Tip & How-To about Computers & Internet

How long will the battery in my portable computer last?

System batteries for portable computers are in general considered a consumable item. Because of that the battery warranty is normally limited to 1 year from the time of purchase.

The average life cycle of a battery is roughly 300 to 500 discharge recharge cycles, or about 18 months. The varies from system to system and battery types. Lithium Ion (LI) Batteries last longer than a Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) ones. The pattern of use also effects the lifespan of the battery.

As they age, the battery run time gets shorter and shorter as a normal progression of the battery life. So a 4 year old battery may run just fine, for 15 or 20 minutes. Failing batteries may also display LED indications on the system (On a Dell it will flash orange 4 times then green once)

Once a battery starts to degrade, it is time to buy a replacement. Some sources are:

http://www.laptopbattery.net/

http://www.pacificbattery.com/

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0helpful
1answer

when i plugged in my laptop for charging,a note appears in the charging icon that says "consider replacing your battery"? is there any remedy regarding the problem of my battery without replacing it?
Hi! Well for this one let me ask you first . Is the battery is beyond 1year? If it is then consider replacing your battery is the answer of that. But if not you can call your manufacturer as all the battery has it 1 year limited warranty. Just to let you know all the battery is consumable, sometimes it depends on how you use it .Hope this will help you. God Bless.
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Apr 22, 2011 • Acer Aspire One PC Notebook
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1answer

inspiron 640m
Portable batteries are considered a consumable item because as they are used, there is some degradation to the battery. The average life of a portable battery is 300 to 500 discharge/recharge cycles. After that point, the battery's ability to hold a charge slowly decreases, to where it will only power the system for 10 to 15 minutes even when indicating a full charge.

If this is the Original System Battery, then you will need to get a replacement battery to have the system run for a longer period on battery only.
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Jul 03, 2009 • Dell Inspiron 640m Notebook
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1answer

the battery is not charging
Normally, one of 3 causes.  
  1. Dead Battery
  2. Bad connection of battery interface on Motherboard.
  3. The AC Adapter sensing pin (In the center of the plug) is damaged (If the system cannot sense the AC adapter, the charging circuit is disabled.)
Troubleshooting:
  1. Try a different AC adapter (Any Dell D-Series system adapter is interchangable)
  2. If no difference, then next is replace the battery.  (The battery on a portable is a consumable item, and the battery life is generally 300 to 500 recharge/discharge cycles  around 18 months)
  3. If no change with battery or AC adapter, then the failure is the charging circuit of the motherboard.
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Mar 25, 2009 • Dell Vostro 1500 Notebook
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1answer

Battery problem
Batteries in portable systems on average last approximately 300 to 500 recharge cycles (Roughly 12 to 18 months) and are considered a consumable item (Hence the 1 year warranty when the rest of the system can have a 3 to 5 year warranty). So your battery replacement is not entirely unusual. If a replacement battery is detected and recharges normally, then stops working after 12+ months of heavy use, the failure is normally the battery.

One thing to check is to see if the battery is under recall:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=BATT-LENOVO

Google shows that Lenovo batteries run about $100 for a N-Series system (4400 mAh) which is about normal pricing for a laptop battery.
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Feb 10, 2009 • Lenovo 3000 N100 0768 - Pentium Dual Core...
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1answer

Poor Battery life
Battery life on a portable system is a contentious issue, and manufacturer's marketing of battery life doesn't help the cause a bit.

There are several factors that will determine the ACTUAL battery life of your system versus the ADVERTISED battery life.
  1. Battery type and watt/hour rating. There are 2 types of portable batteries, Lithium Ion (LION) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NMHD) The LION battery is longer lasting and has a more consistant power output than NMHD batteries, and is more expensive. The watt hour capability is based on the number of cells in the battery (normally 4, 6, 9 and sometimes 12 cell batteries are available) The higher the watt hour rating (more cells) the longer it lasts. LION batteries are more expensive and higher watt hour ones are more expensive. So if you took the best price on the battery you bought, or if you got a system on SALE/good deal, you may have gotten the lesser battery in the DEAL.
  2. How the system is used on battery and power management settings. When manufacturers advertise battery life, they use the mose economical use of power configuration to get that possible life. LCD brightness to minimum, nothing running inoptical drive, minimum accesses of HDD, system running in cold room to minimize fan operation and essentially doing just enough with the system to keep it from going too sleep. They turn off every feature that can be turned off, the most powerful brand new battery available, and the "LIFE" they get in that senario, is the one they advertise. So, if you are playing a DVD, with all power management off and the LCD up full bright, your battery life may be less than 10% of the advertised life.
  3. Age/number of recharge cycles of the battery. Battery warranties are generally 1 year by most major manufacturers. This is because they consider the battery a consumable item and it gets used up. The normal battery has a life of 300 to 500 recharge/discharge cycles. Some last longer, some don't and are replaced under warranty. If the battery is not a year old, you can likely get it replaced by the manufacturer of the system under warranty.
  4. If you buy a replacement battery, get a LION battery with at least 9 cells. It will be more expensive, but you get what you pay for in batteries.
Warranty information can be found here:

https://secure3.tx.acer.com/FindSystem/FindSystem.aspx?title=Information
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Jul 18, 2008 • Acer Aspire 5580 Notebook
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