Chromebook CB311-11H Battery Only Charges if Disconnected Each Time

We have a CB311-11H Chromebook, bought 15 months ago, which has stopped charging the battery. If I remove the back of the laptop, and physically disconnect the battery then after connecting back up and plugging in the power supply the battery will charge again fine, giving a good few hours of use. However, when the power supply is plugged back in, the battery won't charge again. Basically I have to go through the process of physically disconnecting/connecting the battery every time we need to charge it. As there's no battery reset hole on this mode, this involves taking the back off every time.

A hard reset (refresh+power key, or escape, refresh and power key) doesn't help.

Does anyone know what would cause the battery to fail to charge, without disconnecting it every time? I could replace the battery, but I don't have any confidence that will help, especially as the battery charges and last well, once I've managed to convince the Chromebook to charge it.

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billsey

Are you using the stock charger, or a different USB-C charger? It needs 20V@2.25A to charge while running, and lower voltages will charge when not running.

PaulH_UK

The original charger failed within weeks of buying the machine. Acer gave us money to buy a new one, which is not a stock charger. The CB311-11H model requires 15V@3A as the power supply, and we got a compatible charger. Having said all that, I'm currently testing with my brand new charger for a Swift 3. This charger can supply:

5V, 9V, 12V, or 15V @ 3A or 20V @ 5A.

The battery in the Chromebook charges fine each time, after disconnecting and connecting the battery.

billsey

So it sounds as if the charger isn't an issue then, which points directly at the battery. With the Windows machines Acer has put a battery reset switch on the machine and we have a process for resetting the battery for when the internal data gets confused. That's not directly available on a Chromebook. Try this, disconnect the battery as usual, but before reconnecting press and hold the power button for a minute or so to bleed off any residual electricity. Wait long enough to have a cup of coffee and reconnect the battery and plug only the charger in and wait again until the battery indicates a full charge. Finally turn it back on and retest for the issue. Hopefully that will work the same as the reset procedure for the Windows laptops.

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