Common Battery Issues
Below are a few of the most common issues associated with the purchase of a new notebook battery. Further information can be found in our Notebook Computer Battery Guide. And if you need further assistance, please contact our technical support team.
I just bought my battery and it doesn’t seem to have much run-time.
Your new battery must be initialized before it can report accurate battery usage and remaining run-time. Please see the instructions in our Notebook Computer Battery Guide under the section titled “Initialization.”
The battery I purchased will fit into my notebook, but does not work.
Please carefully compare the exact model number of your notebook to the models listed as being compatible with your new battery. This information can be found on the top of your Oncore box or on the product detail page on our website. Sometimes a newer version of a notebook model may require a different battery because of changes made by the manufacturer. These batteries may look identical and even have the same dimensions, but will have slight variations in design causing them to be incompatible with the other notebook version.
My battery’s run-time seems short even though it was charged 100%.
The length of run-time you experience will vary based on the power demands of the applications being performed. Please see the section in this manual titled “Run-time” for more information.
If you are able to continue using your computer on battery power after the fuel gauging system reports that the battery has reached 0% charge or if your computer shuts off without warning, your battery may need to be recalibrated. Please see the instructions in our Notebook Computer Battery Guide under the section titled “Calibrating LiIon Batteries.”
As a battery ages, the maximum amount of charge it can hold will gradually decrease; this is known as degradation. The status of a battery’s degradation can be referred to as its “state of health”. For example, a battery with a state of health at 70% can only hold at maximum 70% of its original capacity. The problem arises because each time a battery is recharged and reaches the maximum amount of charge it can hold, it will report that it is 100% charged regardless of the battery’s current state of health. So that same battery with a state of health at 70% will report that it is charged 100%. Because the power management system does not report the battery’s state of health, this can be very misleading when trying to estimate your battery’s expected run-time.
Even though my battery is constantly plugged in, it never reaches its 100% charge.
After a battery reaches its complete charge, the percentage of charge may drop slightly after a period of time even though the computer remains plugged in. This tendency, known as current leaking, may give the user the misconception the their battery never charges all the way. Current leaking occurs when a small power draw from the notebook causes some charge to leak from the battery into the notebook. In a well-designed battery, such as an Oncore battery, the fuel gauging circuitry will detect this leakage and begin to recharge the battery after it passes a predetermined threshold. Some batteries may reach as low as 92% - 93% before they begin to recharge.