where *I* get to choose to go to it, and can leave when I don't want to freeze my ass off any more.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I finally dumped the photos I took of the swaying telephone pole, so here are a few:

 

[Speed Daemon]

Oh, those aren't telephone poles, they're power poles! No wonder they shut off the juice for the entire neighborhood! One wrong move and zzzzap!

 

[nickdalzell]

soooo glad i live in an area with buried utilities. i got so sick of the pole things being hit by everything and having power go out during Winter when you really don't need it to (while in Summer you can find shade or open a window to deal with the lack of A/C, nothing like that will do you a lick of good when temps are in the teens and there's an ice storm and your car won't work because it's rear-wheel drive and the tires are spinning in ice). the nearest poles are a few miles away.