Acer A1-830 Battery life issue

814eddy

I bought my Iconia A1-830 at the end of July, 2014. I don't use it every day, but I do use it once or twice each week. I always recharge it when the battery runs low, in between using it. I was online a few minutes ago researching apps, and thought I'd turn on the Iconia to download one I had seen. I pressed the start button and waited while the Acer logo displayed. Then, instead of bringing up the password screen, the screen flipped to an icon of a battery with a yellow triangular warning symbol in the middle of it. Then the screen went black. I tried a few more times to start it up, but nothing happened. This is the first time this has happened. My first thought was that somehow the battery had to be totally dead. I got the charger and plugged it in to see if the charging symbol would appear. It did and, if I am reading this correctly, I would have to say that the battery had absolutely no charge at all. The battery icon would normally show green bars to indicate the level of charge, but there weren't any at all. I'm not an expert on the Iconia's battery, but this doesn't appear to be a good thing. The last time I used the tablet was just a few days ago, and I put it on the charger when I was done because the battery level was getting low. I know that it fully recharged at that time. After the recharge, I always make sure that the tablet is completley off. Right now, I have the Iconia on the charger in the hope that it will recharge the battery, but my concern is that perhaps the battery has suffered a major failure. From what little I've learned about these batteries, a total drain of the battery isn't good for this type of battery.

Has anyone else had this happen? My tablet is still under warranty, but I am not sure if I ought to send the tablet back to Acer for repairs or replacement. I haven't been overly impressed with the battery life of this device since I bought it and I'll admit that I've been somewhat disappointed with it, but I have come to enjoy using it despite its limitations. I'd appreciate some feedback since I was certainly not expecting something like this to happen from a device that is practically brand new. I just checked on the tablet by giving the start button a quick press. It does look as though the battery is charging. But, as I said, I am concerned that the total drainage of the battery might have damaged the battery and I'm concerned that it's going to limit the total life and reliability of the battery. I hope to get some answers from others. Thanks.

billsey

I have heard of instances where the battery was drained beyond the rechargable state, but it's been very unusual and typically after storing for several weeks or months. If I were betting, I'd bet you didn't actually get it fully shut down and it's been in sleep mode for the past few days. In sleep mode the Wifi and bluetooth are still somewhat active, though in a low power state, so the battery does drain in that mode.

 

One of the problems is that the battery level percentage isn't really all that accurate. It needs to be recalibrated fairly often, which is supposed to happen automatically. If you don't go through full charge/discharge cycles though the recalibration doesn't happen, or recalibrates to bogus values. I believe there are apps that look at actual battery usage but I don't have a recommendation for one that works well. Someone else might though.

814eddy

Thanks for your reply. I've had the tablet charging since I posted here, and it seems to be taking the charge. That is a good sign.  Ordinarily, I'll let it charge overnight to be sure that it's getting a full charge. You may be right about the tablet being being in sleep mode. I don't recall using that mode, but it could have happened by mistake. I usually shut it right down when I'm done with it. That was why I couldn't believe it when it wouldn't boot up. I'd never run it down that far, but if it happened accidentally, I wouldn't have left it that way for a few days. I would have immediatley recharged it.

 

Contrary to the selling point for the A1-830, I haven't experienced 8 hours of battery usage yet. It runs down much sooner that that for me, even when I've turn off the functions that draw down the power the quickest.

 

This is my first tablet. I bought it because, among my other computers, I have an Acer Netbook which has always performed pretty well. It's the first computer device I've ever bought that wasn't intended to be used as a work-related device, so what it offers is just fine with me. I'm a little disappointed that it can see that there are wifi hotspots nearby, but it can't pick up any of them, although my other computers can do so easily. The strength of the signal from my own router drops a bit even as I walk from my office to the living room. I was especially surprised to learn, after I bought it, that the battery wasn't replaceable. I guess it wouldn't have been much of a selling point if they had mentioned that in the ads. When and if the battery stops working, I guess all you can do with it is throw it away. I'm not really happy about that. I suppose that if I ever buy another tablet, I'll first check to see if the batteries can be replaced.

 

Well. . . .thanks again for your reply!!

billsey

There have been instances where the connections to the Wifi antennas come loose. The symptoms range from weak Wifi if the connector is still touching but not solidly seated to no Wifi if you are farther than a couple feet from the router. It's an easy fix if you are comfortable tearing it apart, but better dealt with by an Acer technician if you are under warranty.

 

The battery is something that can be replaced after warranty by most any competent technician, but it might not be cost effective. If a new tablet sells for $100-150 it'd be tough to justify a replaced battery on a three year old model for $75...