Sony batteries
Psychophysiological entity
Thread Starter
Sony batteries
I have an old Vaio that is at least five years old. The batteries (2) were obtained within weeks of new. This trip home they're both useless, whereas last summer they were fine. They have had little use as power for the machine, and I can't believe they'd both have such similar characteristics. Are they programmed to kill themselves? And if so, is there any utility to fool them into going again?
The only difference this year is I didn't take the laptop back to the US, so they've had a holiday which my be the cause.
N.B. These batteries discharged themselves at 15% per day - or maybe it was 5%. More accurately, the computer discharged them, as they were fine if removed. I complained bitterly about this and that's how I got the spare battery. They were of course removed while I was away.
The only difference this year is I didn't take the laptop back to the US, so they've had a holiday which my be the cause.
N.B. These batteries discharged themselves at 15% per day - or maybe it was 5%. More accurately, the computer discharged them, as they were fine if removed. I complained bitterly about this and that's how I got the spare battery. They were of course removed while I was away.
Psychophysiological entity
Thread Starter
But the point is, do they have a programed life, say, hours or number of cycles? Your point about taking care of them is good advice, but would profit you none if they were ordered to appear bereft of life.
My Sony Vaio laptop is about seven or eight years old. The batteries died years ago, dead as a Dodo, so I only use it plugged in to the mains. The body gets pretty dang hot sometimes, and the fan emits various alarming noises...
Psychophysiological entity
Thread Starter
Oh . . . see my thread on the newer Vaio fan problems. I seem to have made it run to a temperature that 'Core Temp' thinks is normal, but now this morning, I've got a noisy hard drive.
If it fails, that'll be the third one in quick succession.
If it fails, that'll be the third one in quick succession.
I am not an expert on batteries however I have a view on this.
Rechargable lithium batteries last about 1000 cycles. However, what is a cycle?
It appears that it might be a discharge/charge event. Even a small discharge will 'cycle' the battery. This is not a "counter" but a result of the chemistry.
There is a rumour that sometimes fully discharging and fully charging Li batteries two or three times may help. This may be because they all have an internal computer which monitors the charge state. This may recalibrate the computer.
I find that old laptop batteries are always dead.
New ones are cheap enough on amazon/ebay. Buy from someone with lots of good reviews on the performance of the batteries.
I use a laptop mostly at home and I don't know what to do really. I decided to try keeping it plugged in ALL the time. If I unplug it for any reason I try to allow it to discharge a fair bit.
If I could be bothered I would take the battery out and use it without the battery only installing the battery when I wanted to use it.
I will try to check out the cryptic "press F2" message above. Sounds very interesting but a quick google produces no satisfying results except possibly for HP. Ideally I would like the laptop to NEVER charge the battery unless it was below say 80%. This would be really good.
PS
Don't leave the laptop "sleeping" unless you want to. This drains (and of course may cycle) the battery.
Find out the difference between:
- shutdown
- hibernate - system status stored on hard disk - no power use
- sleep - system status stored in RAM - power use
I know someone who uses his laptop once a week or so. Shuts the lid when finished.
On every start battery is flat (and cycled) and system has to do "improper shutdown" recovery. Unfortunately using a computer is "too complicated" and loud shouting immediately results if it is offered that there might be a better way. I will try to fix it silently one day by setting lid close action to be hibernate, or maybe shutdown.
Rechargable lithium batteries last about 1000 cycles. However, what is a cycle?
It appears that it might be a discharge/charge event. Even a small discharge will 'cycle' the battery. This is not a "counter" but a result of the chemistry.
There is a rumour that sometimes fully discharging and fully charging Li batteries two or three times may help. This may be because they all have an internal computer which monitors the charge state. This may recalibrate the computer.
I find that old laptop batteries are always dead.
New ones are cheap enough on amazon/ebay. Buy from someone with lots of good reviews on the performance of the batteries.
I use a laptop mostly at home and I don't know what to do really. I decided to try keeping it plugged in ALL the time. If I unplug it for any reason I try to allow it to discharge a fair bit.
