Poor battery life with VPCEA3S1E

[Jimmimac]

I bought a new Vaio in January 2011 on recommendation of a friend and former Sony employee.  I am very happy with the computer, but the battery life is totally unacceptable.  I charged the battery fully on first use, I have the Power Manager set to Power Saver mode, but from day one the battery has never been capable to sustain normal operation for more than a few minutes.

As I'm typing this now with the charger attached, the status indicator is showing  '80% available (plugged-in, not charging)'

Now I have unplugged (it is 11:23), and set screen brightness to 50% (four bars out of a possible 8).  Power indicator says '1hr 55min (79%) remaining.'

What typically occurs from this point is that the power indicator shows around 70 - 80% with appropriate remaining time, according to the activity on the machine at the time of checking, but then suddenly, the indicator plummets to 10% or less and I get a warning to attach power cord or save/shutdown immediately. Sometimes I don't get time to do this before the machine begins to go into shutdown mode.  This means I cannot use the laptop away from a power supply, which is rather limiting to say the least.

I will carry on working on other things, and come back to this mail and log what's happening to remaining power levels, to illustrate in real time what's happening...

11:30 - 1hr 55min (75%) remaining

11:37 - 1hr 15 mins (49%) remaining (since last update I have been typing an email in a webmail account)

11:40 - 55 mins  (33%) remaining

11:40 - 45 mins (29%) remaining

11:41 - 42 mins (26%) remaining

11:42 - 37 mins (21%)

11:43 - 17 mins (11%) - green light flashing

Warning received; plugged-in power cord to avoid machine shutdown.

11:44 - 8% available (plugged-in, charging)

11:52 - 21% available ( - " - )

12:01 - 42%   -   "   -  ( - " - )

12:14 - 77%

12:16 - 80% available (plugged-in, not charging).

So, it took 20 minutes of very light usage with a low screen illumination set to go from 80% to 8% battery charge, then 31 minutes from plugging power back in to achieve the fully charged state (which is 80% in 'Power-saver' mode).  I know that if I unplug now, the same cycle will repeat.  I find this totally unacceptable.

I read somewhere that there was a software problem with the power manager (posssibly some conflict between Vaio sw and Microsoft sw??), and that Sony were unhelpful in promoting a sw fix.  Is there any truth in this?  Is it worth me trying to get a new battery under warranty?  Won't it juist behave exactly the same way if there's a sw basis to the problem?

Sorry this is a long post, but I didn't want to write a words only description without the benefit of data to back it up.

Appreciate any feedback/assistance/suggestions.

J.

[bjpce.co.uk]

I have identical problem with VPCEC2S0E - let me know if you get any help.

I phoned Sony support who said since my battery is over 6 months old they can do nothing except sell me a new on for nearly £100!!!!!!

[svrs500hdd]

I purchased this model Jan 2011 and have never managed to get more than an hour from a 80% charged battery. Since new it has detioriated to such an extent that I now only get about 30 minutes and also find that the remaining percentage plunges once it reaches 70%. If I was to use the DVD drive I dread to think how long it wood last. This is pathetic considering Sony advertise up to 3 hours. I have just contacted Sony but don't expect to get much joy. I note Sonys price for a new battery is £159 which is also a real rip off. Has anyone tried a third party one with success as seeing what Sony say on their website all sorts of things might happen.

Telcol

[Blencogo]

Hi Jimmimac,

You are right - something is wrong.

I tend to agree that the battery is probably fine and the software is at fault.  If your battery was fully discharged it would take about 4 hours to fully recharge - not just the 30 minutes it appears to take.  It rather looks like you are using and recharging about 20% of the battery's capacity.

I think the first thing you should try as Vaio Support will not be available until Monday, is to turn off the Battery Care Function and see if that makes any difference.  The Battery Care Function limits charging to 80% in an attempt to prolong battery life.  Go to Control Panel -> Vaio Control Centre and under Power/Battery uncheck the Battery Care box.  This will then allow you to charge to 100% and you can eliminate the 80% being at fault.

Next week, I would telephone Vaio Support and see what they suggest.  There could be a fault with the battery monitoring software but also it could be the internal programming within the battery itself and it may need replacing.  It is clear there is a fault that needs to be rectified.  You will never get the quoted 3 hours but you should expect 2 hours.

Have you Registered your Vaio?  If not, do so now and make sure there is a contact telephone number/email address.

[Jimmimac]

Thanks Blencogo,

  (Some of the content of your reply makes me think you may be a Sony employee??)

Just to update everyone, and to probably disappoint anyone who is also having this problem...

My battery has continued - unsurprisingly - to give this unacceptable level of performance.  Interestingly, though, it does not seem to have deteriorated at all since my original posting in August (surely it would have got worse, if the battery was in decline??).

I received an unsolicited call from Sony within the past 3 weeks, referencing this problem - so it would appear that they monitor this site and respond, although not with any great speed.

The content of the 'Help' I received was polite but ultimately not helpful.  I was recommended to visit my local Sony Centre to have them try a new battery to verify that it would charge correctly; I did so and discovered that they 'Do not conduct any warranty investigations,' nor do they stock batteries in Sony Centres.  So this was a complete waste of my time and did nothing to help investigate my problem.  You might reasonably have expected the different bits of Sony to know what services they had on offer in their outlets, but apparently not!

So.  The conclusion (which was arrived at after just a short exchange on the telephone) is that my battery is beyond further use, and that this is 'normal' and that I must pay £92 for a replacement.  The battery is only warranted for 6 months.

I am right now beginning my legal pursuit of the replacement of my battery free of charge by Sony, on the basis I bought a laptop computer as a portable machine - a key USP - and that it is therefore not fit for purpose/as described, if it cannot fulfill its basic function after less than one year of use in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

I have used laptops professionally for years - mostly Dell or HP - and have never had a problem with battery life like this.  I bought the Vaio as a (perceived) quality brand, as I wanted a machine that would last me for a number of years.  Had I known that I would have an annual charge of c £100 to buy a new battery each year, then I DEFINITELY would not have purchased it.

I will post any further developments...