HP 12-Cell Battery - How Long Before You Need to Recharge?

For those of you who are using the 12 cell battery, how long did your battery initially last when you first got it -- and now, how does its battery life compare to how long it lasted in the beginning?

I have an HP dv5t that I bought 9 months ago. I was kind of disappointed that I only got about 3 1/2 hours from it, and now, after the 9 months, it's down to 3 hours.

I keep it plugged into my laptop at all times, even when not in use, because I like the fact that it lifts up the machine a bit, and helps with cooling. I don’t use the battery that often, (just mainly when I’m traveling). But I do make sure that I fully discharge it (use it) about once a week – as has been recommended by many posters.

So, what’s your experience with the 12 cell battery?

 

Mine gives me around 4-4.5 hours under normal use after UVing

 

There are 2 wrong things u are doing.
1.plugging ur battery at all times isn't recommended if u are working on ur lap long hours and lap temp.s exceed 60'c,that would have a bad effect on ur battery increasing its wear level.
2.Full discharge isn't recommended at all it stresses ur battery so much that it could damage it.
Finally i get about (5-5.5) hours on power save plan.But it is still new .
Google for Battery care.it would help u getting care of ur battery and getting more details about its current status also read the guide on their site if u want more guidance.

 

yeah, check your power plan, if it happens to be on "high performance", then that's the battery drainer. else, it looks like it's the battery.

 

If I may...

Since your laptop is only a year old, it should still be in warranty. Call up and replace your battery. Nine months is pretty soon for such deterioration of a laptop battery.

Only this time, follow what the people above me said.

Don't leave the battery in the notebook during constant power plug usage.

However, I believe you can completely discharge the battery every few cycles. It's called battery calibration/ power cycle if I recall correctly.

 

Battery calibration/ power cycle was common with the older batteries. The Lithium Ion batteries of today's laptops don't need this.

 

Funny you ask. I just did a check on my daughters 9 month old 12 cell DV4t battery yesterday.

Settings: Power mode balanced, LCD at 70%, WiFI & Bluetooth mouse on.
Use: Primariliy Internet, Word, and Music. Updated a driver, created a restore point, did a quick system clean and a defrag which lasted about 30 minutes.

Result:
In the first hour and only light Web & Word use (daughter's homework) the battery used 14% (86% remaining).
Second hour use same as above, battery used 15% (71% remaining).
Wife used it for a while doing pretty much the same activites for a couple more hours.
(facebook... they're all addicted )
At the end of 4 hours the battery had use 59% (41% remaining).
I tinkered with it a while, downloaded and updated a driver, did a system clean and defrag which took about 30 minutes and after about 6.5 hours the battery finally went to "0".

I think if I hadn't done the clean and defrag it may have lasted closer to 7 hours which is pretty close (+/-30min.) to what is was when new. The Dv2700tv we have however struggles to make 5 hours. Both rarely travel (though the DV2700t is now in a college dorm ), are probably hooked up to power 80-85% of the time when in use, are disconnected from power when not in use, and we never pull the batteries out. I try to give them a full discharge to "0" once every couple of months, which is what I was doing with the DV4t last night.

 

But you have integrated graphics, a P-series processor, and a 14'' notebook

 

..... and that I suppose, may be part of the point...... don't you think?

 

Calibration IS needed ever so often to update the internal ic of the battery.
This way it reports the correct status of the battery to the OS.
Yet you do not want to calibrate or run your battery near zero real often.
Lithium Ion batteries like bi-directional power, use it for half hour, next time you are near AC power, filler it up.
What Lithium Ion does not like are long deep charges from a depleted battery.
The reason is this type of long charge cycles generates heat, this same heat deteriorates the Lithium Ion chemicals.

Do not leave a Lithium Ion battery on charger 24/7, exercise it once awhile.

 

I apologize. I'm old fashioned.

 

via ebay, I found a no-name clone of the hp 12 cell battery for $50-. Three year warranty, for what it's worth.

The no-name battery is rated at 10.5 amps, around 10% higher than the HP offering. On my G70 in high-performance mode with wireless on, I get a hair over 6 hours of working time before the 15% alarm comes on.

This battery has an on-board charge LED, a charge check button, and a socket that connects right up to my hp power brick.

I've had the battery for 6 months now, no problems or reduced run time. My work patterns are such that I generally run the battery down to 15% at least twice a week.

 

Mine lasts almost 3 and a half hours on power save mode just web browsing. That is pretty good considering I have max specs. Doesn't bother me cuz I have a 6 cell too and this laptop never leaves my house.

 

Thanks all. You've given me a lot of food for thought. You're right, it's still under warranty -- but I hesitate to exchange it because then I'll be without a battery for several weeks. The eBay 12 cell sounds interesting -- how does one evaluate the quality of a "no-name" battery though?

By the way, just to clarify -- when I said I "fully discharge" it once a week, I actually meant down to "10%." I appreciate all the suggestions though. And I think that I may have less time on my battery because I'm running at full power - that may be the cuprit. Perhaps the solution is to change my power level when I'm traveling or otherwise using the battery. . . I'll be traveling in a few weeks, and I'll report back to let you know if changing the power level made any difference in the time I get out of the battery.

 

I always leave my laptops on power save mode. I find that you don't really need max power if you are just web browsing or typing a paper etc. You only need it for gaming. I did put it once on max power while gaming. My battery time was cut in half.

 

Why?

HP sends you a battery overnight with FedEX first. In the box is a prepaid label to send the old battery back. Absolutely no downtime. ALL FREE UNDER WARRANTY!

 

That's incredible! I didn't know that! Thanks Infamous. My experience with HP repair + customer service was just the opposite. I had to replace my original laptop when it was new, and in order to do the exchange, they wanted me to send in the old laptop first -- and wouldn't send the new one until they had actually received the old one and logged it in. I ended up purchasing a 2nd laptop instead (meaning that, initially, I had to pay for 2 laptops), and returning the 1st one after I had received the 2nd, just to avoid being without a laptop for several weeks. So this is very, very good news!

 

If your new laptop at the time was within the 21 days, then I could understand. If you returned something at Best Buy, do you expect to get the new item back first before they credit you for returning the original item?

Anyways...go for the exchange! It's an awesome method. I've made use of the overnight shipping during the last five or six years and it's great. Be sure to follow the instructions so you avoid the collateral fees.

 

Yes, the problem with the new laptop WAS within the first 21 days -- I just happened to get a lemon. (Not so unusual with HP products, unfortunately.) And, I had purchased it directly from HP, so I shouldn't have had to wait the 3 - 4 weeks to get a replacement --- but fortunately I was in a position to be able to purchase the new one while dealing with the old one.

But I definitely WILL go for the exchange on the battery --- and I am familiar now with their mailing instructions so that I don't have to pay for postage. In fact, you can even arrange for FedEx to come to your house to pick up the part, so you don't even have to make a trip to the drop-off center.