Okay guys, I am using a relatively old laptop here. Its a Dell Inspiron 8000. This is an older laptop that I borrowed recently and it has had a bad relationship with batteries. I figured it was because the previous user always kept it plugged into and never actually discharged/charged it normally. I don’t really know if that makes sense with a Li-Ion battery though…
Anyhoo, I figured that the problem was a bad battery, so I bought two new batteries and plugged them in. I have been getting rapidly deteriorating charges ever since. Currently the max seems to be about 81 percent for the right battery and 65 for the left battery. I will go in to BIOS and check to see if I can change some settings, but I doubt that will help. These suckers are brand new and probably have been completely charged about 10 times. I dont’ know what’s wrong or how to fix it, but I’m pretty pissed about it, because I was really enjoying the super-long battery life that I had from two batteries.
Before I got the new batteries, it would show the old (single) battery as 100 percent charged, which is what is NOT happening here.
Also, for the electricians. There is a little part where the charger wire is bare (on the DC side of the connection) There is a wire that is bare plus an insulated wire that is inside of those threads.
It might be (and probably is) a charger/battery mismatch problem. Li-Ion batteries are extremely fussy about charging conditions, as you’ll see from this article (brief, but technical). There are, in fact, two different battery electrode chemistries which each have different charging voltage limits:
If you’re buying aftermarket Li-Ion batteries, rather than factory-specified OEM replacements, you’re engaging in something of a crap shoot. Most people don’t realize this and assume a Li-Ion battery is a Li-Ion battery.
Okay, that’s what I did, so I am basically screwed, right? I went to Pricewatch.com and bought the cheapest available and am surprised that it didn’t work… Well damn it.
But just a quick question, as that is way to techincal for me to read right now… I basically am screwed, in your opinion? Does the fact that it will charge it less and less now agree with your theory? I mean, it used to charge damn near 100 percent.
Outside of buying batteries from Dell what are my options here? Buying a new charger? I suppose the only thing I can do now is to simply not connect the batteries unless I absolutely have to then, right? Would buying a new charger help?
Okay I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for the help Q.E.D. I hope you can answer these last questions for me.
Okay, that’s what I did, so I am basically screwed, right? I went to Pricewatch.com and bought the cheapest available and am surprised that it didn’t work… Well damn it.
But just a quick question, as that is way to techincal for me to read right now… I basically am screwed, in your opinion? Does the fact that it will charge it less and less now agree with your theory? I mean, it used to charge damn near 100 percent.
Outside of buying batteries from Dell what are my options here? Buying a new charger? I suppose the only thing I can do now is to simply not connect the batteries unless I absolutely have to then, right? Would buying a new charger help?
Okay I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for the help Q.E.D. I hope you can answer these last questions for me.
Okay that was weird… I unplugged both of the batteries for a sec and now I just popped them back in. They both went up to 100 percent…The time left on them is around 4 hours and 40 minutes, which is near what is was when I bought them…
Or I think I may have royally screwed my batteries?
Or maybe for some reason Windows thinks that 68 percent and 81 percent are the new 100 percent?
I got a el-cheapo Li-Ion batt and have the same things as you, unable to get more then 80% charge. What I have found is that run time is still greater then a new NiMH batt it replaced, and if I do let it go to zero (on the display) then let it go further till it just gives up and fully rechaged I get longer run time.
Well, you might be screwed, but there are a few other other possibilities. Check the battery terminals, both on the battery and inside the battery compartment. If you see any signs of corrosion or dirt buildup, see if you can clean them off with a pencil eraser, or better yet, a fiberglass bristle contact brush (available in electronics supply and camera shops). You can’t really trust the battery meter in Windows, so don’t go by that. You might also see if you can return or exhange the batteries for the correct ones, or at least higher-quality (and therefore more expensive) ones. Cheaper batteries may not use the same quality of chemicals and materials, and may also not include the best circuitry to ensure proper cell charging. It never hurts to ask. After a bit of reaserch, it seems the coke electrode version is more common these days, while the graphite electrode is almost exclusively produced by Sony, so that information may help you some. It is also possible that the charger itself isn’t operating properly, so you might try to see if you can get a new one - check the return policy of where you buy it to make sure you can return it if it doesn’t produce satisfactory results.