If I could be bothered I would take the battery out and use it without the battery only installing the battery when I wanted to use it.
I will try to check out the cryptic "press F2" message above. Sounds very interesting but a quick google produces no satisfying results except possibly for HP. Ideally I would like the laptop to NEVER charge the battery unless it was below say 80%. This would be really good.
PS
Don't leave the laptop "sleeping" unless you want to. This drains (and of course may cycle) the battery.
Find out the difference between:
- shutdown
- hibernate - system status stored on hard disk - no power use
- sleep - system status stored in RAM - power use
I know someone who uses his laptop once a week or so. Shuts the lid when finished.
On every start battery is flat (and cycled) and system has to do "improper shutdown" recovery. Unfortunately using a computer is "too complicated" and loud shouting immediately results if it is offered that there might be a better way. I will try to fix it silently one day by setting lid close action to be hibernate, or maybe shutdown.
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Is it a genuine Sony battery or a 3rd-party / eBay part?
I've used both OEM and knockoff batteries and there is a big, big, big difference in how long they are useful for. In my experience, non-OEM batteries are crap after 18 months max. of normal use.
So, you get what you pay for.
Also, if it's been sitting in storage for more than a couple of months, this may also damage it. I've seen this a couple of times - most recently, a battery with 50 cycles that hadn't been used for a year, held only 50% of capacity!
If it's a Sony battery, you could try to "reset" it using some sort of built-in tool (in the Lenovo world it's called "power manager"). This discharges it, recharges it, and then resets the guage.
Regarding planned obsolence, as you may be aware every Li-tech battery (Li-po, Li-ion) is a potential explosive device, that is carefully controlled by it's circuitry. Recent developments in said circuitry / firmware have yielded good results e.g. rapid charging. Also, your Li-ion battery should be good for ~300 cycles before it drops to ~60-70% of max capacity, if you look after it - not 1000 as stated above.
I've used both OEM and knockoff batteries and there is a big, big, big difference in how long they are useful for. In my experience, non-OEM batteries are crap after 18 months max. of normal use.
So, you get what you pay for.
Also, if it's been sitting in storage for more than a couple of months, this may also damage it. I've seen this a couple of times - most recently, a battery with 50 cycles that hadn't been used for a year, held only 50% of capacity!
If it's a Sony battery, you could try to "reset" it using some sort of built-in tool (in the Lenovo world it's called "power manager"). This discharges it, recharges it, and then resets the guage.
Regarding planned obsolence, as you may be aware every Li-tech battery (Li-po, Li-ion) is a potential explosive device, that is carefully controlled by it's circuitry. Recent developments in said circuitry / firmware have yielded good results e.g. rapid charging. Also, your Li-ion battery should be good for ~300 cycles before it drops to ~60-70% of max capacity, if you look after it - not 1000 as stated above.
Psychophysiological entity
Thread Starter
The batteries on my older Vaio are both Sony. I'll dig that machine out tomorrow and delve into some of the Sony hidden software I've just discovered on the newer one I'm using. This 16" machine gobbles power, but does mean I don't have to dig out my LG monitor while I'm a guest in someone's house.
See t'other thread re gaining control of colour and auto brightness. I've cut this one back to 80% charge to prolong life. Rated by the self test at Good, but not excellent. It'll be interesting to see what such a test (if I can find it) says on the old machine.
See t'other thread re gaining control of colour and auto brightness. I've cut this one back to 80% charge to prolong life. Rated by the self test at Good, but not excellent. It'll be interesting to see what such a test (if I can find it) says on the old machine.
I decided to try keeping it plugged in ALL the time. If I unplug it for any reason I try to allow it to discharge a fair bit.
If I could be bothered I would take the battery out and use it without the battery only installing the battery when I wanted to use it.
Point is, like many things in Life, ask 2 people and get 5 answers, and having tried many battery tricks, keeping it permanently plugged in seems to be working OK.
For now !
