Lap top battery problem.

[Say again s l o w l y]

I'm having a bit of a problem with my lap-top at the moment, the battery doesn't seem to hold any charge at all.
When using the external power supply it seems to charge fine and according to the power meter the battery's health is 100%.

The laptop is a Sony Vaio with a 650 PIII chip. It is a couple of years old, but there seemed to be no deterioration, rather the problem being thatas soon as you boot it up the charge immediately falls to zero and it powers down. (The battery is Li-ion)

Are there any tests I can do (multimeter across the terminsl?) or do I just need to accept defeat and buy a new battery (seriously expensive!)

Thanks for your help in advance

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Say again s l o w l y,

I would look for an aftermarket Battery. That will save you a bundle over one with the Sony Logo on it. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

[timbo04]

I worked for a company a few years ago were Sony Vaio's (similar to yours) was standard issue - even with a healthy battery the duration you can expect was really poor - ended up getting another one as a spare but as Richard says they are really expensive - I think at the time they were £150+

I am sure they did a few options - one was 1600 mah which gave you about 45mins (obviously depends what you are doing) and a 3200 mah (or was it 2700 mah) which was the one to go for.

Sony quoted up to 2 hours with a standard battery on their spec sheet - yeah right!!!!

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Say again s l o w l y.....

I suspect (sorry) that it's had it! .....Likewise, exactly the same scenario with my previous Dell, even though used predominantly on mains supply. .....One minute you think 'all's well', then "#!#!#!", no charge; same after full recharge. .....I was told (not sure if true) a couple of years is the best you can hope for.

Having said that, put 'laptop battery' into Google (UK) and you should find a myriad of more reasonably priced options for your Sony without going to the original manufacturer, like this one (http://www.any-batteries.co.uk/babrand.php?fclasscode=1&fb_babrand=SONY) (selected at random without checking comparisons. .....I'm sure there will be a better deal).

[mikedurward]

The problem with ALL rechargeable batteries is that they "REMEMBER". Good battery maintanence to vital. If you buy a new battery you MUST fully charge it from day 1 with NO LOAD. This means you need to put the new battery into the laptop and plug in the mains charger WITHOUT switching you laptop on. Leave till fully charged then power up the laptop am leave powered up till the battery runs out TOTALLY. Then FULLY recharge battery as mentioned in the first part of this.
After all this you should be able to get some decent time out of your laptop.

As mentioned by other users, battery life depends VERY much on what you are doing with your machine when in use.


Mike

[spekesoftly]

Interesting points above. My understanding is that NiCads, and to a lesser extent NiMH batteries, are prone to 'Memory Effect', but not Li-Ions. The latter do, however, have a tendency to lose charge quickly towards the end of their service life.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Mike,

With regards to the issue of memory on a battery, that was solved years ago. While I 100% agree with the way you said to fully charge the battery with no load the first time, I disagree with fully discharging the battery.

Your best practice is to charge a battery when you have the chance and always charge it fully. While a battery can be taken down to zero charge a couple hundred times, the battery can be fully charged from a less than zero state many thousands of times.

For the life of your battery, you are better off not letting it fully deplete itself and charging it up fully vs taking the battery to zero before fully charging it.

Take Care,

Richard

[Say again s l o w l y]

Thanks all, new battery on the way at a far more sensible price! (Thanks Blue Sky and ASFKAP)

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Say again s l o w l y,

Let us know if it solves your problem or not.

Take Care,

Richard