Battery meter always says "charging" 2

[TimeMachine]

Hi,

I have a sony laptop PCG k13, the windows XP battery meter always says "charging" even when battery is fully charge (100%). Is this normal? How can I fix it?

Thanks a lot

 

[Skogsgurra]

Simple answer: Try to ignore the message. Different brands behave differently. The battery is probably on trickle charge - and that is not a problem.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[TimeMachine]

Thanks a lot for your answer.

I´ve made a extensive research about it, and besides Sony didn't recognize the issue, I found a lot of people that has differents Vaio series (like S, PCG, etc.) with the same issue.

I´ve also used a software to measure the battery charge rate, and I found that when the battery is low (under 80%)the charge rate is around 14500 mW and it reachs 85% the charge rate is reduced to 4000 mW (the battery light turns off) and when it reachs 100% the rate is 100 mW, and remains at this level forever.

If I do not remove the battery, do you think that this really can't reduce the battery life?

Thanks again you're being very helpfull.

 

[Skogsgurra]

You do not have to remove the battery. Trickle charging is quite normal. Many manufacturers prefer not to indicate this as "charging" since it will rise questions like yours. 100 mW is a very low rate (probably between 5 and 10 milliampss) and that cannot hurt a laptop battery.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[TimeMachine]

If you say so I'll do that as it's much more convenient do not remove the battery

Another question,
a lot of people say that a laptop battery has around 1000 cycles of charge and discharge. If you do not remove the battery, each time you plug the AC adapter do you lose one battery cycle? and if you let the AC adapter plugged?

Thanks again...

 

[Skogsgurra]

You do not lose one cycle when you plug in the adapter. One cycle means a complete discharge/recharge. You don't get that when unplugging/replugging the charger.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[xwb]

It is worth running down your battery to about 10% occassionally. I've found in the past that if the laptop is always run from the mains, the battery just gives up after a while.

 

[Skogsgurra]

Yes, that was true in earlier days (NiCd batteries). The battery memory myth still lives. But todays LiIon and NiMH batteries don't seem to have that problem. I had a Fujitsu-Siemens puter running for over a year in a factory and when I took it home again, I tried to run it off batteries to see if there was any truth in the myth. I got almost two hours out of it - and that is almost what the spec said. Not quite, but almost.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[cpellizzi]

I am having this same problem... Is the battery still ok for you? Nothing has happened? No life reduction?

Thanks

 

[TimeMachine]

I think it's normal, so I decided to ignore this message. I didn't notice any life reduction, I'm using this battery for 1 year.

 

[cpellizzi]

Ok.. cool.. then I guess I'll have to ignore it. To be honest this thread is more use that Sony's support. All the do is get some guy in India to copy and paste sections from the documentaion, which is absolutely worthless!!! I am incredibly frustrated with them! Thank you very much.

 

[BrianR]

xwb's comment about discharging a battery raises an interesting point. Although there was a benefit when NiCd batteries were common, now that nearly all laptops have lithium batteries of one type or another there is no longer a case to run them down as this will reduce their life if done too often and particularly if flattened to shutoff. (I know xwb suggested 10% not flat). However what does kill a Lithium battery is heat (during operation or in storage).

Many laptops locate the battery where it cops the heat from the processor and it heats up. 40C is enough to start reducing the life.

Where it is allowed for your brand of laptop, then there is a good case to remove the battery if using the computer as a desktop replacement. This will extend the life.

 

[cpellizzi]

I heard that this is not as much as an issue with the new Cetrino processors... correct?

 

[BrianR]

I don't think the processor type has any effect on this, other than the heat they produce. If the battery does not get warm then there is no problem.

 

[cpellizzi]

That is what I was saying.. the Centrino supposedly produces less heat.

 

[BrianR]

I understood your point, but all processors generate enough heat to heat the battery. It's the construction of the machine that determines how much gets conducted to the battery. Of course less heat generated makes it less likely.

 

[cpellizzi]

Yes. The VAIO looks like it is designed to keep the battery away from the heat, unlike other notebooks i have used in the past. The processor seems to be toward the front of the vaio, while the battery is at the very back and in more of a strip shape, rather than a block to keep it even further back. Apparently they designed it to keep the battery away from the heat.

 

[BrianR]

My Dell Precision seems constructed to keep the battery away from the heat too, unlike its predecessor, a Dell Latitude where the battery fried (and failed).

 

[cpellizzi]

my old one, by the time it was 2 years old, the battery lasted a mere 5 minutes. I was hesitent to buy a new one, but i had to. :-(

 

[cpellizzi]

A new battery that is.. then when that battery started to fry, I decided to just get a new laptop.