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Resolved Question

battery or charger problem?

Jan 20, 2012 1:39AM PST

Hi all, My 16 month HP laptop has suddenly stopped charging. It was holding charge alright but now it just runs off mains and hibernates when I unplug.

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Best Answer

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Very common. Why?
Jan 20, 2012 4:22AM PST

Let's reveal the life cycles or rating of the common HP laptop battery.

It's (ready for this?) ....--------> 300 Cycles.

If you have an owner use the battery daily then in just over a year you'll have an old battery that won't hold a charge. This is sadly common and why I spread the word to use the battery only when necessary and not as a convenience.
Bob

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why don't they tell you this?
Jan 20, 2012 2:29PM PST

Thanks for explaining that. I have been doing the wrong thing by letting the battery drain completely between chargings. This must be a common misconception because people are still telling me to do this. Maybe old batteries were different, or was that story put out by a battery manufacturer wanting to sell more?

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I can explain that.
Jan 21, 2012 2:00AM PST

If a maker devoted a chapter in some manual to battery use and care, buyers might think "Is there something wrong with this machine's battery?" and sales would suffer.

Since no maker writes in length about this, they all are on the same playing field.

There's a lot written about today's batteries so I won't go on at length but the run it down advice was for the bad old NiCad batteries. Today we have LiON, LiPO and such. The rules change and the battery management in the laptops are much better. But the cycles are still low.

On the plus side I was pleased to see Samsung laptops implement a "charge to 80%" battery life extender. That 300 cycles changes to about 1500 when we do that. Of course if we just run on AC when possible we get many more years before a battery is required. We've had laptops sitting on desks with the AC on for 2 years (and longer) then we go mobile and surprised when the battery is still working for many hours.
Bob

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Charge to 80% ?
Jan 21, 2012 3:42AM PST

I don't have a Samsung, but interested to hear about improvements in general. How do you know when it's charged to 80%, or does it mean not draining it below 80%?

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It's a setting in their new machines.
Jan 21, 2012 3:52AM PST

When you ask "How do you know" I wonder if you are asking me to test that out by actually running it down and counting the minutes, then again with the 100% setting.

As we know that we only have 300 cycles I will not do this in response to any challenge unless a new battery is supplied.

Here's a link about that feature:
http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?idx=165136
http://www.samsung.com/us/article/tips--tricks-extending-notebook-battery-life

The number 1000 or 1500 cycles changes with the model.
Bob

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Aha!
Jan 21, 2012 5:37AM PST

Now I understand! Thanks for the links. The green tips will be useful.