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arieschiang
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October 12th, 2005 17:00
Battery Performance
Hi, I have a new Latitude D610. My machine runs 2 hours with the battery while my friend's latitude can run 3 hours. I don't know why? Is there a way to test the battery capacity? Thanks
drewsmistake
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Posted October 18th, 2005 10:00
Sorry to hear about that. Batteries are the bane of every laptop user's life. In fact, life is just what most batteries older than a year do not have. There is absolutely nothing you can do to save, conserve, regenerate a battery that's on it's way out. Only tea and sympathy available and a few wise words from the immortal bard:"If thy battery offendeth thee, pluck it out!":smileytongue:Hi,
The System Disk that came with the system contains the DellDiags, and the battery test can give you an idea of the capacity that it's currently charged to, but is not an indicator of "potential" battery life.
Dell sells D-Series compatible batteries with different capacities. For example, I have a D610 and two batteries for it...One is a 53WH (Watt Hour) battery and the other is a 48WH battery. The 53WH battery is listed as a "6-cell battery" from Dell...and lasts longer than the 48WH battery.
Besides power management tweaks (Dell QuickSet and Intel SpeedStep), and usage differences (already covered), the "type" of battery you have makes a big difference.
Hope this helps - Ric
PS...BIOS updates usually address battery usage/reporting issues. Upgrade to BIOS A05, if you're not already there, and keep an eye out for future updates.
- I have a D610 which came with the 53WH battery. When it was new, it lasted me about 3 hours under my "typical" type of usage. After about a year, this had dropped to less than an hour. So our PC support people ordered a replacement, but unfortunately it turned out to be the 32WH version listed here:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/batteries_sitelet/en/batteries_main?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
The 53WH battery isn't even listed as an option! Based on the battery meter, it looks like the 32WH battery will last me about 1:40 ... which means I'll be lugging around the power supply and cord a lot.
Does anyone know why we're forced to replace our 53WH batteries with these short-lived 32WH units? Is this related to the battery fire/recall issue Dell had a while back?
-Bill - Bill-Dell's Premier page has the 53WHr battery for $107.96 (so I believe that you should still be able to purchase one), but you were right about it not appearing as an option under support.dell.com.Here's the info from our Premier Page:53 WHr 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Primary Battery for Dell Latitude D500/D505/D600/D610 NotebooksUsually Ships: Within 24 HoursManufacturer Part#: W1605Dell Part#: 312-0191*For prices and availability on spare parts for your system, call Dell @ 1-800-357-3355 and give them that part #.....they should be able to get it for you.Hope that helps,Ric
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Posted October 13th, 2005 03:00