Sony laptop battery

My 9 month old e-series Sony Vaio has a problem with the battery. When
left SWITCHED OFF for 3 weeks the battery is flat. The battery is now
reporting a degredation in the charging ability and Sony want me to buy a
new one for £118. Aparently, batteries are consumables. This laptop has
been rarely used in 9 months, on average only a couple of times a month.
There are other reports of Sony laptop batteries losing charge when
switched off, but Sony won't do anything about it.
I was going to buy another laptop this month, but it won't be a Sony now.

Don't buy Sony laptops unless you are prepared to buy a battery every year.

Oh and have read that the Sony BIOS checks if it is a genuine Sony battery
and it won't boot if it's not. If true, you can't buy a cheap replacement
battery.

Don't buy Sony laptops.

On Feb 20, 3:28*pm, "D@ve Pr1ce" <spamretar...@w1ldswan.plus.com>
wrote:
> My 9 month old e-series Sony Vaio has a problem with the battery. *When
> left SWITCHED OFF for 3 weeks the battery is flat. *The battery is now
> reporting a degredation in the charging ability and Sony want me to buy a
> new one for 118. *Aparently, batteries are consumables. *This laptop has
> been rarely used in 9 months, on average only a couple of times a month. *
> There are other reports of Sony laptop batteries losing charge when
> switched off, but Sony won't do anything about it.
> I was going to buy another laptop this month, but it won't be a Sony now.
>
> Don't buy Sony laptops unless you are prepared to buy a battery every year.
>
> Oh and have read that the Sony BIOS checks if it is a genuine Sony battery
> and it won't boot if it's not. *If true, you can't buy a cheap replacement
> battery.
>
> Don't buy Sony laptops.

I doubt with the age of yours that is would check the battery. You
could look here: http://www.ok-battery.com/

On Feb 21, 5:28*am, "D@ve Pr1ce" <spamretar...@w1ldswan.plus.com>
wrote:
>
>
> Don't buy Sony laptops unless you are prepared to buy a battery every year.
>
>
Not often, .....have two vaio with still intact battery( factory
placed) and still in working condition.....

On Feb 20, 1:28*pm, "D@ve Pr1ce" <spamretar...@w1ldswan.plus.com>
wrote:
> My 9 month old e-series Sony Vaio has a problem with the battery. *When
> left SWITCHED OFF for 3 weeks the battery is flat. *The battery is now
> reporting a degredation in the charging ability and Sony want me to buy a
> new one for £118. *Aparently, batteries are consumables. *This laptop has
> been rarely used in 9 months, on average only a couple of times a month. *
> There are other reports of Sony laptop batteries losing charge when
> switched off, but Sony won't do anything about it.
> I was going to buy another laptop this month, but it won't be a Sony now.
>
> Don't buy Sony laptops unless you are prepared to buy a battery every year.
>
> Oh and have read that the Sony BIOS checks if it is a genuine Sony battery
> and it won't boot if it's not. *If true, you can't buy a cheap replacement
> battery.
>
> Don't buy Sony laptops.

Okay, here's something from back in the day when electronics was
something more than rampant consumerism: batteries have a thing called
"memory effect" or just plain memory. Which means that they can be
charged and discharged-- cycled-- but if you don't completely
discharge them they never reach their fulll potential again. If your
battery has any charge at all, it's not completely dead.

Before having a fit over Sony's business practices, try finding a
battery charger that will eleminate the memory effect. Once upon a
time there were charges that conditioned the batteries buy completely
discharging them and started a whole new charge cycle that eliminated
the memory problem and conditioned the battery back to a working
condition.

If you can find such a charger, it may not be cheaper than buying a
new battery but you can use it to reduce the number of new batteries
you may have to buy down to just one-- well, at least for a whle. No
battery lasts forever. ;-)

