DV6000t shortened battery life

Last year, my DV6000t was fairly new and the 6-cell battery would last just about 2 hours on power saver mode. This year, the battery barely lasts 50 minutes. My laptop is usually plugged in, and when I use it on battery I turn off any unneeded applications and RMClock in order to save power. Is the battery just getting old? Any solutions?

 

Buy a new battery? What I'm saying is that it is natural for the battery life to shorten because of the continuous charge of the lithium ion battery.

Those Li-ions will eventually lose the ability to retain charge so after I think it was 1000 or so charges they die. Don't quote me on that last part though

 

Have you tried calibrating your battery?

 

No, what's that?

Maybe I'll buy a 12 cell battery from eBay.

 

Every 2-3months you need to drain your battery all the way till the cut off point.

Then fully charge it. Do this about 2 times

Read the battery guide in the hardware section

 

If it lasts only 50 min nothing can bring it back to 2 hours...calibrating can mainly help with better reporting by the operating system (show the correct %).

 

The past two days I let the battery go down all the way twice so I guess it's already calibrated and still only 50 min of battery life. At this point I think my only option is to get another battery. Or maybe I can get the battery replaced since Costco extends the manufacturers warranty to two years.

 

Have you run the battery testing routine that is in the HP help software? I think you can find it via search Windows help (which includes some HP functions too). HP customer support would make you run the test if you were still under warranty and making a claim for a new battery.

 

My battery life has decreased by about an hour as well (after ~18 months)... however, I believe a lot of this has to do with my recent installment of a new 7200RPM hard disk. Brand new this thing got 2.5 hours on a full charge. Now I get about 1.5... still OK.

As for the Batteries on Ebay... be careful. Most of those are "counterfeit" (I don't know another word to describe them). They are manufactured in Asia to be made to look exactly like genuine HP batteries, and are sold for 1/3 the price to the Western market. I am fairly confident they are worse in performance than a genuine HP battery, and I wouldn't trust them. If someone is selling a genuine HP battery from the USA than go for it... just watch out for those sketchy ones. Just my 2 cents...

 

If you prefer the running time to the bulkness, get an original HP 12-cell from circuit city or bestbuy. I got one on sale for $119 in circuit city and its running 4+ hours and has full HP warranty.
I also have experience with 'oem-compatible' and 'after market' batteries and you really need to know your sources not to end up with a low performing item. Most are indeed sourced in asia and are labeled/marketed with over-stated specs.