Laptop battery dramatically dying? 84% to 64% within days

Having a very weird problem with the ASUS laptop in my sig, very recently it started to die at random times when unplugged. It would usually get to around 20%-25% and then shut off, before that it would go to around 10%, now it seems within the hour. Another problem is I noticed while it was plugged in finished charging, it would sometimes charge and then shut off, charge then shut off, and now the battery notification in the toolbar shows its at 64% battery, fully charged when 5 days ago it showed 84% fully charged.. The laptop was mostly used at a desk, I would often disconnect it and use it unplugged whenever it finished charging then use it laying in bed. So I guess it's time to throw this baby out and get a new battery.

What should I look for in ebay batteries? I see prices from $19 to $44

edit: while typing this, the battery notification kept scanning and now its at 89%

 

Sounds like a replacement is needed soon. I would not recommend ebay, genuine Asus batteries are the way to go if you still think the notebook is otherwise giving you the performance you need to do your work.

You can take a chance and get lucky with cheap imitations. But it may cost you in more ways than you think right now, including not only lower performance with your system - but possibly damage to the same system and/or the home or office it's in.

Personally, I wouldn't take a chance to save a few dollars - especially if you think that with a new battery, the system will last another year or two.

Good luck.

 

Currently trying to save up for a pc build so I'll try to live as long as I can without the new battery as I don't yet need to take it out of the house but in any case, any recommendations on where to look?

 

Getting a reliable battery from ebay is about as good as 50/50. If you get a good one, you can save substantially.

Thing is, they all come from China (a few from Korea). There's just some that have better cells than others. Its the manufacturing and how densely they're packed that determine their rate of failure.

The bad news is that there's no way to tell which is which. You just have to depend on the reputation of the seller. If the price is too good to be true, you probably should exercise caution.

In the case of an OEM battery, the manufacturer will simply guarantee its performance, and replace it and any items damaged should it not perform as specified.

When the battery on my HDX died, I did copious research and was able to find one that has operated as specified and without issue thus far.

 

The performance of the cells was not my concern. The circuitry required to keep those cells safe, day after day is what keeps me away from ebay quality of any component for my systems.

50/50 is pretty bad odds - even if the system is worth only a couple of hundred dollars at the time.

 

download battery care or battery bar from my link below which should give a better reading than the built in windows thingy.

 

Every laptop battery I have ever bought has been a 3rd party battery. I have only ever had one failure, and the battery could no longer be charged or drained, although its capacity and charge showed up just fine on my computer.

Lots of people talk about them being unsafe, but I have yet to see any actual evidence suggesting this.

 

You are one of few then. Many just start to lose charge after only a few dozen recharge cycles. I'm sure many third party resllers use returned or old unsold batteries and salvage them, resulting in a mish-mash of battery life, voltages, etc. Unless you only need to squeak by for a few months until you buy a new laptop, I'd also suggest original equipment battery.

 

This might have happened due to over charging of the battery. Anyways if you want to buy a new battery then make sure that you go for a original asus battery to avoid any problems in future. I had bought a third party battery in past due to cheaper rate but ended up in more problems.

 

And mine worked fine (after I returned the one that was the wrong size), hence my 50/50 rating. And for the record, its not that the manufacturer's battery is perfect, its just that they will repair/replace it or any parts damaged by it, should if fail. Which is one reason it cost more.

There's also the piece of mind you don't get with non OEM certified batteries. But like many electronics (and goods in general for that matter), they all come from the same factories in China.

 

Well not entirely. OEM batteries at least use new, fresh cells, with more or less same manufacture date, process, etc. Third party battery manufacturers can use old, unused, or returned batteries and salvage the cells from them to make their own. Or if they build the cells they just don't pack them as densely, or inconsistently. It's like the Ni-Cd batteries you buy for every day things (lke AA, AAA, C, D, etc) there are definitely differences between no name brands and Duracell and Energizer. Having gone through hundreds of batteries a year with kids' toys constantly needing replacement, I can personally attest to this.

 

That.. holds true for unmarked cadmium batteries with fairly high rate of decay during storage, for example.

But for lithium-ion cells for laptops, they are all literally made on the same factories, and shipped and sent in the same low charge state. And the reason why many OEMs unceremoniously "take the cost" associated with battery failure for their branded cells, is simply that the failure rate is incredibly low. It not only costs them very little to replace the cells - the truth is that with so low failure rate, an actual quality assurance department checking the state of the batteries (for fresh batteries on new models) before shipping them simply isn't justified.

I do know several resellers of unbranded cells who buy cells and test them before shipping, though. Or for example mount fresh cells in the plastic containers for the particular model right before shipping them to you. That's always worth the money. And these are, without fail, better kept and with a better charge than the branded cells that may have been stored for years before they're shipped, etc.

Then again - with the now utterly belated advent of lithium polymer cells, or batteries with synthetic electrolyte that have near infinite shelf-life, this will not become such an important issue. The problems now would be capacity, shape and format, for example. Would it be possible for third party resellers to make a business by ordering specially shaped synthetic cells to replace the original organic based ones, for example..?

 

The reason to buy original equipment batteries instead of third party batteries has nothing to do with the cells. As you say, many of the cells are made in the same factories as the OEM ones. The difference is in the electronics that make them "smart batteries." The additional electronics determine charge and discharge characteristics, which in turn determine battery life and lifespan. And OEM batteries uniformly use electronics that are designed specifically to work with the particular model. Third party batteries use more generalized electronics, which means they are typically not as efficient and do not last as long. This is also a part of why they tend to be substantially less expensive. Now, if the reduction in price is worth the potential reduction in quality and lifespan, it may be worth it to buy third-party. However, I always recommend buying first-party batteries only.

 

Says the same stats, 84% capacity, 1h24 battery remaining fully charged plugged in.

Under detailed info, it says wear level is 62.15%

designed capacity: 56160 mWh
total capacity: 21254 mWh
current capacity: 17971 mWh

Still didn't get a response on where to look for oem batteries, Googlin I see mostly ones labeled oem but look third party as hell.
The laptop keeps scanning the battery capacity, just went up 1% while writing this post. What price range should I be looking at here?

 

Generally, original batteries cost between $100-$200, depending on brand. For your Asus, the OEM battery can be found here: 6-Cell Battery and for your Lenovo, the OEM battery can be found here http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...24A5904458824A2CAB736C4474&hide_menu_area=yes

 

$124 CAD... won't let me see shipping unless I register.
Atleast they ship from Toronto so it shouldn't be to bad.
Don't have any money to spend so I'll just save the link and buy later. Thanks for the help!