Ron

In
news:d37d6263-d127-410c-be2c-,
Ron typed on Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:37:22 -0800 (PST):
> On Feb 20, 1:28 pm, "D@ve Pr1ce" <spamretar...@w1ldswan.plus.com>
> wrote:
>> My 9 month old e-series Sony Vaio has a problem with the battery.
>> When left SWITCHED OFF for 3 weeks the battery is flat. The battery
>> is now reporting a degredation in the charging ability and Sony want
>> me to buy a new one for £118. Aparently, batteries are consumables.
>> This laptop has been rarely used in 9 months, on average only a
>> couple of times a month. There are other reports of Sony laptop
>> batteries losing charge when switched off, but Sony won't do
>> anything about it.
>> I was going to buy another laptop this month, but it won't be a Sony
>> now.
>>
>> Don't buy Sony laptops unless you are prepared to buy a battery
>> every year.
>>
>> Oh and have read that the Sony BIOS checks if it is a genuine Sony
>> battery and it won't boot if it's not. If true, you can't buy a
>> cheap replacement battery.
>>
>> Don't buy Sony laptops.
>
> Okay, here's something from back in the day when electronics was
> something more than rampant consumerism: batteries have a thing called
> "memory effect" or just plain memory. Which means that they can be
> charged and discharged-- cycled-- but if you don't completely
> discharge them they never reach their fulll potential again. If your
> battery has any charge at all, it's not completely dead.
>
> Before having a fit over Sony's business practices, try finding a
> battery charger that will eleminate the memory effect. Once upon a
> time there were charges that conditioned the batteries buy completely
> discharging them and started a whole new charge cycle that eliminated
> the memory problem and conditioned the battery back to a working
> condition.
>
> If you can find such a charger, it may not be cheaper than buying a
> new battery but you can use it to reduce the number of new batteries
> you may have to buy down to just one-- well, at least for a whle. No
> battery lasts forever. ;-)
>
> Ron

That is true of Ni-Cad batteries of having a memory effect, but not true
of Ni-MH, lead-acid, or lithium batteries. Although they do recommend
doing this on lithium batteries too, but it has nothing to do with the
memory effect. Although what it does do is to recalibrate the true
battery capacity. And you only have to do this if the laptop shuts down
before it is set to shutdown. Some makes and models you never have to do
this and some you do. As it depends on the method the battery uses to
learn the true capacity. As some methods works better than others.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era)
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

Ron <> wrote in
news:d37d6263-d127-410c-be2c-:

> On Feb 20, 1:28*pm, "D@ve Pr1ce" <spamretar...@w1ldswan.plus.com>
> wrote:
>> My 9 month old e-series Sony Vaio has a problem with the battery.
>> *When left SWITCHED OFF for 3 weeks the battery is flat. *The battery
>> is now reporting a degredation in the charging ability and Sony want
>> me to buy a new one for £118. *Aparently, batteries are consumables.
>> *This lapt
> op has
>> been rarely used in 9 months, on average only a couple of times a
>> month.
> *
>> There are other reports of Sony laptop batteries losing charge when
>> switched off, but Sony won't do anything about it.
>> I was going to buy another laptop this month, but it won't be a Sony
>> now.
>>
>> Don't buy Sony laptops unless you are prepared to buy a battery every
>> yea
> r.
>>
>> Oh and have read that the Sony BIOS checks if it is a genuine Sony
>> batter
> y
>> and it won't boot if it's not. *If true, you can't buy a cheap
>> replacem
> ent
>> battery.
>>
>> Don't buy Sony laptops.
>
> Okay, here's something from back in the day when electronics was
> something more than rampant consumerism: batteries have a thing called
> "memory effect" or just plain memory. Which means that they can be
> charged and discharged-- cycled-- but if you don't completely
> discharge them they never reach their fulll potential again. If your
> battery has any charge at all, it's not completely dead.
>
> Before having a fit over Sony's business practices, try finding a
> battery charger that will eleminate the memory effect. Once upon a
> time there were charges that conditioned the batteries buy completely
> discharging them and started a whole new charge cycle that eliminated
> the memory problem and conditioned the battery back to a working
> condition.
>
> If you can find such a charger, it may not be cheaper than buying a
> new battery but you can use it to reduce the number of new batteries
> you may have to buy down to just one-- well, at least for a whle. No
> battery lasts forever. ;-)
>
> Ron
>
>

OK - lesson one - Lithium ion batteries don't have the SAME memory effects
that the Nickel metal hydrides did/do.

I have never seen a laptop battery charger that isn't part of an actual
laptop, but I think you have missed the point of the post or don't
understand it.

Nine months for a rechargeable L-ion battery that has hardly been used and
was in a switched-off laptop all that time is not good enough, period.

Also, there will be internal battery chemical degradation even when it'
not in use. The percentage is greater in nickel-based batteries, bu
there is still some in li-ion. And within li-ion batteries there ar
"dumb" types, which have no degradation, but will lose capacity; an
"smart" types which have some degradation, but only around 5-10
compared to nickel-based 25-30%. Keep that in mind when buying your nex
laptop batteries

On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:47:56 -0500, jeradl <>
wrote:

>
> Also, there will be internal battery chemical degradation even when it's
> not in use. The percentage is greater in nickel-based batteries, but
> there is still some in li-ion. And within li-ion batteries there are
> "dumb" types, which have no degradation, but will lose capacity; and
> "smart" types which have some degradation, but only around 5-10%
> compared to nickel-based 25-30%. Keep that in mind when buying your next
> laptop batteries.

