Sony SR Wrong battery life prediction / estimated battery life problem

ok for %C3 time total, it gave me an avg of ~ 93

as for volts the max is 1.15 and the min is .9875

as for the discharge rate i waited 5 min its was (18720), lowered the LCD brightness all the way waited 5 min and it was (18720)

 

The %C3 look good, so no problem with processes keeping the CPU away.

The voltages look reasonable - middle of range.

I'm puzzled why changing the backlight brightness doesn't show any change in reported power consumption. Can you measure the change in battery charge over a period (eg 1/2 hour) and see if the numbers add up (there should be a drop in the charge of 9360mWh in 1/2 hour).

John

 

Good idea, try this half an hour on full brightness and see if the number add up like suggested. Then try it on just readable (2/8 or so) and check the numbers again.

 

ok will do as soon as i get back from work. I did another real time test yesterday, i set LCD to 3/8 (i meant to do it on half), wifi on, bluetooth off, and gave me 4:50 even though the meter read 2:40. The discharge towards the end was 15---, it decreases over a period of time with the same level of activity and no change in the settings.

 

4:50 is good and it's what I've been expecting.

Maybe you can gain more minutes by having the harddrive power off sooner.

Is the power meter in RMClock more accurate than the Vista one (in predicting battery life)?

 

no, thats why i was worried. They gave me the same prediction as vista, 2:40. could it be that the discharge rates are not accurate as well?

 

It certainly looks like it.

 

How much does the large capacity battery add in

-weight/dimensions
-battery life

 

I am glad you resolved this. Are you happy with this computer now?
4 hours 50 mins is decent at those levels but it is not really an improvement compared to what has gone before.

 

thanks

well i had an sz730 and i could achieve that battery life only by dropping the LCD brightenss even lower than what i used for the SR. To get 5 hours on the sz, i could barely see whats on the screen, not the case with the SR. Im sure the battery life will also increase once i do a fresh vista install. Also i know if ever i needed to, i can go close to or above 6 hours with the SR, without tinkering too much with its settings and shutting everything off, and thats important to me because in dental school, im in class 8 hours and not every room has many outlets.

Its not mind blowing difference, but it is still a nice difference none the less.


I also like the quieter keyboard and its layout, much easier to type on. It also runs quieter and cooler IMO than the sz i had. The touchpad works better than on the sz, and it is larger. I only miss the material the sz was made of, felt smoother and more durable than my SR but i can live with that. So overall, im really glad with the purchase.

 

^
I have an SZ/7 and i can get slightly over 5 hours battery life with 2-3 level brightness with wifi on surfing in IE pretty much constantly in power saver mode with bluetooth of and WWAN disabled. I also disable Aero some people claim that it might make a difference and some people claim though that it does not make a difference if you disable Aero if you use power saver mode but i disable Aero anyway.

I would have thought that the SR with the IGP chip would have been maybe able to get a little over 5 hours given those settings you used.
I also got that battery life without doing a clean install. I can exceed 5 hours and am probably close to 5 hours 30 mins with wifi on if i use Firefox and a good ad block and no script.

It is good that you are pleased with it though.

 

wow, with brightness on 2 on my sz, i was only able to get 4:30 with the settings you described and surfing internet only. Does aero make that big of a difference, i never disable it. i dont know why there is such a difference.

 

Aero does make a differrence yes. How big i don't know. But musl are you in Powersaver mode?

 

I don't know for sure i always disable aero so i have never really compared it but i use it anyway.

I am on battery right now on level 3 brightness I switched over to Firefox about 20 mins ago. On level 3 brightness with wifi on with all those settings i used above with no script running and ad block i started out at 11.06 and it is now about an hour later and i have like 5 hours 25 mins remaining on my battery.
I have never run my battery right down using Firefox before i have done it using IE though. Firefox is so much better though with an ad block and no script. I was guessing about 5 hours 30 min using Firefox etc it could be a little better actually.

