Low battery life with 9 cell?

I have a 9 cell battery on an M1210 and only get 2.5-3 hours. Low power mode. Other people get 2.5-3 hours with the 6 cell and 6 hours with the 9 cell.

The battery is less then a year old, when i press the indicator it is full. I very rarely discharge the battery. Always full. Always plugged in, Li-on after all. It cant be the indicator becuse it turns off in that amount of time.

 

Call Dell and get a replacement. Batteries only have a 1 year warranty on them so if you need to replace it, get it before it's a year old.

 

It's not good to keep your battery always fully charged. Do a full power cycle and see if you still get the same results. Drain the battery all the way down and then completely charge it.

 

Here's a great link on how to maintain your battery

Apple site on Lithium Ion Batteries

The rules that apply to NiMh don't apply to lithium-ion

 

I might do a complete discharge tonight and see what happens but this has been an ongoing problem. I have never gotton 6 hours out of the 9 cell.

However according to the link it doesn't matter that I keep it plugged in all the time, so I don't think that is the problem.

 

It is not wise to keep the battery plugged in all the time...

If you're not going to need the battery just pull it out!

The reason is simple... Li-Ion batteries only last a certain number of charge cycles... around 300 for my 9 cell... and the battery has a natural discharge rate so keeping it plugged in all the time will have your computer topping it off all the time when the battery drops 1% naturally.... Thus killing it faster...

 

Please ref this thread for some tips:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=106773

 

frazell is correct! You should not keep your battery plugged in all of the time for the reasons he stated.

If you do a complete discharge of the battery and then recharging does not fix the problem, you should return it to Dell for a replacement.