Problems with the battery work-time on I6000!!!

Hello!!

Here is the specs of my Dell Inspiron 6000:

Pentium M 1.73 MHz 533 FSB
1 GB Ram
100 GB Hard Disk
15.4 inch WXGA LCD Panel
ATI Radeon X300 128 MB Memory
CD/DVD Burner

I´m having problems with the duration of my battery. I have a 6 cell battery. When I´m running on battery power I can hardly work 2 hours. Only with doc processing, email, or internet, no video or audio playing. The brightness of the LCD set to a level 3!!. I think something is wrong!!

What I can do to increase the battery duration?? how can I work more time when on batteires??

PLEASE HELP. THANKS A LOT.

 

If you have Dell's Quickset, I would switch to the maximize battery profile, and see if you get better results. Another way to do that is right click on the battery icon in the taskbar, and select Maximize Battery.

Things like turning off your wireless and bluetooth card when you aren't using them will help with your battery (FN+F2)

SG

 

Thanks SouthernGirl:

You should really be a nice girl!!. I saw a threat when people discussed about you and said you should be a lovelly person!!, I´m agree with that!!

I´ve tried QuickSet, also everytime disconnect the wireless (Fn+F2), but still the same. I´m wondering if besides those procedures, there is another way to save battery power in order to increase the bettery work-time. Any ideas???

 

LOL, aww why thank you.

Not really. You've taken all the precautions for saving battery when using it. May I ask how old is your battery? Laptop batteries do wear out over time, so it might just be time to invest in another battery.

 

No, thats another thing, my computer is brand new, I just bougth it Dec. 05. So the battery supose to be only 3 months old!!!

 

If you have it plugged in alot...take out the battery, make sure it is not fully charged...that way you don't get degradation.

 

Sorry, USAFdude02, but I don´t understand what you mean. Do you mean to take out the battery when on AC power?, why make sure is not fully charged?

 

well according to some of the reviews you should be getting almost 3 hours with full brightness and wifi on.

I would completely discharge the battery, and the recharge it back up if you haven't done that yet.

What USAF means, is that when you are using your ac adpater and have the battery plugged in, it wears down the battery fairly quickly. The battery won't stay charged as long as what it normally should. So when you are using your ac adapater you should take out battery, and if you won't be using the battery for extended periods of time (talking about days, not hours), then it is best to charge your battery to 40% and remove it.

I don't that really explains why your battery life is so low unless you always use power adapater 24/7.

 

Well must of the time I use power adapter. I will take the advice of take the battery out if I´m on ac power. I never stay many days without using my computer, so I wont need to keep the battery on 40% charge.

Please let me know what to do to completely discharge the battery?, just use the computer on batteries ´till the computer turn off itself?

Another question. I´ve read something about undervolting, and how that improve the battery life, and the processor heat. What is you advice about it??

 

Yes on the discharge question.

As for the undervolting, i really don't know. Sorry

 

So, if after I try all you suggested, keep having a short battery work-time, then my battery should be defective, damage??

 

yeah, it could be either. I really don't know if this will accomplish anything, but you might call dell and see what they say.

If dell doesn't do anything, then I would suggest looking on ebay for a 9 cell battery.

 

discharge your battery down to around 5% or so. then, fully charge your battery to 100%.

once you're at 100%, turn your wifi off, turn LCD down to the lowest brightness setting, turn off a/v and other resource hungry apps/services, turn off standby/hibernation/screensavers.

then let your computer sit and drain the battery while idle. you should get around 4 hrs, give or take a little bit.

i just undervolted my 6000 with RMClock and got about 45 mins more battery life out of it.

 

Let me understand drumfu:
1. First, discharge the battery to arounf 5%, and the fully charge it
2. Second, I need to do all you said about turnig off wireless, the LCD brightness, ......
3. Third, after that I have to let discharge the battery again on idle mode, or like you said "let your computer sit and drain the battery while idle"

So, if I do that I should get around 4 hours battery work-time?? Please let me know is I´m correct.

