Is my battery failing?

Hey there! I bought my XPS back in May. I have a 6-cell battery, but I usually have the laptop plugged to power (but with the battery still on).

However, when I want to use the battery, I find its life it's really short.

For example, I started watching a movie at full battery, and it only lasted for 1:05 (1 hour and 5 minutes) so I can never watch a full movie on batteries....

Why? Should I disconnect the battery when using the laptop connected to power? How do I know if my battery is defective?

Thanks!

 

Hi.

Are you using Xp or Vista?

If it`s Xp run this program it will give you the battery wear level, it does not work in Vista.

http://download.softpedia.com/dl/2a...525/100024748/software/system/info/mm0310.zip

Regards

John.

 

Vista
10char

 

You can use PC Wizard for battery wear in both XP and Vista. To the OP, you may want to cycle your battery to 0 and back to 100%. Some sources say that for every 30 or so recharges, a power cycle of 0 to 100% is key. Leaving you battery connected to you computer while on AC power is questionable. I have used my laptop for about a year with the battery always in, and have only 3% wear = 15 minutes of battery time lost of my 'theoretical' maximum time. However, 0-5% wear is expected of many new batteries. It may be wise to take out the battery when you are going to be on AC for extended periods. My reservation to not do this is power outages/pulled plug. This has happened a couple of times on my old laptop and I lost work. The cost of replacing a battery is less than the cost of reconstructing a project for me. If you have a UPS in-position, then this point is mute.

 

General Information :
Nb. Battery : 1

Battery Information :
Charge : (55%) - Chargement
Place : Unspecified
Manufacturer : SMP
Chemistry : LION
Product Name : DELL TK3627
Technology : Rechargeable
Designed Capacity : 57720 mWh
Full Charge Capacity : 42835 mWh
Capacity : 23798 mWh (55.6%)
Level : 26%
Voltage : 12.34 V

Is that level Wear Level? 26%? That's bad, isn't it?

 

That is. Don't worry, you should be able to get that percentage down. You will want to run your computer down to nearly zero battery. Go to your power options and setup a new profile with max performance but a very low percent shutdown rate for the battery. Load up a couple long videos on a playlist or run orthos to continuously run your computer till shutdown. At this point, plug into the AC power and do not turn on your computer till it is 100% recharged. Then check again.

 

I did that and my battery is still 26%

 

this is pretty much normal. my laptop battery lasts 1hour 45 minutes on dimmest screen, powersaver, while internet browsing and note taking.