Why would...?

[dave87]

...my Dell Inspiron be stuck on 24% charging the battery?

I was surprised when the battery only lasted 25 mins, (I've pretty much killed the capacity of it through 24/7 use), so checked battery status and it will only charge to 24% regardless of how much I run it down before hand...

So, any thoughts? Its charging, so I'm guessing the laptop is fine, so am I looking at a new battery?

[.Style]

Do you keep your laptop on a desktop charging all the time with the battery in it? because that can cause the battery life to deteriorate.. If your not moving it around alot and its at a desk charging up take the battery out...

[r_j_k_p]

i've heard something like the chemicals in the battery only last a certain time, and after a certain amount of charges and re-charges, it will fail.
It used to happen on really old nokia phones, and the cure was to let the battery drain fully and then recharge it fully.

You could have to use ur laptop as a desktop with just the power cable in, until you find a new battery.

Good Luck mate

[muddyfox470]

Have you dropped it recently?
Have you calibrated the battery before, or run down the battery regularly and fully charged it?
How do you normally use it? Do you tend to leave it plugged in?

Finally... How old is it?

Ian

PS. On the macs it tells you how many charge cycles you've done, battery health (% of original capacity) and current charge.

[Hicks12]

the majority of laptop batteries do not require a full discharge/recharge, i believe it was only needed when the old nickel cadmium(spelt right?) were used, the newish(yes around for years, but the newer design compared to cadmium) nikel MH (cant spell the word not even gunna try) or the lithium batteries which is the laptop batteries nowadays are fine. All rechargeable batteries die eventually, average life time is 1000charges but you get what you pay for, cheaper=less charges, normally.

A question for you, how many cells is your laptop battery? 6 8 or 12 are the normal amounts, you tend to have more if its a power hungry laptop and they tend to last longer from experience.

[dave87]

the majority of laptop batteries do not require a full discharge/recharge, i believe it was only needed when the old nickel cadmium(spelt right?) were used, the newish(yes around for years, but the newer design compared to cadmium) nikel MH (cant spell the word not even gunna try) or the lithium batteries which is the laptop batteries nowadays are fine. All rechargeable batteries die eventually, average life time is 1000charges but you get what you pay for, cheaper=less charges, normally.

A question for you, how many cells is your laptop battery? 6 8 or 12 are the normal amounts, you tend to have more if its a power hungry laptop and they tend to last longer from experience.

Its a Lithium Ion battery, 9 cell from Dell (OEM piece). Laptop is in specs - Core Duo 2ghz, 2gb RAM, 1680x1050 15.4" WS etc.

Have you dropped it recently?
Have you calibrated the battery before, or run down the battery regularly and fully charged it?
How do you normally use it? Do you tend to leave it plugged in?

Finally... How old is it?

Ian

PS. On the macs it tells you how many charge cycles you've done, battery health (% of original capacity) and current charge.

Nope, Nope, Nope, Tend to leave it plugged in (on 24x7). About a year and a half old. If I'm reading the meter right, its about 40% of normal capacity (I knew I'd killed the capacity on it, but it always used to charge to 100%). Original life was somewhere between 5 and 6 hours on powersave.

I wasn't aware you could calibrate the batteries in the laptops, any guide on doing it?

i've heard something like the chemicals in the battery only last a certain time, and after a certain amount of charges and re-charges, it will fail.
It used to happen on really old nokia phones, and the cure was to let the battery drain fully and then recharge it fully.

You could have to use ur laptop as a desktop with just the power cable in, until you find a new battery.

Good Luck mate

Yup, thats the plan. When I want to start taking it around more I'll get a replacement, but wanted to make sure it was going to be the battery at fault before I shell out up to a 100 on a new battery. I was planning to drain the battery completely tonight and then leave it charging, see if it made any difference.

Do you keep your laptop on a desktop charging all the time with the battery in it? because that can cause the battery life to deteriorate.. If your not moving it around alot and its at a desk charging up take the battery out...

I probably should take the battery out when I've got it plugged in, I think it was lazyness that stopped me doing so. Paying the price as a result

Any more thoughts? Especially ways to test it etc?