Notebook Battery: Problems and Solutions

Before you go on a rampage over the time of the battery of your notebook, you must make sure that length is actually less than expected. After all, your satisfaction should have as a parameter what the manufacturer promised. Currently, there are batteries that have from three cells (which
lasts just over 1 hour) up to eight cells (which may last about 4 hours).

To see if there are problems with the autonomy of your notebook, there are recommended two types of tests with the battery in your notebook.

Two possible analysis

The first way to check how long it is expected for the battery to leave the equipment running. With the charged battery to maximum, connect the laptop and leave it at rest - with the screen lit and no applications running on the operating system. Make sure the equipment is not scheduled to go into hibernation after a certain time of inactivity.

Check the time the battery takes to finish, that is, wait until the machine shuts down.

Only after obtaining this number, compare it with the battery life stated in the manual - because this specification, in general, is the laptop going to sleep (for most it may seem strange), and not playing videos and running many applications, for example.

In any case, check for comments in the manual on the conditions of use of the machine on which the estimates of battery life should be respected.

A second alternative is a procedure that requires discipline and a good understanding by the user. Create a spreadsheet in Excel and go noting the duration of all cycles of your battery.

After a few months do a weighted analysis of the figures, taking into account the type of use that the machine made in different measurements. This is because the various features of a notebook require different amounts of energy.

For example, the recording of CDs and DVDs is one of the activities that spends more energy because of the activation of the laser gun to record the CD/DVD. Or even the simple reproduction of DVD movies requires and demands performance of the processor and the consequent expense of energy.

Using these functions is heavier, it is clear that the battery life tends to be lower. The issue here is to find a possible fall in that period despite no change in demand of resources of the notebook.

Problems and solutions

If you found that, in fact, the battery of your laptop is not lasting as much as it should, it's time to try to diagnose and solve the issue.

There are four possible sources for the problem.

Problem 1: old battery

Over time, some of the liquid components of the battery can dry and glue to each other, impairing the performance of the device. However, he warns that, except in cases of disproportionate use, that should not occur before at least 1 and a half year of life of the battery.

Solution: In this case, there is no alternative left to the user except the exchange of the device. See the terms of the guarantee given by the manufacturer because you can be covered or receive discount in case of exchange.

Problem 2: security mechanism

Batteries have a safety feature that won't let batteries use all their cargo or to reach their full load while charing - not to run the risk of exploding. The malfunctioning of this feature can cause a battery to receive much less energy than that or you can unplug the notebook though still considerable load on the battery.

Solution:

In this case there is a work of prevention indicated: every 30 cycles of use, it is recommended to do a full charge and discharge the battery in sequence. This battery would "remember" of its real capacity, so that it addicts in some levels of loading. This procedure also can serve as an attempt to repair. When it detects a lower yield on your battery, take a load followed by a full discharge and see if the improvement. If it does not take effect, the remaining option is to exchange the device, because the chip responsible for this function costs almost the full price of the battery.

Problem 3: malfunction of the hardware

Short circuits of low intensity in hardware will make the total energy consumption of your notebook to be greater.

Solution: Both the diagnosis as repair - should be conducted by specialized technical assistance.

Problem 4: overheating

Issues related to the cooler, a device responsible for maintaining the temperature inside the computer at acceptable levels.

Solution: The user should verify that he is not making use of his notebook or accommodation in a disadvantage that the movement of air, avoiding, for example, to support the laptop on a pillow, because it blocks the outflow of air, overloading the fans, consuming more battery. Similarly, the left eye in the notebook cleaning. A layer of dust on the heatsink hampers the heat exchange with air, making the fan work more to ensure cooling. Place carefully in a vacuum cleaner, trying to clean the notebook (without opening the equipment!) It can help take the excess dust.