 

yeah, follow those steps and see if you can get 4ish hours out of your battery from step 3. if you can't get 4 hrs just letting it sit without wifi and screen dim, then something's up with your battery.

are you leaving your notebook in a hot car during the day or anything? the only real enemy of notebook batteries now is heat. if you live in a hot area (i'm in socal) and leave your computer in the car all the time, it may have something to do with early battery death.

 

Another questions drumfu:
1. I´ll do what you adviced me, if I get about 4 hours out of my battery from step 3, thats means my battery is ok?,
2. If my battery is ok, what I should do to increase the battery work-time?. I mean, ´cause I need to work with the computer and I can´t just letting sit doing nothing all the time!!
3. Yes I live in hot area, I live in the caribbean!!. I try to use my computer on air conditioning or with a fan all the time, but after that, what I can do?

Any ideas????

 

The reason to keep 40% is to keep the battery alive I don't think these batteries like to be completely dischaged much less stored that way. The real world might unfortunately be what SG says, after a while the battery is toasted and need replacement. I think it should last a couple of years though at least.

 

well, i'm saying do those steps to see if if you actually can get 4 hrs doing nothing. if you can, then it must be something else like a power setting or unnecessary processes, etc.

if you can't get anywhere near 4 hrs just idling, then something is definitely wrong with the battery.

i don't know what else you can do in a climate like yours. maybe see if other users in your area have the same problem?

good luck. post back and tell us how many hrs you got just idling.

 

Hello Drumfu:

I´ve made the test yesterday, actually I worked on batteries for 3 hours and 30 minutes just doing internet surfing, with the brightness level set to 1 and the wireless off. I think if the computer had been idle (like you advice) had lasted 4 hours or maybe more.

Also I did what SG adviced me, I mean, I fully discharged the battery and then charge it again.

So, now we know my battery is OK, what I can do to increase the battery work-time????

 

ok, so the battery doesn't seem to be defective.

there are a couple things to do to increase battery life... in no particular order, they are...

1. reinstall a fresh copy of your OS. dell has a bunch of unnecessary apps, compressed executables, trial offers, and background services that hog resources and hard disc space on your computer. a fresh copy of your OS running ONLY what you want is the 1st place to start.

2. run dell's quickset app that allows you to config power schemes for battery or AC power.

3. observe the following:

make sure you have the power scheme set to 'battery' or similar for your vid card, i think ATI calls theirs "POWERPLAY" (you can also try underclocking)

same with your ethernet card (can be configured to turn off when on battery)

wifi card - in addition to being able to turn it on and off with Fn+F2, you can also adjust the power drain in the card properties

don't keep a disc in the DVD drive

don't keep a PC Card in the PC Card slot

don't have a usb device plugged in that draws power from the notebook (like a 2.5" external hard drive or something

if you're computing 'safely', not in danger or a virus or similar, you can turn off your antivirus program temporarily to get more battery life

you can try using RM Clock to undervolt your cpu.

every little thing you do will allow you to get close to your battery's potential.

 

Hello drumfu, thanks for the info. Regarding that:

1. I did a fresh install of XP SP2 when I received the computer, 3 months ago, and I get rid of all the junkware.
2. I have installed Dell QuickSet and set the settings for good battery power.
3. I have set the PowerPlay in my ATI Card.
4. I have configured my ethernet to turn off unless connected and my wireless to turn off when on batteries.
5. Rarely watch DVDs when on battery.
6. Rarely use PC Cards.
7. Never have an USB device plugged when on batteries.
8. I´ll turn off my Antivirus (Norton 2005) when on battery unless I need it!!
9. Well I don´t use RM Clock, I use Notebook Hardware Control. I have undervolted my CPU today, here is the values I´ve used:

Multiplier 6x = 0.812V
Multiplier 8x = 0.908 V
Multiplier 9x = 0.956 V
Multiplier 10x = 1.020 V
Multiplier 11x = 1.068 V
Multiplier 12x = 1.116 V
Multiplier 13x = 1.148 V

Please let me know if you have another info regarding undervolting, your own experience or others experience. Will be usefull to see another values that work for another people with Inspiron 6000!!

I think thats all. Thanks a lot for your help. Any other idea????