Laptop Battery not charging

Hiya,

I have a laptop and the battery is not charging at all, I am assuming the battery needs replacing but find it a little strange that it never charges not even a little. Usually when laptop batteris died I thought they would take at least a little charge.

I dont have a spare battery to try.

Just wondering if there is anything I should try before ordering a new battery?

Thanks,

Try this software CPUID HWMonitor on it. It might tell you something about the battery (I forget as I'm not on laptop at the mo').

It could be the charging circuit in the laptop. Can you charge the battery on another machine?

I dont have another laptop with the same battery unfortunately

How old is the laptop? When the batteries are totally goosed the laptop will switch off immediately when you unplug the power cord.

Sorry to jump in.
I have same problem with a Dell Inspiron 1545, after a couple of years the battery wouldn’t charge, went and bought a new battery to no avail, came to the conclusion it is the battery charging circuit or the power pack. So now I just use it plugged in the mains. Not worth spending money to repair the battery charging circuit even if that were possible for a chaep laptop, but would like to know what else I could have done at the time.
Just run CPUID HWMonitor and got these results;
Old battery
Capacity
Current capacity value Min Max
0mWh nothing shown for min or max
Levels
Wear level 17% nothing shown for min or max
Charge level 0% nothing shown for min or max
New battery
Capacity
Current capacity value Min Max
89mWh 15mWh 118mWh
Levels
Wear Level 1% 1% 17%
Charge level 0% nothing shown for min or max

Edited by scopio (Tue 18-Sep-12 20:12:16)

In reply to a post by slippyjim:

Hiya,

I have a laptop and the battery is not charging at all, I am assuming the battery needs replacing but find it a little strange that it never charges not even a little. Usually when laptop batteris died I thought they would take at least a little charge.

I dont have a spare battery to try.

Just wondering if there is anything I should try before ordering a new battery?

Thanks,

Assume that if you remove power from laptop it shuts down.
Lithium batteries need regular cycling from full to empty. Otherwise they can become resistant to charging.
Problem could be charging circuit or battery. Not easy to diagnose Obtain replacement from amazon, normally able to return

In reply to a post by flippery:

Lithium batteries need regular cycling from full to empty. Otherwise they can become resistant to charging.

This advice is incorrect. The lifetime of a Liion battery is measured in charge cycles, a cycle being going from full to empty. Your advice would shorten the life of a Liion battery.

In reply to a post by scopio:

New battery
Capacity
Current capacity value Min Max
89mWh 15mWh 118mWh
Levels
Wear Level 1% 1% 17%
Charge level 0% nothing shown for min or max

I think the Charge level = 0% means it's not getting charged so you are probably right that it's the battery charging circuit faulty.

Also the Capacity seems very low. Mine shows:

Designed Capacity 88800 mWh 88800 mWh 88800 mWh
Full Charge Capacity 39782 mWh 39782 mWh 39782 mWh
Current Capacity 39782 mWh 39782 mWh 39782 mWh
Wear Level 56 % 56 % 56 %
Charge Level 100 % 100 % 100 %

After four hours on charge the new battery shows;

Designed Capacity 32560 mWh 32560 mWh 32560 mWh
Full Charge Capacity 32516 mWh 32516 mWh 32516 mWh
Current Capacity 784 mWh 784 mWh 784 mWh
Wear Level 1 % 1% 1 %
Charge Level 2 % 2 % 2 %

Compared with your results we can safely say that my pc’s battery does not charge due to the charging battery circuit being defunct!

These are the details from my problem laptop
Hardware monitor Battery
Voltage 0 3.26 Volts [0xCBC] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 48400 mWh [0xBD10] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 32362 mWh [0x7E6A] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 n.a. [0x0] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 34 pc [0x42] (Wear Level)
Level 1 n.a. [0x0] (Charge Level)

and these are the ones from a working laptop

Hardware monitor Battery
Voltage 0 11.43 Volts [0x2CA9] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 24420 mWh [0x5F64] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 22056 mWh [0x5628] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 799 mWh [0x31F] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 10 pc [0x5A] (Wear Level)
Level 1 4 pc [0x3] (Charge Level)

The Charge level merely shows how much the battery is currently charged, on a working laptop this will slowly go up to 100% then stay there

The only obvious thing I can see is that on the non charging laptop the voltage is very very low - 3V, so obviously somethign wrong just not sure if its teh charging circuit or the battery

Its only 2 years old max, but hasnt been used for about 7-8 months.

As soon as you pull the plug it goes off.

The battery light on the front of the laptop comes on as if to indicate its charging and it goes off if I take the battery out. I cant verify the exact behaviour of the light though as it is not mentioned in the manual I got from the Asus website

What does it say for your battery voltage for bothe new and old battery?

In reply to a post by slippyjim:

What does it say for your battery voltage for bothe new and old battery?

New battery voltage 11.99v
Old battery voltage 11.94v
On the Dell the power light will flicker when the old battery is installed indicating it is flat as a pan cake! It does not flicker when the new battery is inserted as it has a costant 2% charge after 6 hours now! I shall leave the laptop charging over night to see if there is any difference and post back tomorrow!
Judging by the current voltage of both my batteries 11.99 and 11.94, they should be ok, whilst the battery in your problem laptop only shows 3.26v which could indicate that in your case it is the battery which is faulty and in my case it is the battery charging circuit in the Dell that is obsolete!

Edited by scopio (Wed 19-Sep-12 01:04:27)

My battery says Current Voltage 12.49 V and I don't remember it saying anything other than 12 V.