These new models should have a little bit better battery life in theory.

Why not give it a go disabling Aero to do it go to the control panel-->Performance info and tools--->Adjust visual effects--> select for best performance.

Also use Firefox if you don't and a good ad block and no script as they probably do make a difference.

 

If I understand correctly, the 4:50 is actual run time from full battery to critical battery alarm, and not the predicted time (which is much less). If so, there's definitely a bug somewhere (BIOS?) which is over-reporting the power drain.

As for Aero, it will definitely reduce the battery time. My guess is 5 to 10%. Try with and without Aero and tell us the difference.

The first thing I do on a new notebook is to set the Visual Effects to Best Performance + Smooth screen fonts. Effectly, this means least effort spent on visual effects and more time to do either productive work or sleep.

John

 

yes im in powersaver mode. ill try with aero ff and report to you guys the difference.

and John, yes your correct. Its a pretty inconvenient bug.

 

TRY IT WITH ECKS PEE (XP).

Sorry to be spamming, I just want to see someone report in on battery life with XP on SR.

----------------
Now playing: Hans Zimmer - chevaliers de sangreal
via FoxyTunes

 

musl85 have you tried undervolting yet?
Should put you over 5 hours I expect.

 

I have the same problem or not problem :I

I have the SR19XN since a few days.

I charged the battery last night completely full while the laptop was turned off (no standby or so).

Then next morning I unplugged the power cable and turned the notebook on.
I looked at the % off the battery left and it was like 98/97% or so.
That's no problem for me that vista booting takes a few %.

But the Problem is:
When charged the battery 100% vista shows me left time "2:40 hours max. on 100% battery left".

That's far away from the 5 hours which it should last.

Designed Capacity is 54830 mWh and Capacity when Fully Charged is the same (54830 mWh).

But Vista and RMClock say both the same left time (no more than 2:40 hours)

What should I do to get it up to 5hours or to test whether just the vista battery left display is wrong ?

Greetz from Germany

 

Instead of panicking, you people really need to just start USING it then actually seeing how long it lasts.

 

Try setting your brightness to just readable (3/8 or so), Bluetooth off, wifi on, and surf untill the battery quits. Time the result by hand. Report back here

 

The estimated time left is inaccurate. I've never seen it go above 2:40, nor have I seen anyone report it going above 2:40, but it will last longer than that. With the ATI graphics card, I've been consistently getting over 3 hours and even as high as 3.5 hours, and others have reported about 4.5 hours for the integrated graphics.

 

sorry i havent been on to provide results for time with aero off, im just preparing for dental school tomorrow (1st day...yikes) and then ill have some free time.


for everyone else with the question about battery time. Read the thread, it is definitely off, you can easily get 5 hours on this machine.

 

Man that whole Vista reporting thing is messing with everyone. Historically has there been something like this before and will they fix it perhaps in a Bios update?

 

RMClock says discharge rate 19440 - 19800 mW.

I time right now how long the battery lasts in real.

4,5hours would be enough for me.

I charged the battery before I was going to bed, but unplugged the power adapter over night.

A few minutes ago I powered on the laptop on battery and it seems that it lost online 6% during the vista boot without charging the whole night. So there is probably not that much battery drain when power off.

Ok, while I was typing this post vista shows me: 2:23h (85%) left, that is 11mins lower than it was after vista boot (2:34h).
And on my clock it says 22min already left.
So that's it.

11min left in vista but 22min left in real time.

I gonna report back in how long the battery left.

 

Himkalo if you want to go over 5 hours turn off the Aero interface and use undervolting. Undervolting is lower the voltages with RMClock as explained in this guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

 

I don't really wanna go over 5 hours. But as much as Ican get without doing anything. Sony says min 5h battery. But it should be over the 3.5h others report with the dedicated graphic!
4.5h with mine like some other with the IGP reported would be enough!!

Greetz.

