Did I get a dud battery?

[Barbaracus]

Had a Recoil III GTX since June 2019.

Battery was fine until it started bulging and was pushing the touchpad up.

Old battery life was fine and windows battery report only listed a drop of capacity from 46,740 mWh to 45,600 mWh however I decided to replace it due to the bulging.

New battery arrived in June 2022 with a design capacity of 46,740 mWh (same as old one) but as of March 2023 it is 36,480 mWh

So my old battery went from 46,740 mWh to 45,600 mWh in 3 years
My new battery went from 46,740 mWh to 36,480 mWh in 8 months.

Nothing has changed in the way I use the laptop, It is on power cable for the same amount of time it was before.

Was the new battery I bought a dud?

 

[Barbaracus]

Was bought from PC specialist via 'My Spare parts' section on my account.

So I would hope it was like for like.

 

[SpyderTracks]

The thing that degrades battery generally is heat, and also if you leave them plugged into a powered outlet constantly that will constantly trickle charge them and degrade quicker.

It's hard to say without knowing your usage, so long as the laptop is serviced regularly and not overheating and not left in open sunlight for instance then yes, it could well have been a flaky one.

Problem with batteries is that because their degredation all hangs on how the user uses the machine and stores it, there's no way to have a concrete expectation of longevity as it differs from person to person, so they're classed as a consumable (among all manufacturers, not just PCS) and therefor only carry a 6 month warranty

 

[Barbaracus]

Thanks both for your responses.

I understand they are classed as consumable and I wasn't going to go after a refund/replacement via PCS for this one.

The battery life is so poor that I was considering buying another one from PCS but wouldn't want to replace it with a battery equally as bad.

I think I'll give it a go and hope the one I currently have is a dud

 

[Barbaracus]

But you'd still expect 2 batteries, in the same laptop and the same usage, to have similar battery performance? The huge drop-off in the replacement battery seems a bit steep compared to the original?

That was my view. The capacity reduction and consequently the amount of time it can go between charges has been massively different.

Same usage, same on charge amount per day, laptop is 'cleaned' internally every 3-4 months.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks both for your responses.

I understand they are classed as consumable and I wasn't going to go after a refund/replacement via PCS for this one.

The battery life is so poor that I was considering buying another one from PCS but wouldn't want to replace it with a battery equally as bad.

I think I'll give it a go and hope the one I currently have is a dud

Make sure you monitor the degredation if you get a replacement, and if you see a sudden reduction before the 6 month period, then notify PCS.

It sucks, batteries are generally a little problemmlatic to recognise from a good one to a bad one until they're used.

But normally on a dud, you'll see a sudden loss of capacity over quite a short period.

Damn shame, fingers crossed you get a really good one

 

[SpyderTracks]

That was my view. The capacity reduction and consequently the amount of time it can go between charges has been massively different.

Same usage, same on charge amount per day, laptop is 'cleaned' internally every 3-4 months.

Yeah, very likely a dud battery then.

 

[SpyderTracks]

But you'd still expect 2 batteries, in the same laptop and the same usage, to have similar battery performance? The huge drop-off in the replacement battery seems a bit steep compared to the original?

Absolute agree