New Acer OEM battery has 54% of designed capacity

madkiwi

Laptop is an Aspire TimelineX 4830TG-6808. Purchased a new factory Acer battery (manufactured by Energy+) from Capital Data- the authorized Acer after-warranty support provider. Had it installed by a highly regarded local computer shop on Thursday. Booted up, battery showed 4% wear, with full-charge capacity of 63,940 mWh (determined by HWMonitor). Battery when installed had a 72% charge. Shut off the computer, paid for the install and took it home. Charged it fully, then took it off the charger- Microsoft's power manager was showing I had 6 hours 50 minutes of battery life- back to new! Then let the battery run down until the computer went into sleep mode at 5% battery remaining. Plugged the power back in, and restarted the computer, now HWMonitor shows 46% wear level, with a full charge capacity of 36,075 mWh- which is less than the 2 year old battery I just had replaced!!! When I unplug the adapter, I now only have a 3 hour 18 minute battery estimate. Is the new battery bad, or is there some hardware reset I am supposed to do so the computer will use the actual capacity of the battery? Any help appreciated.

Blayn-Acer

There is no hardware reset that needs to happen for the battery to work properly. If you charge the battery fully, according to the status indicator in Windows and then use it, how long does the battery actually last? I recommend charging and depleting the battery several times to see what kind of battery life you are getting.

 

Also, are you using the factory AC adapter? If the voltage or amperage is incorrect, this could cause problems. If you feel you have a defective battery, you may need to contact the vendor to see if they can replace it.