My battery's wear level too high, calibration doesn't help

[Johan1321]

I have a netbook (Acer Aspire One ZG5) with the original battery in good condition. Software that displays battery information (such as Battery Saver and upower) shows that the battery's wear-level is 28%, but in reality it is not that high. I can start from 100% and run the battery down. After a while (1.5 hours of normal usage) the OS will show the battery capacity as critical (0%) but it will run for another 15 minutes until the software reports the voltage being close to 9 volts and the laptop shuts down.

I can recharge the battery back to 100% (doing a calibration cycle) but the wear-level still remains at 28%.

Is there any way I can get these 15 minutes back from my battery pack? Currently, that capacity is not very useful as the computer refuses to enter standby or turn on when the remaining capacity is below 3%. Or do anyone know what I did wrong to get the battery into this situation? I have noticed that all calibration guides out there assumes that the reported capacity is too high, and not too low as in this case.

 

[Ubrales]

Lithium batteries should not be run down to a 'flat' condition. Flattening these batteries will drastically reduce its life. The recommendation that I have seen is that they should not be run down to below 40% of charge. Also, keeping it plugged in and charging after it has attained 100% charge and the laptop is not turned ON is not a good idea.

Use the existing setup until it will no longer give you acceptable performance and then replace it.

I recently experienced similar problems on a used laptop that I purchased and bought a replacement battery from Newegg - it was on Promo at an attractive price. I am aware of the fact that poorly built Lithium batteries could have a fire hazard problem. The replacement battery is working fine.

 

[Johan1321]

Lithium batteries should not be run down to a 'flat' condition. Flattening these batteries will drastically reduce its life. The recommendation that I have seen is that they should not be run down to below 40% of charge. Also, keeping it plugged in and charging after it has attained 100% charge and the laptop is not turned ON is not a good idea.

Use the existing setup until it will no longer give you acceptable performance and then replace it.

I recently experienced similar problems on a used laptop that I purchased and bought a replacement battery from Newegg - it was on Promo at an attractive price. I am aware of the fact that poorly built Lithium batteries could have a fire hazard problem. The replacement battery is working fine.

Yes, I am aware that you should not discharge Lithium batteries too flat and not leave them charging for longer periods. Otherwise my 4 year old battery would have a much higher wear-level than 28% As I have understood, discharging them to 0% occassionally should be OK.

The problem I described above is not that my battery is worn out! It is that the battery's chemical capacity is close to it's original capacity (no need to replace it yet). It is, howewer, the fuel gauge that is off and doesn't let me use all the capacity in the battery before it shows 0% remaining capacity.

 

[Ubrales]

The battery's charge is measured either by the internal resistance or the voltage under a load. This circuit may be bad; hence error in the readings. I am not sure whether this is a calibration issue or a hardware problem.

 

[Ubrales]

Duplicate post