How do you test a battery?

Waza · 26 Oct 2008 at 11:26

Hi all,

I'm wondering if there is a way of testing your laptop battery life to see if it's faulty. The problem is it only last's about an hour when not on mains.

Could anyone tell me if there is a way to test it.

How long should you get on a fully charged battery.

Thanks.

its a Sony viao vgn-Fe33 series....

Waza :confused:

2StepSteve · 26 Oct 2008 at 14:16

How old is the laptop? If both the laptop and battery are more than about 15 months old then the capacity of the battery will be starting to fail, lithium ion batteries don't have a very long life, both working life and shelf life.

If the battery is quite old then it may be time for a new one. But a good battery monitoring tool is batterymon

Waza · 26 Oct 2008 at 16:05

Cheers for that yeah it's about 15 months old.

I'll look into getting a new battery then..

thanks for your help.

Waza

2StepSteve · 26 Oct 2008 at 18:49

No prob, don't worry about getting a sony branded battery they will be very over priced. Have a scout around and take a look at the capacity ratings in mAh, the higher the figure the more runtime.

Just seen on the bay a 7200mAh in china for your laptop for about £35

Aod · 27 Oct 2008 at 01:15

bare in mind that excessively highly rated batteries that aren't HUGE (like a 7200mAh one thats the same size as a 3300mAh one) are almost certainly ficticiously rated