Power notification icon question

gini1995 · Jun 3, 2013

I have a Sager NP8690 laptop in which the battery has been dead for many months, so I run the laptop weekly on AC. (The battery pack remains installed, because removing it would leave the laptop with an unbalanced base. It will not start up at all on battery, but there is no external sign of problem with the battery pack.) For most of that time, holding the mouse over the power icon in the Win 7 notification area showed "100% available, plugged in. Consider replacing your battery." I don't always check this, but last week I noticed it read "98% available (plugged in, charging) Consider replacing your battery". This week it shows the same message but only 97% available! It would seem it should always show 100%, and I'm confused by the changing status; I also find the trend mildly disturbing. Other than this, the laptop functions perfectly. Can anyone provide any insight?
Thank you.

andrew_berge · Jun 3, 2013

I'm no expert here, so someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

Basically, constantly charging a battery isn't good for it, and reduces it's lifetime. So many (most?) chargers today charge up the battery then stop. Any unused battery will discharge gradually, and that's why you're noticing it's going down. I assume once it reaches a certain percentage, the computer will start charging it again, it will reach 100% and the same thing will happen again.

Anyway, your computer is still running off of AC power, and it sounds like your battery is totally finished, so it doesn't really matter all that much.

gini1995 · Jun 3, 2013

andrew_berge :

Thanks for replying, Andrew. Given the age of my laptop, I'm about 100% sure the battery is dead and has been for quite a while; prior to that, I did not run it on AC except to recharge. I'm merely curious about the changing indications in the Power Icon and whether the decreasing "available power %" is anything to be concerned about.

The_Doctor · Jun 3, 2013

gini1995 :

If you can run it just from the mains without the battery it it should be fine, Although i would check the battery isnt leaking as a precautionary measure. But I just believe the battery monitors are dieing my IPhone used to say i had 50 % then go to 0 in 1 photosecond
The Doctor.

gini1995 · Jun 3, 2013

The_Doctor :

gini1995 :

If you can run it just from the mains without the battery it it should be fine, Although i would check the battery isnt leaking as a precautionary measure. But I just believe the battery monitors are dieing my IPhone used to say i had 50 % then go to 0 in 1 photosecond
The Doctor.

I checked the battery pack again today, and it appears healthy (for something that's dead, that is) with no leakage. Thank you for the reassurance!

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Power notification icon question

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