What are you trying to say? "no degradation, but will lose capacity"? Maybe
you could define your terms. What can be degraded if not capacity? Are you
maybe confusing capacity with charge or what?

And why keep anything in mind when buying batteries? Is there any model of
laptop for which various technologies of battery are available for choosing?

On 8/25/2011 3:26 PM, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:47:56 -0500, jeradl wrote:
>
>> Also, there will be internal battery chemical degradation even when it's
>> not in use. The percentage is greater in nickel-based batteries, but
>> there is still some in li-ion. And within li-ion batteries there are
>> "dumb" types, which have no degradation, but will lose capacity; and
>> "smart" types which have some degradation, but only around 5-10%
>> compared to nickel-based 25-30%. Keep that in mind when buying your next
>> laptop batteries.
>
> What are you trying to say? "no degradation, but will lose capacity"? Maybe
> you could define your terms. What can be degraded if not capacity? Are you
> maybe confusing capacity with charge or what?
>
> And why keep anything in mind when buying batteries? Is there any model of
> laptop for which various technologies of battery are available for choosing?

What jeradl is saying is that dumb types knows nothing about the current
state of the battery (Windows is clueless too and thus has to learn by
discharging the battery and recharging). The smart type has supporting
circuits that knows what is actually going on with the battery. So
Windows doesn't have to learn on its own, but reads what the hardware
(smart battery) already knows.

Lithium (Li-Ion) has been used virtually in all laptops for about 12
years now. Li-Ion is said to sport more capacity vs. size and weight vs.
the below.

Ni-MH was used in the 90's and ended in the 90's pretty much.

Ni-Cad was used in laptops in the 80's and part of the 90's. Most
(including myself) feels Ni-MH is better and has far more capacity than
Ni-Cad.

Lead acid was rarely used, but I saw them in the late 80's. They are the
heaviest per capacity, but very forgiving otherwise.

If you know what you are doing, you could use any battery type you want.
Although you have to make a battery that fits and most likely have to
modify the charging circuit to do things differently vs. the original type.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

On Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:10:35 -0500, BillW50 <> wrote:

> On 8/25/2011 3:26 PM, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>> On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:47:56 -0500, jeradl wrote:
>>
>>> Also, there will be internal battery chemical degradation even when it's
>>> not in use. The percentage is greater in nickel-based batteries, but
>>> there is still some in li-ion. And within li-ion batteries there are
>>> "dumb" types, which have no degradation, but will lose capacity; and
>>> "smart" types which have some degradation, but only around 5-10%
>>> compared to nickel-based 25-30%. Keep that in mind when buying your next
>>> laptop batteries.
>>
>> What are you trying to say? "no degradation, but will lose capacity"? Maybe
>> you could define your terms. What can be degraded if not capacity? Are you
>> maybe confusing capacity with charge or what?
>>
>> And why keep anything in mind when buying batteries? Is there any model of
>> laptop for which various technologies of battery are available for choosing?
>
> What jeradl is saying is that dumb types knows nothing about the current
> state of the battery (Windows is clueless too and thus has to learn by
> discharging the battery and recharging). The smart type has supporting
> circuits that knows what is actually going on with the battery. So
> Windows doesn't have to learn on its own, but reads what the hardware
> (smart battery) already knows.
>
> Lithium (Li-Ion) has been used virtually in all laptops for about 12
> years now. Li-Ion is said to sport more capacity vs. size and weight vs.
> the below.
>
> Ni-MH was used in the 90's and ended in the 90's pretty much.
>
> Ni-Cad was used in laptops in the 80's and part of the 90's. Most
> (including myself) feels Ni-MH is better and has far more capacity than
> Ni-Cad.
>
> Lead acid was rarely used, but I saw them in the late 80's. They are the
> heaviest per capacity, but very forgiving otherwise.
>
> If you know what you are doing, you could use any battery type you want.
> Although you have to make a battery that fits and most likely have to
> modify the charging circuit to do things differently vs. the original type.

That's all fine, but it is what YOU are saying. If you claim to know what he
was saying please translate "no degradation, but will lose capacity" into a
coherent thought.

And you truly believe: "Keep that in mind when buying your next laptop
batteries" was jeradl call for subscribers of comp.sys.laptops to warm up
their soldering irons and start modifying their laptops' charging circuits?