Piano World Home Page Forums Restricted and Archives The Coffee Room Discharging Laptop Batteries?

I recently discovered that my laptop battery, which is only a year old, is malfunctioning. On a full charge of the LiON battery, my laptop should be able to be run from 2 to 2 1/2 hours, but lately, on a 100% full charge of the battery, I'm lucky to even get 20 minutes of power! After it dies, I cannot turn my laptop back on using only the battery again unless I take the battery out and then put it back in again, and then I only get a minute or two of power, and sometimes it gets to the point where the computer doesn't even finish posting and it looses power!

So, I'm thinking that I might have to completely discharge my battery and then charge it back up to 100% again to make it last for as long as it should be lasting.

Is there a way to completely discharge the battery without me having to continually take it out, put it back in, start the laptop until it dies, take it out again, put it back in, etc. because that would take forever! Or am I better off just buying a new one? That would be last resort though, because they cost about $180!!!

Any suggestions?

Hi jgoo! The same thing just happened with my laptop while I was out of town! Only with mine, it wouldn't even pass through the power from the cord, and I couldn't start it at all! AFAIK, the whole, charge memory/full discharge thing doesn't apply to lithium ion batteries, which is why they have become more popular. Chances are, the battery is either not being charged by the laptop or the battery itself won't take a charge. Lithium batteries will not last forever, especially if you are recharging frequently. You may have to actually buy a new battery. That's the only thing I could do with mine. Ah, the price of portability.... <sigh>

Oh man, that must have been horrible! Luckily my laptop will run with the power chord plugged in, and according to the battery indicator in my system tray, the battery is definately at a full charge. I'll notice, however, that every one in a while, the battery LED will turn orange for a few minutes, meaning that the battery is charging (I run my laptop off of the power chord about 99% of the time anyway) and the meter in the system tray will indicate that the power level had somehow dropped a point or two. It's strange.

Anyway, from what you say I guess that I better start saving some money if I want to get a new battery. Probably won't need one for a while though, but I like having it for trips, or on nice summer days (which are now gone for the year) to sit outside with it while I'm working. Otherwise it just sits on my desk and I use it as a desktop machine, in which case it stays pluged in all the time. Then again, power-outage season is coming up soon...

Sometimes the problem is the power management software. My partner deep-discharges his battery every and has had pretty good luck. My buddy at Dell says it depends on the type of battery (NiMH or Li Ion). He recommends charging and removing the battery, but some laptops need the battery to recharge the bios battery.

I hate computers.

I'm with 1911 on the power management software. Have you ever calibrated yours? (If you don't know, you haven't. It takes a long time, hours. Best to do it overnight).

here's what i learned from IBM tech support when i had to replace my laptop battery earlier this year:

when you find that your battery runs out more quickly, it means that at some point you recharged it before you fully discharged it.

in other words, do not ever recharge the battery by returning to AC power before the battery has fully discharged. if you do, you will reset the battery to discharge more quickly. it will discharge when it reaches the level it was at when you put the AC plug back in.

i hope that makes sense.

you need to get a new battery, and then, discharge it fully (i.e. let the power run out until the laptop starts beeping to warn you of impending loss of power). then fully recharge the battery.

if you are in the habit of using the battery just for short periods, this has likely caused your problem. in future, if you just use the battery for a half an hour to sit out in the sun, make sure you stay on battery power for as long as it takes for the battery to fully discharge. do not return to AC power before then.

hope that helps.

Li Ion batteries don't have memory effect.

This is my understanding as well. Perhaps the battery in piqué's laptop isn't lithium ion.

Probably a Ni-MH. It would not be a Ni-CD unless she has something really old.

LiIon batteries are used now more than any other because of just that fact.... you don't have to discharge it before recharging it. These don't develope a "memory", so even if you only use it a little bit before plugging it in to charge, you are not damaging it.

Jgoo, I'm curious where you looked at battery costs?

What model of laptop do you have? I'd be happy to look and see if I can find something for less.

How do you do this?

Control Panel/Power Options/Calibrate

This depends on the operating system and computer manufacturer as well gryphon. Not all laptops will have this option.

If your laptop does not come with the power management software, contact the manufacturer and get it. (Check their website, etc). Anyone who wants it for Compaq m300, m700, N400c/N410c, N600c/N610c I can email it to you.

I just spent $185.00 on a new battery for my laptop. (Ouch)

I also hate computers - unless it is taking me to PW.

No, I can't find a calibrate option in my power management.

KB: I found the battery price here: http://www.fedcoelectronics.com/modelinfo.tpl?_fid=3547

And if you want information on my laptop model, look here: http://www.digicomgroup.com/items_detail.asp?item_id=273

(post 2700!)

Piqué: My laptop isn't getting down to where it starts beeping. The battery is draining down to about 80% (so says the battery meter) before it dies. My low battery alarm won't come on until 10% is left, and then my critical battery alarm won't come on until 5% is left.

I guess that it really is time to replace now. My battery is now not getting any charge at all. The meter constantly reads 0% and if I try to boot off the battery alone nothing happens. I can't believe it gave up on me after only a year though. hmmm...