I actually have 25% (48min) of battery left and the laptop is already powered on 2:45h. BUT: The first 2hours or so, the laptops power mode was "Balanced" and I did some office work.
There the CPU Speed (RMClock Tray Icon) changed between 0,85GHz and something like 1,6GHz or so. While I was doing Office Work in "Balanced Mode" I thought that the battery sank fast than before.

I changed to power saaver and let's see how long the battery will last the next 25%.

Greetz

 

Yes setting it to "energy saving" will provide better battery life.

I still recommend undervolting because it makes the CPU cooler, take less power and can make your fans never turn on again.

It's also very easy to do and you can't blow up your system or anything.

 

I got 4hours till the laptop turned off (4% battery left or so).
But I used as mentioned above, not power save mode the first 2hours or so.
When using only power save mode I think I get more like 5hours.

Thx. I will try it next time my battery is charged 100% with power save mode and will tell you the result.

 

Hi all! I started this thread but the discussion has gone well on without me! Lol. In any case, I want to say that I do think the problem is with the indicator, not the battery or the machine.

With respect to the indicator saying "2h40m", the truth is, I have specially taken notice when using my SR and noted that we will indeed get more than the time stated. I can get over 3 hours with the ATI card.

With respect to the "battery drain" problem, I am not entirely sure, but I now seem slightly inclined to think that the indicator is the problem as well. I just had my battery go from fully charged to 89% right upon booting. I thought this was the drain problem again so I just ignored it knowing there isn't quite anything I could do about it. I used the battery down to about 1h10m, and shut down. Took a 45 min bus ride home, and when I turned it on at home, the battery was at 43mins! MY GOODNESS! However, I soon noticed that it stayed at 43 minutes for a good 20 minutes or so before dropping to 42 minutes, and then started to decrease.

So, is it fair to say then, that all the problems are problems with the indicator? I do hope so, because I suppose that can be fixed with a patch? I don't really want to find out that I have a faulty machine.

 

I haven't owned a vaio before, but i have a Thinkpad R52 with and it also has a completley inaccurate battery reading at all times! It sometimes says i need a new battery, sometimes it doesnt, etc etc. but regardless, its had a 2 hour battery life+ since i bought it(maybe slightly less now), but the reading would say anything from 2:30+ to 1:30+ for the 100% charge.

So i think its more of a windows problem, then a battery drain problem. Just my oppinion, though (JMOT? lol).

My vaio is coming soon, so i will post if there has been any change to the fabrication process. Sony just made some new non-ctos(look on the webpage! Came out today, so maybe they have done something to resolve the issue?)

 

Does SR drains battery ~15% a day or just drops once after being shut down?

I mean - do we have same issue discussed here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=146956 ?

If yes - SR must go from 100% to 0% in a week being shut down.

I was going to get SR today, but found that thread and suspended the order. Sensor issues are OK, but continuous drain to 0% is inacceptable. Especially for sony!

 

sorry to say yes !! one week shut down with no AC plug in !! the battery will be 0% and your can't open you laptop without AC Adapter

 

Hmmmm. I assume this is "genetic" and non-firmware-fixable problem, since it was not fixed in all previous-generation VAIOs.

I'm curious about what sony support may say...

Well, sorry sony, I'll have to search for other laptop with nice screen

 

Guys, I think this is all the problem with the indicator. I was using my laptop and switched it off at around 50-60% on Day 1. On Day 2, after booting up it was at 20%. Man I could not believe it. However, it took like 1-2 hours to go from 20% to 5% in which then it had to go to hibernate automatically. I suspect at 5% it still had a good 30-45 minutes left to go. I need to set it to 2 or 3% battery to avoid it hibernating automatically when indeed it still had some good battery life left in the laptop.

 

From the datasheet of the intel wireless card 4965 AGN i read that it has this feature:

Wake on' WLAN support allows waking up a notebook remotely and distributing upgrades and patches​

and this image posted in the thread "New Vaio - Battery Keeps Losing Power When the PC Is Shut Off" confirm that it's a feature that can be enabled in windows;

and the windows feature setup windows notice the problem of battery drain if it's enabled.



anyone can check it?

