There have been a lot of complaints by notebook owners finding that the battery life of their newly purchased notebooks was deteriorating rapidly. Battery life would drop 35% after just a couple of months of usage. The problem is not the battery per se, but rather a firmware coding issue with the notebook that causes it to grossly underestimate the actual battery life left and shut down prematurely. In other words, the notebook thinks there is 0 – 5% battery life left when in fact there might be up to 30% — or an hour’s worth of life. This may also be a problem for other notebook users outside of the battery and is therefore worth anyone reading to understand what causes a notebook to shut down when it thinks battery life has become critical.

Misuse of notebook battery

 Misunderstanding 1: 

The notebook lithium battery should be fully charged when used. Excessive charging and discharging of lithium batteries will rapidly reduce the activity of the batteries, so users need not deliberately charge them to 100% during use.

Misunderstanding 2: 

As long as it is turned off, it can be put on the bed even if it is powered off. It is easy to cause the battery to overheat and even cause a fire. Therefore, we should try to avoid placing computers on sofas, beds, and other,r places that are not easy to dissipate heat.

Misunderstanding 3: 

The battery of the notebook computer has never been removed. In fact, the problem of overcharge does not exist for a well-designed lithium battery, because the lithium battery has a protective circuit.

Misunderstanding 4: 

Even if the notebook is fully charged, it is still connected to the power supply and continues to be used. In fact, in addition to reducing the battery life, the simultaneous use of alternating current and battery will also cause overheating of the machine and easily damage other components.

Misunderstanding 5: 

The battery should be fully charged or completely discharged for storage. It is not correct to activate the notebook lithium battery regularly, whether it is fully charged or fully discharged. The correct method is to discharge it by about 30~40%.

 

Mathematical Calculations of Battery Life and Wear

This is where I can also prove there is a direct correlation between wear % and battery life. For this let's assume the critical alarm is turned on, just like everyone has it on.

Given

Battery Capacity is 77whr (B)

Average consumption is 25whr (C)

The brand new battery has 0% wear (W)

This will differ from laptop to laptop, but this is the general setting for my V1JP.

Battery life = (((B x W) – B) / C)

BL = (((77 x 0) – 77) / 25)

BL = 77/25

BL = 3 hours

This shows if you have a 77wh battery and if your consumption rate is on average 25whr, and your wear % is 0, then your battery life is 3 hours, this matches my original battery life test in my review.

Battery life = (((B x W) – B) / C)

BL = (((77 x 35%) – 77) / 25)

BL = ((27 – 77) / 25)

BL = (50/25)

BL = 2 hours

This shows if you have a 77wh battery, and your consumption rate is an average of 25whr, and your wear is 35%, then your battery life is 2 hours, this also matches the results, and you can see it on the Up Time on CoolMon2.

This also shows how battery wear does affect your battery life. You can even calculate another interesting factor.

Wear battery life = 100% charge = 3 hours of battery life with 25whr consumption on a 77whr battery.

Wear battery life = 3 hours x 60 minutes = 180 minutes on 100% charge with 25whr consumption.

Wear battery life = 180 minutes /100% charge = 1.8

This value of 1.8, means how much battery life in terms of minutes you lose per 1% of wear. So if your wear percentage is 35%, then multiply 35 x 1.8 = 63 minutes, which is exactly how many minutes you will lose to your wear %. My laptop shows this exactly with 35% battery wear. I hope everyone understands and follows this!

Test Settings

P4G Mode: Quiet Office

Screen Brightness: 2/16

Light Task: Typing this article and some browsing

WIFI On

Use these settings to test battery life to keep up with the consistency of what happened before and to calculate what happened today.

Discharge Rate Comparison

V1JP Review: Discharge averaged 25 W

School: Discharge averaged 23-24 W

Battery Article: Discharge averaged 25-26 W (fist 2 hours)

Battery Article: Discharge averaged 28W (for the remaining time due to increased fan RPM and blinking battery LED)

The cells in laptop batteries degrade over time, and it is normal for old laptop batteries to hold a charge in less than an hour. Current laptops can achieve up to 10 hours of standard usage because of the software that comes with the perk of a new laptop. Henceforth, upgrading your laptop hardware will significantly improve your laptop battery life.

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