My battery won't charge beyond 80%

I've asked this issue on other Discord channels, but I wanted to post it here.
My model is HP, and entering my model number lists it as Energy Star. Yesterday, this problem has been starting.

So my problem is...My battery will not charge beyond around 80%. It can charge, yes, but the issue is that it only charges up to around 78-80%, then it starts charging spontaneouly. When the laptop stops charging, the LED is white, despite not being fully charged, and if I replug the charger, the LED is still white. Yesterday, I had this dreadful 'Plugged in, not charging' issue, and I temporarily fixed it alongside with the repeated charging and got my laptop to charge to 100%, but the problem reappeared today.

What is strange that when I asked a user, he replied that the laptop is trying to protect itself from further damage by doing this. What is his logic? I tried the HP diagnosis, and it reported that my battery is healthy and all OK. It doesn't need any battery replacing - besides, my battery is internal so I can't remove it.

I have tried hard reset, and uninstalling battery drivers (Microsoft). Nothing fixed it. I fear my battery might be damaged, but then again could be just my charger. I can't remember when I bought it but it was 3 or 4 years ago and it might be going away soon.

EdTittel said:

The best thing you can do to prolong the life of lithium ion batteries is to make sure they get an occasional "deep discharge." That means running them ALMOST all the way down to zero charge before starting to charge them. If you check this Tech Republic article you'll see that they recommend drawing the battery all the way down to 2.5v remaining every thirty (30) charge cycles: Five tips for extending lithium-ion battery life - TechRepublic. Might want to check it out.


HTH,
--Ed--

Hello,

So you're suggesting that I let my battery drain down to very low/to the point where it hibernates, but not to zero. I do know about it, but I never bothered to do it anyways. I'll try it once, though. Thanks for asking, anyways...but is the battery always lithium-ion?

My laptop is set to hibernate at 7%. But, I also don't want my laptop to suddenly shut down due to too low battery level.

edit 1: After reading, I think I get why you wanted to discharge it almost fully - you're thinking that this issue could be just because of this digital memory, which is causing my battery to think it's full at 80%.

Hi Mike,

Try to check the battery status with HWinfo, it will (i think) estimate the wear level of your battery, in my experience it mostly depends on how good the battery is.
this is my result in a 7 years ol laptop, almost never used disconnected from charge battery always put on, as a reference to what to look for in hwinfo stats:



how often do you use the only the battery? if it is very often i would replace when wear level is above 30/35 %.

Hi folks

Batteries do have a "Shelf life" and eventually they become unuseable. They can (whatever the current technology is at the moment) only be re-charged and discharged a finite number of times.

Li-Ion ones (Lithium Ion) also have a finite number of charge discharge cycles ( called "the Duty Cycle" in Engineering terms) and eventually have to be replaced --I know --I have an electric Bycycle with Li-ion battery and am on my 2nd battery -- great way of exercise though for older riders and in hilly / windy conditions --I'm probably in a minority of 1 who rides a bike around here - however great fun. !!!!

You probably need a new battery - you will know when the time it holds charge for decreases significantly or it never re-charges properly.

However before getting a new one just TOTALLY DRAIN the charge i.e leave the computer switched on with mains disconnected until battery totally 0%. Then remove battery forat least 2 hrs. Then replace and try and re-charge.

If you still can't get more than 80% and on battery alone computer only works for a short period it's likely the battery is defective and will have to be replaced.

Older computers : you can still get batteries on places like amazon etc.

Cheers
jimbo

roy111 said:

Hi Mike,

Try to check the battery status with HWinfo, it will (i think) estimate the wear level of your battery, in my experience it mostly depends on how good the battery is.
this is my result in a 7 years ol laptop, almost never used disconnected from charge battery always put on, as a reference to what to look for in hwinfo stats:



how often do you use the only the battery? if it is very often i would replace when wear level is above 30/35 %

HP offers Battery Calibration. When I tried that, results shows it's designed capacity is 2850, and full charge is around 2250. But it might be imprecise.

Bree said:

There's a lot of misunderstanding about battery technologies. Deep discharge was necessary for Ni-Cad and to some extent for Ni-Mh due to 'memory' effects. But Battery University says the opposite is the case for Li-Ion.
How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

Some laptops have an 'eco-mode' designed to prolong battery life. This is usually selectable in the BIOS and will stop charging at 80% capacity. Dell and Samsung have this feature. Apparently HP do not, but do sometimes 'stop at 80%'. Apparently 'battery calibration' is the cure...

Solved: My Battery is not fully charging - HP Support Forum - 6251964

HP Notebook PCs - Testing and Calibrating the Battery (Windows) | HP® Customer Support

I have checked that. Says you should try updating BIOS, but it's on latest version, and it rarely gets updated (Why would it?), at least for me. I don't think updating my BIOS will fix this issue. But as you mentioned, estimating using my Assistant is difficult and not fully accurate. And wow, this University page is so long.

jimbo45 said:

Hi folks

Batteries do have a "Shelf life" and eventually they become unuseable. They can (whatever the current technology is at the moment) only be re-charged and discharged a finite number of times.

Li-Ion ones (Lithium Ion) also have a finite number of charge discharge cycles ( called "the Duty Cycle" in Engineering terms) and eventually have to be replaced --I know --I have an electric Bycycle with Li-ion battery and am on my 2nd battery -- great way of exercise though for older riders and in hilly / windy conditions --I'm probably in a minority of 1 who rides a bike around here - however great fun. !!!!

You probably need a new battery - you will know when the time it holds charge for decreases significantly or it never re-charges properly.

However before getting a new one just TOTALLY DRAIN the charge i.e leave the computer switched on with mains disconnected until battery totally 0%. Then remove battery forat least 2 hrs. Then replace and try and re-charge.

If you still can't get more than 80% and on battery alone computer only works for a short period it's likely the battery is defective and will have to be replaced.

Older computers : you can still get batteries on places like amazon etc.

Cheers
jimbo

My battery life is long enough. 4 hours at full charge. And I know it already, but I'm just going to discharge it almost fully instead of full. It could just be the calibration problem as the HP thinks I'm fully charged.

Whew, so long posts...

edit: Forgot to add that the battery is 2 years old, well a bit little, around 765 days old...That's a bit strange. I remember buying my computer in December 24 or 25 of 2016. So my battery would not be 2 years old.

bro67 said:

Actually you do not want to deep discharge a LiON. The Salts can get a bit upset. 4: Avoid completely discharging lithium-ion batteries

If a lithium-ion battery is discharged below 2.5 volts per cell, a safety circuit built into the battery opens and the battery appears to be dead. The original charger will be of no use. Only battery analyzers with the boost function have a chance of recharging the battery.
Also, for safety reasons, do not recharge deeply discharged lithium-ion batteries if they have been stored in that condition for several months."

I would put it more on the circuit board inside the battery pack that is at fault.

Hi there

I think you need to go "Bak2SKULE" !!!

Nothing wrong in discharging LI-Ion batteries !!! They aren't lead acid type or older "dry cells" that had memory problems -- battery technology has totally changed in C21and is still evolving rapidly.

Cheers
jimbo