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XPS 13 9343 (2015) Battery Charging Question
A friend recently purchased a XPS 13 9343. Apparently she had problems with the battery not charging when she initially set up the computer. She claims she was instructed by the staff at the Microsoft Store not to operate the computer on the power supply, but that she should run the battery down and recharge it overnight. She is under the impression that this is the way Dell intends that the computer be operated. Given that she is not very technical, I'm a bit skeptical about this. I suspect she may have misunderstood these instructions. Is there any truth to this? Is this an initial "conditioning" procedure? I did read another post that described a similar procedure to reset the battery meter. Does that procedure apply to this computer? I've searched the Dell site, but I can't find any specific instructions for this computer. If anyone can point me to some more info, I'd very much appreciate it.
Thank you.
Dell-Gokul G
780 Posts
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July 2nd, 2015 09:00
Hi,
I am not sure if the information was given incorrectly or it was misunderstood.
Customers can use the laptop either way they want(with or without the charger), however it is advisable not to keep the charger 24*7.
Once the battery reaches 100%, Let her use the machine on battery power till the charge level reaches anywhere near 10%.
In simple words, It must be in charge and discharge cycle.
Thank you
PasJo
4 Posts
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July 2nd, 2015 12:00
Hi Gokul,
Thank you for your response. Your information does corroborate what she was told. Based on your final sentence "In simple words, It must be in charge and discharge cycle." it sounds like Dell intends the computer to be used primarily on the battery. It also sounds like Dell expects the user to monitor the charging state so that the battery does not overcharge. Is this true? If so, I'm a little surprised that this machine is not capable of managing the charging cycle itself to prevent overcharging.
Thanks again.
kirkd
5.2K Posts
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July 2nd, 2015 15:00
The response from Dell is NOT correct. Every time you do a deep discharge/recharge, you are degrading the batter capacity. In addition, leaving the charger plugged in all the time will NOT harm the battery. This is an ”old wives tail”. Leave it on charge, as it will NOT overcharge and damage the battery. The charging circuity in the battery shuts off the chargong when the battery is completely charged. A lot of this nonsense is a hold over from old NiCad batteries that needed to be discharged deeply before recharging. Shallow discharging could damage the battery because these had a memory problem that ended up reducing capacity if only discharged a little before charging. Lithium ion batteries do NOT have this problem.
The battery should be left on charge when plugged in. When you go portable, try to NOT discharge to below 30% charge if possible, then plug it in to recharge. If you go lower once in a while don't worry. I have 8 and 9 year old laptops. I have replaced three batteries in that time, 2 on one and 1 on the othet. The last two are still running fine.
The Chevy Volt electric car begins recharging when the capacity is 35%. These Lithium batteries need to last 100,000 miles.
PasJo
4 Posts
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July 2nd, 2015 17:00
Kirk,
Thank you for your response. I started this thread because I was skeptical of this information. I searched the Dell website for specific instructions, but as of yet have not found anything. I have to admit that I have been playing possum a little bit. I have 30 years of experience in dealing with rechargeable batteries including NiCad, Sealed Lead-Acid and Li-Ion. I am well aware of the so called "memory" effect with Ni-Cad batteries, and the necessity of fully discharging those types. Because am least familiar with Lithium Ion, and I don't specifically know what the charging circuits of the XPS 13 will do, so I decided to look for more information. I find it hard to imagine that Dell would build a computer that would allow overcharging of the batteries. It seems preposterous that a user would be required to monitor the state of charge on a COMPUTER! In any case, I appreciate your input. If you or anyone else has a link to Dell's official information regarding laptop charging, I'd very much like to see it.
Thanks,
Joe
PasJo
4 Posts
1
July 2nd, 2015 17:00
Okay, after all that, (and using simpler search terms) I found Dell's Battery FAQ page. Pretty clearly the info from the Microsoft Store people was wrong. Go to "How do I charge my Dell Laptop Battery."
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/batteries_sitelet/en/batteries_faq?c=us&l=en&cs=04#faq4
Joe
jetv
1 Message
1
June 26th, 2017 14:00
I have to replace my laptop after 18 mo since the battery stopped recharging.