battery

[cool dude]

my laptop turns off at random times (totally shuts off instantly). its like the power died. however my laptop battery is still at like 70%. its really annoying because i have to save my work every sentence i type because it unexpectedly shuts off. no warning just shuts off. do you think its a problem with the battery or something internal? any possible reasons why this happens?

[Andy]

could be mobo or bios. take the battery off, and plug in the ac adapter and see if this still happens

[cool dude]

Andy wrote:

could be mobo or bios. take the battery off, and plug in the ac adapter and see if this still happens

my ac adaptor is kinda bad because it keeps losing contact with my laptop. however when i have my ac adaptor in and my battery in my laptop this doesn't happen unless like i said my ac adaptor loses contact and then its just the battery working. so i guess it only happens when its working on the battery. a few questions

1) when i'm using my laptop at home and have it plugged into the outlet is it better to have the battery out? or it doesn't matter

2) is it better to recharge my battery when it's almost completely drained? or can i recharge it half way and it doesn't matter?

3) if its like andy said its the BIOS. how costly can it get and is it worth fixing or getting a new laptop?

4) this is kinda strange because my ac adaptor is not losing contact with the laptop when i took the battery out. basically what happens is that when my ac adaptor is plugged into my laptop, while the battery is inside the laptop then it will have a yellow signal on showing that the battery is charging. but a lot of the times the yellow signal goes off so i thought that was my adaptor not working properly and losing contact. however now that i have my battery out and my adaptor in, my adaptor seems to be working perfectly fine.

[Silent Avenger]

By the sounds of it your battery could be suffering from memory effect. When you charge a rechargeable batter while the battery is not fully discharged they will "remember" the shortened charge cycle and therefor have a reduced capacity. So your meter on your laptop may say it's still got 70% but due to the shortened cycle of the battery it will cut out and that is why your laptop shuts off randomly. I've had this happen to me about 3 times once on my iPod, once on our video camera, and again with our digital camera. If your laptop is fairly new you should be able to use the warranty to get the battery replaced or go to your local computer repair shop and ask them to diagnose the problem for you.

[Andy]

err no, the memory effect only affects nickle cadmium, or alkaline batteries. most laptop batteries are lithium ion, thus do not suffer from the memory effect.

[cool dude]

Andy wrote:

err no, the memory effect only affects nickle cadmium, or alkaline batteries. most laptop batteries are lithium ion, thus do not suffer from the memory effect.

i have a Li-ion battery so its shouldn't effect it. even so if it did i refreshed my battery by completly draining it and completely charging it up.

[Silent Avenger]

Andy wrote:

err no, the memory effect only affects nickel cadmium, or alkaline batteries. most laptop batteries are lithium ion, thus do not suffer from the memory effect.

Actually it does happen in lithium ion batteries but it's technically called voltage depression in Li-ion batteries which is caused by overcharging or draining the battery too much which damages it and causes it to have lower performance.

[md]

Li-ion batterys also lose their ability to hold a charge over time, the more charged they are the faster it happens. You're best bet with Li-ion batteries is to keep them at ~40% when not in use and at 100% as much as possible when in use.

[cool dude]

md wrote:

Li-ion batterys also lose their ability to hold a charge over time, the more charged they are the faster it happens. You're best bet with Li-ion batteries is to keep them at ~40% when not in use and at 100% as much as possible when in use.

i'm not sure what you mean. when i'm not using the battery i should have it at 40% but when i'm using it i should have it at 100%. firstly how can i have it at 100% when i'm using the battery? unless you mean have it plugged into the AC adaptor at the same time. Also when you say when your not using it do you mean a long period of time or just when i turn off my laptop i should have it at 40% thus i have to take out my Ac Adaptor and make the battery go until 40% and then turn if off.

[Andy]

i dont know where you guys are getting your facts from...

Wikipedia wrote:

According to one manufacturer, Li-Ion cells (and, accordingly, "dumb" Li-Ion batteries) do not have any self-discharge in the usual meaning of this word.[1] What looks like a self-discharge in these batteries is a permanent loss of capacity, described in more detail below. On the other hand, smart Li-Ion batteries do self-discharge, due to the small constant drain of the built-in voltage monitoring circuit. This drain is the most important source of self-discharge in these batteries.

Li-Ion does not suffer from the memory effect.

[md]

Andy wrote:

i dont know where you guys are getting your facts from...

Wikipedia wrote:

According to one manufacturer, Li-Ion cells (and, accordingly, "dumb" Li-Ion batteries) do not have any self-discharge in the usual meaning of this word.[1] What looks like a self-discharge in these batteries is a permanent loss of capacity, described in more detail below. On the other hand, smart Li-Ion batteries do self-discharge, due to the small constant drain of the built-in voltage monitoring circuit. This drain is the most important source of self-discharge in these batteries.

Li-Ion does not suffer from the memory effect.

I was refering to the permanent loss of capacity.

And by "when not in use" I mean when the battery is not being used for extended periods; like if your laptop is plugged in and isn't moved for weeks on end. While you are actually using your laptop bettery you should charge it whenever possible. This because laptop batteries are almost always smart batteries, and if left discharged too long may be damaged by the draw from the monitoring circuitry.

[BenLi]

Quote:

Andy wrote:
err no, the memory effect only affects nickel cadmium, or alkaline batteries. most laptop batteries are lithium ion, thus do not suffer from the memory effect.
Actually it does happen in lithium ion batteries but it's technically called voltage depression in Li-ion batteries which is caused by overcharging or draining the battery too much which damages it and causes it to have lower performance.

Question is how old is your battery? There is still some form of memory effect but definately not as drastic as ni-ca...

[md]

BenLi wrote:

Quote:

Andy wrote:
err no, the memory effect only affects nickel cadmium, or alkaline batteries. most laptop batteries are lithium ion, thus do not suffer from the memory effect.
Actually it does happen in lithium ion batteries but it's technically called voltage depression in Li-ion batteries which is caused by overcharging or draining the battery too much which damages it and causes it to have lower performance.

Question is how old is your battery? There is still some form of memory effect but definately not as drastic as ni-ca...

There is no memory effect in Li-Ion batteries. None. They do suffer from other problems which might superficially look like a memory effect, but they're not.

[cool dude]

BenLi wrote:

Quote:

Andy wrote:
err no, the memory effect only affects nickel cadmium, or alkaline batteries. most laptop batteries are lithium ion, thus do not suffer from the memory effect.
Actually it does happen in lithium ion batteries but it's technically called voltage depression in Li-ion batteries which is caused by overcharging or draining the battery too much which damages it and causes it to have lower performance.

Question is how old is your battery? There is still some form of memory effect but definately not as drastic as ni-ca...

my laptop is only one and a half years. unfortunately waranty is only for one year so i can't do anything.

in my previous post i mentioned my adaptor is working when the battery is out. well now its not. so i definetly need a new adaptor but now i need to know if i need a new battery as well?

[Andy]

After the laptop shuts off unexpectedly, are you able to turn it on and drain the battery to 0%?

when the ac adapter is plugged in, the computer no longer runs on battery. so your problem could be traced to two possible factors.

1. your battery doesnt work properly
2. your connection from the battery to the laptop doesnt work properly.