Battery Lasting 5 minutes. Battery Care says: 93,62%!

Hello once again guys,

I'm having this trouble with my Clevo x7200. I've always known the battery level was short and all that jazz, but the fact is that I used to get roughly two hours of battery when I first bought it. As much as one would expect battery-life to decrease over time, something is definitely wrong here. Battery Care says my wear level is at 93,62%! How is that even possible?!? I haven't abused my laptop in any manner. Sure, I game and use it for about 12 hours a day, but a wear of 93%?! It's about 1 and a half year, it can't and shouldn't be THIS bad, right? I mostly used it plugged and with battery.

Most of the time windows doesnt recognize the battery now. I turn it on and it says the pc is plugged with no battery. If I pull the cable out it doesn't shut down and the battery icon changes to a full battery with a small icon in its corner: a small red circle with an X inside - similar to when the battery level is critically low if I recall correctly. When the battery IS, in fact, recognized at start-up, it shows at around 85% after windows loads. Two minutes later it goes to 50%, and after that it shuts down. It's really quick.

Can anyone shed some light here, please? This seems to be something recent, but I'm not sure how recent to be honest. I'm really lost.

Thanks again guys,
Henry

PS: does anyone know where I can get one of these "rubbers" like in the picture? http://myweb.dal.ca/yaox/Keys/HP/HP-09C/HP-09C-THUMBNAIL.JPG

 

The capacitors on your battery may be completely overloaded. If you've charged it everyday and used it routinely, that puts a lot of stress on it. 92% sounds a little exaggerated, but I imagine in any case, you need to replace it.

Those clips are hard to come by. You should contact your reseller or the manufacturer and see if they will ship you a new key; although it's likely you will need to buy a new keyboard outright.

 

Even if the capacitators are overloaded, would it it really drain it to almost its entirety? People do just the same as I do for years and battery wears for about 20-30%. It's uncanny how it can go up to 90% and so suddenly. I estimate that about 4,5 months ago it was lasting 1:30 hour! Isn't it possible that something other than "natural" wear-down has happened/is happening?

Hmm ok, I thought it wouldn't be this hard to get one of those...

 

Yeah, exactly. That's why I say "92% sounds a little exaggerated". I didn't mean that you're overstating the reading, but it does sound like something is amiss and that you're probably both: getting an inaccurate reading, and that the battery probably does need replaced.

As for the key: yeah, most will point you in the direction of replacing the whole keyboard. But get in touch with your reseller or the manufacturer. They may be willing to ship a single key or clip to you!

 

Ok, so new delevopments.
I've been experimenting with BatteryCare and the "remaining time" keeps variating. I plugged the battery itself in and out a few times to see the response. When I first plug the battery back in it shows 1:46 minutes. Then after 1 second it goes to zero minutes remaining. Then again it shows 1:40-ish and back to 0. Is it possible there's some kind of "miscontact" somehow? Is it possible the part where the battery is supposed to be being drained is having some kind of connection issue?

It's really crazy. I just unplugged the wire again and it said "5 minutes" left at 74% battery capacity... Windows just told me "Consider replacing your battery. There's a problem with your battery." What problem is that? The capacitators issue? Howcome something like this never happened to anyone else? This laptop wasn't meant to have its battery removed everytime it's used. That's made clear when you notice the battery is part of the balance of the whole thing, containing one of its supporting "legs". If this happened because I used my pc too much without taking the battery out, then surely half the x7200 owners should have experienced the same... which is definitely not the case, right?

There has to be something else going on...

 

It's hard to get an accurate reading with an almost dead battery.

 

Alright, that makes sense.
But the question of how haven't any other x7200 owners encountered that problem still remains, right? What did I do wrong that they didn't? What should I have done differently?
If I have to accept my battery is fried and needs replacement, then at the least I have to figure out what went wrong so I don't repeat it. And so far I have absolutely no clue as to what could've happened. I've owned several notebooks in my life and this has never even remotely happened. And, truthfully, I don't think it should with such an investiment in an expensive machine like this.

