wendy-cake 0 Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Hi there I have a fairly new (2 months) laptop and really pleased with it apart from one thing. If I don't use the computer for about a week, the battery seems to drain away and I need to plug it in. Is that normal? I would have thought it would last longer than just a week unused, but not sure if that is normal or not? Any help before I start trying to moan at "support"? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Wendy-cake you are just not using it enough! Mine is constantly plugged in unless I am going cord free or travelling - so I can't tell ya. Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted December 21, 2008 Author Share Posted December 21, 2008 Haha yes. It's my "backup" machine I take with me when I'm out and about so not on every day so that explains that. I just want to know if this is normal or not. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 One week seems a little short, but unfortunately all laptops use a certain amount of battery even when not used so they will gradually eat the battery up when stored. The more powerful ones eat the battery quicker. Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 Thanks. What do laptops use the battery for then when it's turned off? (Probably a question!) Link to post Share on other sites
spacefrog 0 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Sounds like you don`t switch it off but have it hibernate/suspend and then it does use battery slowly to maintain system state for when you power it on again. If you power down and it still drains your battery has an issue but unlikely. Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 No, I turn it off (shutdown) - not just put it to hibernate.... Link to post Share on other sites
spacefrog 0 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 sony battery or mac battery?? should last longer than a week before it discharges but all batteries discharge slowly. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Simply, the battery needs a few good charges and discharges to "run it in" first thing. They will not accept full charge straight out of the box. You should get the battery charged, run it flat (not just leave it, but use the damn thing!) and recharge a couple of times. This will set the battery up. Then, if it is a LiIon battery, DO NOT run it totally flat. Recharge it at random charge levels. called "exercising" the battery, and is different from the old NiCd batteries which needed to be run fully flat every time before charging, else they develop a memory of "empty" being somewhat more than that. Do a google for "LiIon battery maintenance" and see where that gets you. Should kick up a page with lots of good info about LiIon battery care. (cannot remember the url at the mo.) Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Originally Posted By: wendy-cake Thanks. What do laptops use the battery for then when it's turned off? (Probably a question!) Basically when the battery is connected power is flowing through some of the circuitry, which is why a small amount is used it is also powering the internal clock on the motherboard, which of course has its own battery, but never the less that battery is using a tiny bit of the main battery as a charger that together with the small current flow that is happening through the various components uses a little battery. And rechargeble batteries also loose power anyway when not used for a while due to current leakage. Having said that a battery to go flat in a week is rather strange, maybe you haven't used it enough or didn't charge it fully when you first got the computer before using it? Or like one said above you have it on sleep mode rather than shutting it down properly. My computer left on hybernate mode will zapp a fully charged battery in a matter of a few days, my wifes comp which is much smaller and less powerfull will be ok for a month. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Mine on standby will last 5 days. If turned off with a full charge, I can pick it up and use after a month. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Does should short that. I'd at least give the support people a go and see if they are helpful or not. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Originally Posted By: grungy-gonads Does should short that. Say what? You should not just short a battery, it needs to go through a load of some kind, either a resistor or a lamp (light globe). Danger otherwise! Originally Posted By: grungy-gonads I'd at least give the support people a go and see if they are helpful or not. That makes sense! I'd do it! Link to post Share on other sites
midnightcharger2 0 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Not normally the case but it could be a bad battery pack too. What does the documentation for your computer (internet is a good search too) say on the battery life. But otherwise, Li-on batteries do not require full discharges. They are designed to have no memory. Older batteries if you did not cycle them with full charges and only charged to say 80 percent many times, the battery would accept the 80 percent as the new 100 percent. I.E. you lose 20 percent storage capacity of the battery. The clock internal battery does not draw any noticeable amount of current to drain a main laptop battery also in the amount of time your mentioned.. The best check is to have the battery completely removed from the laptop as a test. On your next weekly stint of not using it, have it removed but make sure the battery has a complete charge. When you use it again. Plug it in without the charger and see what the percentage is. If it dropped significantly then you have some defect in the pack itself. Only other thing as like mentioned in other posts or do you have any USB devices connected that could be draining it. Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted December 27, 2008 Author Share Posted December 27, 2008 Support were very helpful. Surprisingly so actually. I called them up and they sent someone over with a new battery the next day. This one seems to be fine. So I'm very pleased with that. Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted December 27, 2008 Author Share Posted December 27, 2008 Oh yes they said straight away it sounded like the battery might be faulty and that it should last much longer than it was. Link to post Share on other sites
joshnii 2 Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 What make was it wendy-cake? Always good to hear when support actually supports! Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted December 28, 2008 Author Share Posted December 28, 2008 Sony Vaio. They were very helpful. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Good to hear! Cheers, Sony! Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Bad news - new battery does the same. So, getting support round again to check and maybe change something else. If they need to take it all apart I'm going to ask them for a new one. Been very helpful so far though. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 it could be something else. Like the DC converter on your PC. Have them check that and other things. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Oh that is too bad! Then more than likely a problem with the mother board somewhere, I hope support can sort it out for you! Link to post Share on other sites
2pints-mate 0 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 At what point do they keep on "repairing" something that is almost new and give you a new one? I know I would prefer to be given a new machine if this was happening to me. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites
wendy-cake 0 Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 Well, after them coming round and spending 3 hours changing the motherboard --- and it still not apparently working --- Sony have ordered me a totally new computer to replace this one. I've been extremely pleased with the support (even if of course it has been a pain with the computer). Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Thats good of them. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts