How to inspect your new laptop’s battery

[Kiriakos GR]

If it happens to own a nice made laptop made back in 2008, possibly your major fishing tank about getting a new replacement battery is eBay.

The example in this story is my ACER TravelMate 2410 which is using a 4400mAh 14,8V battery.

This specific battery pack at 4400mAh it is considered as the regular size, due the fact that was also available and 2200mAh with just four cells in the pack.

Nowadays they look available and even 5200mAh batteries which supposedly contain higher capacity cells.
But here is a catch, and this is the charging controller inside this battery.
 
In my just received battery all the software diagnostics which can read information’s directly from the battery charging controller shows clearly that the battery is roughly 4400mAh and additionally that this specific battery arrived with 15% damage (wear) which translates in to a lower capacity than 4400mAh.

The wear level is an estimation which the controller calculates and record every time after a complete discharge of the battery.
This recording never changes in to a lower reading, what it does is to stay stable at the last recorded value and if those battery cells degrade even further the recorded value  increases as well.

This is my fourth battery and I can tell from experience that 1-3% Wear was found in most of my batteries but this case is much different.

1)   The labelled specifications’ are a clear forgery as 5200mAh.
2)   The charging controller is indeed a 4400mAh
3)   The battery cells could be aged or underpowered for this specific controller, therefore this explain even the lower than the expected two hours run-time.

To actually see all those details is possible due software that is available on the internet.

This Notebook Hardware Control (NHC) is still available for free.
http://www.pbus-167.com/nhc/nhc.htm#anchor_download

And also this AccSmart v2.0 but it needs registration.

And also this calculator it can help your conversion from  mWh to mAh too.
http://lazycackle.com/Convert_from_Ah_to_KWh___Online_Calculator.html


Currently I am testing this battery and I am in the second charging cycle.
Originally the battery came with the indication of 10% wear, and by a complete discharge from 30% of charge to zero (so the laptop to calibrate correctly it battery indicator) now the wear level got up to 15%.

It is a myth that every new battery it should be charged in full and even after charged to stay on the charger for at list two hours.

The stupid ass who wrote that possibly he did not have a laptop,  as soon the battery cells reach the charge level of which the controller reports as max possible, then the electronics they do stop (cut-off) the charging of this battery, therefore no matter how many hours the laptop stays with the charger no additional energy gets in them.

I am not expecting the wear level to get any worse rabidly, but definably this battery is not in great shape.

Below there is some pictures with information’s as proofs of my findings,
and my suggestion to every one will be to verify your newly arrived battery before you offer your feedback to your eBay seller.

Cheap or expensive battery listing, what matters the most is to get always what you did pay for.
And in my case I am up to a partial refund.

ccSmart v2.0 - Battery data file

Device Name.....Bat 8Cell
Manufacture Name   Acer
Serial Number............13
Unique ID.... 13AcerBat 8Cell
Chemistry........... Lithium Ion
Designed Capacity   65120 mWh labeled as 77Wh
Full Charged Capacity   54923 mWh