 

It could have been a weaker unit, how much did you use the machine on battery?

 

Not much to be honest. Its battery-life was never too big so, I'd guess 90% of the time I had it plugged.
What is mostly weird, though, is that I think this happened really quickly. It wasn't like the battery deteriorated (quickly) and came to this. It's more like the battery was fine 4,5 months ago and all of a sudden it went from 1 and a half hour (at least) to 5 minutes. That intrigues me a lot.

 

The management PCB may have been damaged or one of the cells, either way they are not designed to be repairable and you will need a replacement i'm afraid.

 

My friends had similar issues with their laptop. Your battery will almost die, so you need to change it. My friends were able to buy cheap battery is with same quality as OEM from eBay. However, I don't know whether our clevo batteries are available because they are not that popular

Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk 2

 

Electrical wear and tear will vary on a case by case basis no matter what level of usage, but it can definitely be suggested that the consistent charge provided over the course of time wore the battery out. It's somewhat relative and somewhat happenstance.

 

I don't think I've ever gotten more than ~45 min on my x7200 before the battery died, even when it was brand new.

Have you looked into the cost of a replacement battery yet?

 

not been asked yet but did you game while using battery especially with demanding games. also have you always left your battery connected all the time. heat is a batterys worst enemy.
if so then theres your problem.

just for an alternative you could try battery bar in my sig below to see if you get the same readings as battery care. not sure what battery bar is like as never used it.

 

@king601, I'll have to search more thoroughly. Maybe they have it on eBay. I never really liked eBay. In fact, I've never bought anything from eBay before. The fact that I'm not in the US also doesn't help my situation much...

@Ike, the x7200 comes in different specs, yours is most likely equipped with double GPU, while mine isn't. Which would explain the significant difference in battery-life. Also, it seems like an x7200 battery costs about 200$ :/

@Prostar, so if the constant charging might have caused this extreme wear of the battery, the solution would be to plug and unplug the pc everytime its battery is almost running out?

@MrDJ, If I ever gamed while on battery I can't even remember, so it must have been something around 5 times at most. Also I don't play THAT demanding games. The only ones I have are GTA4 and BF3. And the latter was barely ever played (and only recently). I did leave it on most of the time while it was connected. Just as I did with my previous notebook (Acer gaming model) when nothing ever happened to its battery.

Also, I have recently removed the fans and performed a somewhat thorough cleaning of the inside. I was getting ridiculous high temperatures when idling (~82). So, I opened and ended up removing A LOT of dust from within the heatsink(?). The ventilation "holes" were compeltely or almost blocked so, even though the fans were running fast, the pc just wouldn't cooldown. Maybe those temps (which lasted for a few months) were responsible for the ridiculously quick battery decay?

The thing is, for an expensive laptop whose battery-life is no more than 2 hours tops, I can't believe we are expected to (1) either not use a battery at all when we plan to use the pc for a while or (2) to drain (or almost drain) the battery everytime we use the pc. It's just too much to ask! I think it's more than logic that most users will have it plugged most of the time, seeing the battery itself is more of a "luxury" than anything else, right?

 

there could lie your problem.
even if it was only 5 times its not recommended to use the battery for gaming as it just cant take the strain. and secondly the hotter it gets the more damage it can cause.

 

High temperatures will kill a battery especially over time...

 

That, or remove the battery altogether and run off AC power other than when you're mobile. And as Meaker pointed out, heat will definitely add to the wear and tear.

 

Heat will not just cause wear and tear but permanent damage; temps as high as 82 while idle means much higher temps under load.

 

Alright, so I guess it's settled, I'm screwed with this battery. Whenever I find time ($) to replace it, I'll be surely using it unplugged unless I plan to move it around. The thing is, that sucks a little bit because any accidental cable pull will lead the pc to automatically shutting down. See I like to use my notebook in bed a lot, on my lap (on top of a good cooling device). So, sometimes it just so happens I move and the power cable accidentally unplugs itself.