 

You can also read it officially from intel: http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/resources/doc_library/tech_brief/wowlan_tech_brief.pdf

 

^
I have that wireless card in my SZ7 and i don't have battery drain problems. I am not even certain that the SR models are using the 4965 AGN wireless card. I have looked in my BIOS and i don't even see a wake up on wlan setting there probably the SR is using a different BIOS though. I did look in the device manager property section and my wireless card is set to allow this computer to turn this of to save power it was set like this as default.

Sony really need to fix both of the issues that have been discussed in this thread. Hopefully they will bring out an update that will address these problems.

 

rachuk i'm talking about the second option in the setup page, not the first one;

look at the picture

 

^
I know it is set on default to the 1st option on mine. Sony should set them as default on that option anyway. It is worth checking though.
I have just looked at the US Sony website and the SR models are using a 5100AGN wireless card. I am not sure if the European models are using the same card.
It is still worth checking though.

 

There is one work around though, a very simple one: take out your battery if you don't need it. Since this is also recommended for maximum battery life.

I do it on every laptop brand.

 

Ever wonder why Sony uses JEITA to measure battery life? They're the only one I've come across that uses this benchmark and frankly I'm not impressed. The only way to reach those battery life they claim is by turning down or off everything device and leave the machine there running by itself.
I have a Vaio S which claimed to have 4 hours battery life using th JEITA benchmark. In real life scenario of half brightness, wireless on, browsing and office application, I got less than 2 hours out of it.

 

That could be a solution if I already bought vaio. But I'm not too rich to buy a laptop, knowing, that I can't leave it for a week and then take it on the go w/o charging if I forgot to re-attach battery a week ago.

I have Acer 3300 - and it looses maximum 3% in 2 weeks with both new and 2.5 yr/old batteries.

I still hope, that Sony will issue a bios update or something. Maybe we just need an instruction on how to avoid WLAN eating our juice.

 

That makes two including myself. Can anyone else who is experiencing this "battery drain" problem confirm what myself and stanny have observed? If we can get more responses on this then we may be able to affimatively say that the problem really isn't with the battery losing charge, but with the way the indicator is displaying the percentage remaining.

 

b.t.w. Looks, like not many of existing SR owners are trying to contact Sony about the problem.

What would they say? I only know they try sending another battery, which drains same way. Looks like guys at Sony don't even know about the problem.

If so - no bios update is to be expected

Please give sony a kick. I will try to contact sony as "possible SR buyer".

 

I can confirm this too. I have an SR16GN (Australian model - P8400, 4gb, HD3470) and I have noticed this marked reduction in battery life when I shut down and restart. However after the initial drop after boot up the battery indicator will only drop around 5% for the first hour or so and then start to drop more regularly. I have a feeling the indicator is messing up too.

Also if I recharge to 100% at night, leave unplugged overnight and switch on using battery in the morning I will have lost around 10% -15% at first boot up. However if I do the exact same thing, recharge to 100%, leave overnight unplugged and then switch on in the morning, but this time plug in the charger before booting up, the battery indicator indicates 100% full. This makes no sense as the battery could not have charged from 85% to 100% in the one minute it took to boot up. So I think there is some weird indicator problem where it estimates a HUGE battery drain every boot up!

 

thanks dylan333,

can we safely say then that this problem is just inaccurate battery indicator. has anyone not turned on their sr for several days and found that they cant boot up?

 

Yeah would be nice if someone don't turn on their SR for 4-5 days and see what's the result. Would you be able to use it still for 2-3 hours?

 

yup !! i did this and my laptop didn't turn on !! every time when i click the power button the battery indicator give me a red sign for one second and nothing happen !!till i put my charge !!

 

I experienced much serious problems, but I posted them probably in a not up-to-date thread. Please have a look at: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=282258&page=7