After more than twelve hours on charge, the new battery still registers;
Current Voltage 12v 12v 12v
Designed Capacity 32560 mWh 32560 mWh 32560 mWh
Full Charge Capacity 32516 mWh 32516 mWh 32516 mWh
Current Capacity 858 mWh 858 mWh 858 mWh
Wear Level 1 % 1% 1 %
Charge Level 2 % 2 % 2 %
I don’t think the charge will ever improve, I’ll just have to use the laptop connected to the mains only!

I had sme problem on my insprion 1520 bought new battery still wont charge bought new charger problem solved

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by flippery:

Lithium batteries need regular cycling from full to empty. Otherwise they can become resistant to charging.

This advice is incorrect. The lifetime of a Liion battery is measured in charge cycles, a cycle being going from full to empty. Your advice would shorten the life of a Liion battery.

Certainly on first use it is recommended to discharge and fully charge 4 or 5 times in succession - manufacturers instructions. After that it is advised (again by manufacturers) that you do this cycle occasionally (ambiguous).
As stated already though doing this constantly reduces the overall life cycle.

Have you checked that the battery is not loose and that all of the connectios are being made?

In reply to a post by drummerjohn:

Certainly on first use it is recommended to discharge and fully charge 4 or 5 times in succession - manufacturers instructions. After that it is advised (again by manufacturers) that you do this cycle occasionally (ambiguous).

This too is incorrect. See here for example http://gemini-lights.com/explore/how-charge-lithium-...

Ive tried 2 other chargers with exactly the same result and my battery is still at 3V, so Im goign to order a new battery and see what happens

thanks everyone

As in my case with the Dell, it could be the battery charging circuit or the power pack, as both batteries show current voltage close to 12v. So I have ordered a new power pack to eliminate the batteries and the battery charging circuit! It can only be one of these three components!

I have same problem with a Dell Inspiron 1545, after a couple of years the battery wouldn’t charge, went and bought a new battery to no avail, came to the conclusion it is the battery charging circuit or the power pack.

(Some) Dell's will not charge the battery if they think the power pack is inadequate. If you go into the BIOS on booting you'll see what it thinks the power supply is - if it doesn't recognise it then it won't charge.

There's a little chip in the power supply that identifies itself via the slender centre pin on the plug, if that chip is dead, or it's a non-standard PSU, or if the socket connection / electronics on the laptop have died then it won't charge.

I did once change the power socket daughterboard for someone who had bought two new PSUs and a new battery to no avail. It's a design flaw IMHO.

Thanks Phil,
When the power pack/PSU arrives sometime next week, it will at least prove that the batteries are ok, if anything, if not I will have just wasted £12.99 trying to find and eliminate the faulty part.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by drummerjohn:

Certainly on first use it is recommended to discharge and fully charge 4 or 5 times in succession - manufacturers instructions. After that it is advised (again by manufacturers) that you do this cycle occasionally (ambiguous).

This too is incorrect. See here for example http://gemini-lights.com/explore/how-charge-lithium-...

No - that's an opinion of a supplier - not a manufacturer. The various manufacturers of Lion laptop batteries supply our business all state what I have quoted. So which one is wrong? The supplier or the manufacturers?

Edited by drummerjohn (Thu 20-Sep-12 10:38:37)

They could both be right for different reasons. Could depend if the intention of one or the other is to increase turnover?

Can you provide a link to this advice from the manufacturers?

[ed] I assume you made it up.

Edited by BatBoy (Thu 20-Sep-12 17:59:42)

For your information; yarwell you are spot on “There's a little chip in the power supply that identifies itself via the slender centre pin on the plug, if that chip is dead”. Perhaps it is wise to connect the PSU to the laptop first and the connect it to the mains and not the other way round, in order to protect the little chip in the power supply that identifies itself via the slender centre pin on the plug!
New power pack/PSU arrived today, connected it to the Dell laptop and the battery immediately started to charge!
Battery stats before charging with new PSU;
New battery
Current Voltage 12v 12v 12v
Designed Capacity 32560 mWh 32560 mWh 32560 mWh
Full Charge Capacity 32516 mWh 32516 mWh 32516 mWh
Current Capacity 858 mWh 858 mWh 858 mWh
Wear Level 1 % 1% 1 %
Charge Level 2 % 2 % 2 %
Old battery
Capacity
Current capacity value Min Max
0mWh nothing shown
Levels
Wear Level 17% nothing shown
Charge level 0% nothing shown
New battery
Capacity
Current capacity value Min Max
89mWh 15mWh 118mWh
Levels
Wear Level 1% 1% 17%
Charge level 0% nothing shown

New stats for new battery after 2 1/2 hrs charge;
Current Voltage 16.75v 12.72v 16.75v
Designed Capacity 32560 mWh 32560 mWh 32560 mWh
Full Charge Capacity 32516 mWh 32516 mWh 32516 mWh
Current Capacity 32560mWh 15 mWh 32560 mWh
Wear Level 1 % 1% 1 %
Charge Level 100 % 0 % 100 %
New stats for original (old) battery after 2hrs;
Current Voltage 16.76v 11.62v 16.76v
Designed Capacity 29600 mWh 29600 mWh 29600 mWh
Full Charge Capacity 24568mWh 24568 mWh 24568 mWh
Current Capacity 24302 mWh 30 mWh 24302 mWh
Wear Level 17 % 17% 17 %
Charge Level 98 % 0 % 98 %
Old battery stats refelect the 17% wear level!