Not to mention this notebook is clearly not suited to be used without a battery - because of the fact that the battery serves a balance function as well. Luckily, with this cooling device I use I am able to position the notebook in a way it still is balanced even without the battery. Other users of the x7200 might be...

 

Why not keep your current battery in there? It should serve to supply you for a minute or two if you pull a cable out and keep the machine balanced.

 

we are still eagerly awaiting clevo to design and release a dummy battery cover to replace the battery in quite a few models as it forms part of the base footing and once the battery is removed it doesnt sit flat.
it was passed onto clevo about 4 years ago back in the day of the m860tu and we are still waiting

 

In the mean time maybe put something of the right height where the battery normally is to support it?

 

thats a good idea Meaker.... i might use the battery

 

A dummy battery replacement is certainly a good idea. As Meaker said, I kind of have one right now, unwillingly. Even though I wish I hadn't I reckon it has some sort of purpose now. Clevo needs to take this seriously since it's a major design flaw. I honestly don't think clients should be looking to improvise on support for better chances of having a healthy battery. And it isn't as easy to replace the battery wity something else either, not to mention absolutely inconvenient. Specially for people who don't usually use the pc on a desk like me.

 

Make sure to clean the machine regularly to avoid dust build up, also check temperatures every so often to make sure all is well.

 

Yea, about that... I mentioned I took loads of dust from within and temperatures went down by about 10-12 degrees. However, I still think that CPU (idling and under normal usage) at 67C is quite high and I'd like to invest some time figuring out what I can do. What should my next step be? Heatsink removal and reapplication of paste? I've never really applied thermal paste before. Are there any other steps aside from that I should do before removing the heatsink?

It's only the CPU that heats up. The HD remains low.

 

Hard drives only heat up if they are surrounded by hot devices, they don't produce much heat themselves.

A good thermal paste like IC-diamond or MX-4, apply a SMALL amount at the centre of the core and place the heatsink. I would then remove it and try again, see if you used too much or too little the first time and adjust accordingly.

 

what part of the world are you in patatje? ambient room temperatures can make a hell of a difference on your readings.

 

Well, I'm looking to buy the thermal paste Meaker suggested and shall remove the heatsink and do a full clean-up soon. I am truly hoping a new thermal paste will reduce in about 10 degrees the temperature.
As of now, I always monitor temperature, right now I have Battery-Care running but soon I'll get Everest or another more thorough program. Which one is the best and very light?

As for the room temperature, that's not a worry, I'm in northern Netherlands, so it's pretty cold here, specially now. So I don't think that is influencing the reading, But it's possible the battery run-down process started when I was in Rio, 6 months back...

 

That's interesting, certainly worth a repaste if your ambient temperatures are actually below average. Of course if your heating is up and it's actually warm?

 

Well, I wouldn't say it's warm-warm. With the heater on it should be around 17C? That's pretty mild I'd say. But before I was here I was in Rio with 35+
Btw, how should I proceed with the PSU(?)? The little "box" between the notebook and the wall plug, I mean. Every night should I unplug it from the wall? Or is it sufficient to unplug it from the notebook? Could that have influenced my battery in any way?

 

I just think this is a unique situation. In most laptops leaving a battery in won't have any, or very minimal effect, on battery life. It sounds like you got a lemon, or the system pours heat at the battery. The X7200 isn't exactly a "use on battery" kind of laptop though, but of course it's good to have in the case of a power plug removed or power failure. I'd keep it installed anyhow. If you buy another battery, just use this bad one as your "dummy". Plus I saw something about the power disconnected all the time. That can kill a battery too because it will drain a little bit even when powered off, and then constant little drain/power/drain/power can be problematic over time.

One thing to try, and this is at your own risk of damaging the battery, is to boot into the BIOS, unplug the system running on battery, and let it sit there until the battery dies completely. Remove the battery. Let it sit for a while (a few hours) then charge it back up to full. Sometimes this can reset the calibration so you can get a true reading, and possibly better battery life too. It can also damage the battery, so up to you if you want to try it. I had to do that on a Lenovo I had a few years back and everything worked well after that.