Hello People... MY laptop battery is acting mad... It gets charged at the normal pace, but the charge gets reduced pretty soon, at almost 30% faster rate. It's a pretty new machine, not been in use for more than 6 months. This has been happening for the past 2 days. Please help. Thanks
As you said its pretty new and not been in use of more than 6 months then why don't you contact dealer and let them know of this (under warranty) DON.
What kind of weather have you been having? Li-ion/ Li-Po batteries don't charge well on really hot days. And depending on your usage, after 6 months of heavy use, your battery might simply be dead - they only have a limited number of charge cycles, and your cells might just be reaching the end of their life.
Friend, always keep in mind that when you deal with electronic equipments with batteries and you are not going to use it for long time, you must always remove them. And if possible, you should try to charge and discharge the battery from time to time. This is the only way to get the most of the batteries. Ok, now coming to your problem, I suggest you can have the laptop checked with your dealer and see if you can get the new battery in replacement. I think most laptop batteries and chargers are covered under 1 yr warranty while some have 6 months. So without making any further delay, I think you should go straight away to your dealer or call the helpline no for assistance. Hope that helps you friend.
Li-ion/Li-Po batteries don't need this, in fact it wears them out. They should be stored at 90%>full charge. Every time they go 'flat', that's one cycle out of their life span. They only have a limited number of cycles. I've killed batteries on my RC planes in less than 6 months - simply by using them from full charge > cutoff every day, it's just a fact of life. Rechargeable batteries are a consumable, just like printer ink. They should either be in use, on charge, or stored out of your device at full charge (for no more than about 1 or 2 months). Whatever you do, don't leave you laptop battery sitting around DEAD FLAT.
Wow, thanks a lot guys for your responses... I've been using the laptop since 6 months, but been using it for like 12+ hours a day since about a month only. Otherwise, not even for 2 hours a day (I just looooooove my PC). These are Li-Ion batteries, and the temperatures are just fairly hot (33°C or so). A lot of my friends are using the same kind of system from the same brand, for exactly the same amount of time. In fact, they all use it for almost 14 hours a day, and have been using their laptops for over 6-7 hours a day, since the time we got it together (from college). Could it be because of a short-circuit? I can relate to that, 'coz the plug points at a particular region in my Home have recently been burning out...
generally batteries come with a warranty of 1year only ... no matter what warranty you choose with the company atleast it is with DELL ... my battery also started behaving in the same way after 14 months of purchase date when i called Dell they said all the batteries are only 1year warrantied no matter which warranty protection you choose
I doubt that could be the cause. External short circuits would not be the cause of the problem but yes internal short circuits could surely be. For e.g. the some metal object comes in contact with the battery terminals or purposely short circuiting the battery (i doubt why someone would do that but still).
I guess I'll have to send it to the dealer who sold the college these not-so-mean machines... I'll keep you guys posted on what happened and why it happened... Thanks...
Friend, you did not mention that which brand of laptop you use. Is it a reputed brand or a local make?
I purposefully didn't mention it. It says HP when the laptop is closed, but you open it and there's a small mention of Compaq. The institution that I'm pursuing MBA in has 19 centers across the country, with each housing about 400 students (on average) [Yea, Indians will even know which institute I'm talking about... LOL]. So, I (rightly) guess that it's a custom-make. In fact, the model number is Compaq 6720s which isn't available in the market for sale, AFAIK. I hope that helps.
could that be an IIM ?? Im not too sure if they have 19 centers though.. But as far as you laptop is concerned, its not a custom make. Compaq is a sub-company of HP
Well my dear, compaq was taken over by hp. However all the laptops still have the name compaq. So I doubt its local make. As regards to the model not available in the market for sale, its quite possible that the model may have been outdated. Its absolutely normal. And finally, as regards to the institute, I am 12th fail x 3 times, so you can probably understand that I won't be able to guess.
Alrighty... It's Icfai Business School - Bangalore (IIM - only 7 centers yet). I know that Compaq was acquired by HP years ago, and this model was never available in the market. The institute has affiliation with HP and I'm assuming that they've got these laptops custom-made @ Compaq, and just so students don't frown upon it, the HP label on the lid.
Ok, I have heard that name and may be also seen the advertisements (don't remember where, but may be where I live). As regards to the laptop, I suggest you use it for few days until you can afford to buy a new one. I believe you live in US, so you can do a search on amazon, yahoo and other shops and you will get the best deals.
I'm in India mate, my profile says it. Icfai Business School hasn't yet been able to bacterise other nations.
hmm may be the battery is defective if ur laptop is under warranty then get it replaced, otherwise buy a new one from ebay they sell very cheap regards
Since you've got friends with the same system, maybe you should try your battery in their laptop? At least then you could eliminate your home power supply, your laptop power supply, and any faults in your laptop hardware. Then you'll know for sure if it's the battery, or the power supply etc....
Oops, I did not realise that. Well, then the first thing that you must do is rush to the dealer and see if you can get the battery replaced. BTW, any plans on visiting Nasik?