Raptor22

Hello, I have noticed a weird fact about my new HP Pavilion dv9207us laptop... a few nights ago, I had the battery charged full and after I finished using it I unplugged it and put it back in my case. Today... about 3-4 days later... I turn on the laptop and it shows me that the battery has drained from a previously charged 100% to around a 70-75%... I had the computer in shut down and no power consumption whatsoever. Is this normal? Or is it a faulty battery?

twajetmech

That is a bit more drain than I would expect from a new battery after 5 days of non use. Try cycling the batteries by allowing the computer to run off the battery until it powers off, this will completely drain the batteries (be sure to turn off any power saving functions) then recharge the battery till full....do this about three times and see if the battery life is any better. If it is then great, if not contact HP about replacing the battery while its still under warrenty

minster9

I'm kinda wondering if battery mfrs. oughta offer free smoke detectors w/velcro for our cases. I agree w/tjm,but monitor the process closely. I wouldn't trust it; crap like that can burn your house down when you least expect it.

Raptor22

Burn down my house? What are you talking about???? You mean that draining and charging my battery repeatedly can set it on fire?? No I doubt that... I've had previous laptops and their batteries never drained a bit when I left them shut down for days... and no matter how mobile I was and how much I charged it and depleted it, nothing happened.

minster9

didn't mean to scare you! But the the recent recalls make me leery about the batteries in NEW laptops. as you were.

Nayega

Batteries - great for powering mobile devices. Also great for burning things with.

Raptor22

Oh by the way, isn't depleting your computer's battery and then having an unexpected shut down bad for your OS? Like corrupting files etc etc. Kind of like an improper shutdown. I heard that new batteries have to be charged and depleted quite a few though... kind of like showing the battery its full capacity so that in the future it knows how much it can hold etc.

twajetmech

Correct, new laptop batteries should be fully charged when you first get the machine, then allowed to completely drain/recharged once or twice before "normal" usage. This calibrates the laptop so that the battery is now a known quantity at full charge and when approching full discharge, not doing this can result in false readings of the battery charge status, and conditions the battery to accept full charge. Normally, when one notices that the battery has started to require more frequent charges its a good idea to repeat this full discharge/charge cycle to once again recalibate the system and recondition the battery. This was more prevelant when Ni-cads were common....since Li-ion don't suffer from such a memory issue its not really required as much, normally every 30 cycles or so to keep the laptop calibrated....too much full discharge/recharge cycles on a Li-ion battery will actuall decrease its life, which is about 2 years or 300-500 cycles

Raptor22

Got that info... thanks. Oh, and how long does it take to overcharge a battery? Such as once a battery is charged full and you forget to unplug it etc while the power is off... how long before it starts to cause damage and shorten the life? Do some laptops have overcharge protection or do they all have to be monitored closely when charging? Is it also a good idea to put the computer in standby/hibernation when plugged in and left there for awhile?

twajetmech

All laptops contain circutry for charging, it is not possible to overcharge the battery unless the laptop/circut is damaged, there is no need to put the laptop in standby or hibernate, you can leave the laptop off and it will still charge so long as it is pluged in

Raptor22

I have owned some previous laptops (Toshibas) and their user guides all give a warning saying do not leave the computer plugged in at full charge while off for extended periods of time. Once I did so because I forgot it, left it plugged in after full charge for about a good 4 hours, and the next time I used the battery the life was dramatically shorter... so I guess it is a fact.

Is the battery draining a bit normal though? Even after one night, the battery drains about 3-4% even when computer is off.

twajetmech

Its normal for the battery to loose 2%-3% per day. Keeping the battery in or the laptop plugged in even off with the battery installed will cause the battery to constatly trickle charge....over a extended period this is not good....4 hours should have no affect, 4 days I would not expect any change either more than that though its best to just unplug and charge the battery when needed, just don't let the battery get to a completely drained state and definitly don't leave it completely uncharged for any length of time.

minster9

despite newer materials & electronic monitoring during charge & discharge modes,people are still the same.