Resolved laptop battery plugged in, not charging, won't go down

I have a new laptop, new battery. It is plugged in right now (Starbucks), and the icon in the system tray says "plugged in, not charging." It has been at 97% for a couple of hours now. Not sure how it could be stable, if it wasn't getting a charge. But then, if it was, why isn't this being noted?

I did a hard reset on this battery a couple of days ago, and it has been fine since then, so I'm not sure that this is what is called for again---or is it?

 

I'd turn it off and leave it plugged in overnight to see if anything changes. I not, sounds like the laptop might be defective and will need to be returned under warranty.

 

Well before returning it I can try a hard reset, as well as what you suggested. Man I'm just getting to like this computer....

 

I don't believe my battery has a certain threshold, because it has gone up to 100% before. I took it home last night, plugged it in, and immediately it started charging (15 mins till fully charged was the message---or something like that). This morning, it was at 100%.

Interesting.

 

You might want to unplug it and let it fully discharge, then fully charge it again. This cycling helps the notebooks monitoring circuits calibrate themselves (at least that is how my Toshiba works).

 

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

How to re-calibrate your Laptop Battery?

How to Calibrate My Laptop Battery

 

I guess I should have been more clear. AFAIK, no notebook will actually allow any installed battery to discharge to the point of damage (or worse, reverse polarity. The fact of the matter is, no battery should ever be fully (down to 0V) discharged and notebook makers know this. So notebooks will go into hibernation mode, and fully shutdown before the battery can completely discharge and become damaged.

But rechargeable batteries should still periodically be cycled through a "deep" discharge/recharge cycle - even Li Ion batteries (even though they don't suffer from memory effect).

For sure, read your notebook's owner's manual. I assure you, it will say to maintain your battery's life, you need to fully discharge it periodically. For my Toshiba (page 6-8, 171), it has specific instructions (my bold underline added),

I have no doubts your notebook's user guide will have similar instructions.

 

I'm just the messenger. "If the voltage of a lithium-ion cell drops below a certain level, it's ruined. "

Google: "deep discharge" "Li-Ion "

 

I'm the messenger too. And I think the message should be, "read your manual ".

And note if you follow the links in your google link above, they talk about discharging to 0% or 0V. The notebook will not allow that to happen.

 

The notebook should not allow it to discharge to 0%, because doing so will ruin a Li-ion battery.

Deep-discharging notebook batteries was a good idea before Li-ion batteries came along and resolved the "memory" problem.

 

Note sure your point. Li-ion batteries have been used in notebooks for many years. The Toshiba I showed above is 6 years old and uses Li-ion.

Of course I had to say "should" because no one can assume the battery monitoring circuit of any notebook is working properly. But going by that same thought, you cannot assume the same charging circuit will not overcharge the battery either - which would create a heat problem - an even greater threat to Li-ion batteries.

So I repeat my "message ", RTFM!

 

Agree.

 

FWIW, I called Lenovo tech support the other night. Turns out that the tech guy on the phone said that what I was seeing is normal. If I plug in the laptop when the battery is low (say, 60%), it will charge up to 100%, but if I plug it in when it is already at 97%, then it will not be charged up any more.

 

Interesting. I would have ask him "Why?"

 

Maybe the battery monitoring circuits don't kick in the charger unless the charge drops below some preset threshold that is somewhere below 97%.

Just a guess - assuming the tech was telling the truth.