Battery Sony FW drains very quickly

My Sony laptop battery drains very quickly, from 100% charge. What should I do? The laptop is VGN-FW351J

Thanks!

 

If it rains very quickly just carry an umbrella with you at all times

On a serious note, what is very quickly? If the laptop is within the 1 year warranty you can call Tech Support and they should replace it for you. You can try recalibrating the battery... charging to 100%, taking charger out, and draining it till it goes to sleep, then waking it up, draining it till all power is out, then charging to 100% again.

 

Within 15 minutes, it goes from 100% down to 15%.

 

Obvious problem. Call sony if you still have warranty

 

I have had the laptop for more than one year, so no warranty. I will try to recalibrate. Can the battery be repaired (repacked)>

 

Yes, if you know what you're doing. Ive read about people repacking their batteries and they say finding the right cells, and the process of repacking/resoldering is a huge hassle and they would've rather just bought a new battery.

 

For calibration, how many times should I do the charge/drain cycle?

 

First of all, before you spend any time recalibrating anything...

I'm assuming the Vaio battery care function is turned off (if not then turn it off and charge it up for a few hours).

If the gauge indicates that it goes from 100% to 15% in 15 min. Then that would imply it's completely empty within 20min.

So if your battery actually is dead within 20min, then you just need a new battery that's all. Calibrating isn't going to do to much for you there.

On the other hand if it goes for a few hours, your battery is fine in which case you may be able to calibrate something into place there (although I doubt it)

If it was that the battery care function was on and was only partially charging, then I suppose that calibrating could solve that...

 

This usually happens when your laptop is plugged in 100% of the time. After a year or so the battery will be depleted and cannot hold a charge. You''ll have to buy a new battery.

 

No, totally disagree with that.

Actually using your battery more often is going to wear it out much faster than if you have your notebook plugged in all the time.


Don't waste your time "caring" for your battery, use it how you want, then when it's not holding much of a charge throw it away and get a new one.

It's a consumable item after all.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/consumable

 

I concluded that I need a new battery. Are aftermarket batteries to be avoided, where should I buy a battery from?

 

Exactly zero. The battery has a built-in meter that reports the full charge capacity to the OS, and will update the value as necessary.
Also, Li-Ion batteries do not have to be "conditioned", and doing so will, in fact, reduce their battery life.

The best ways to prolong Li-Ion battery life is to (a) not let it discharge to empty or before charging it again, as the wear is much higher for full discharge cycles, and (b) keep the battery cool, i.e. don't recharge and play a 3D game at the same time, and don't leave your computer in the sun.
Here is a good description of how Li-Ion batteries age, and how to avoid the common pitfalls.