Dell Latitude Battery Warranty: Advice Needed

I have a Latitude E5540 which is just under a year old. The battery (although hardly used) currently shows 23% wear. In addition, when using the battery it suddenly drops from 25% down to 7%. My guess is that it is being caused by a bad cell in the pack.

Does Dell's warranty cover this?

I know they mention that batteries are considered "consumables" and come with limited warranty.

Many thanks

 

Dell's normal battery warranty is one year although there can be the option to buy an extended battery warranty at the time of purchase.

23% wear in less than one year is abnormally high for recent batteries and more than would be expected under normal usage (run BatteryInfoView to check whether the battery records its charge cycles). First do a battery calibration by fully discharging it (you will need to do this in the BIOS once the charge level has reached the threshold where Windows shuts down) followed by fully recharging the battery. The recalibration will update the storage curve contained in the battery's chip and may clear the problem you have encountered. If it doesn't then I recommend that you urgently contact Dell with your request for a replacement.

John

 

Thanks for the feedback, John. I checked the Dell Diagnostics BIOS screen which reports the battery has only had 27 cycles, so 23% wear is very high!

I called Dell yesterday and they said that unless total battery life was under 1 hour or the Dell Battery Monitor health meter was reporting a problem (it currently reports 'Excellent') they usually don't accept batteries for a replacement. Even though it is still under warranty.

I will try calibration via the BIOS screen later today. I've read that li-ion batteries don't like to be fully discharged. Could calibration potentially harm the battery?

Cheers

 

Yes, full discharge isn't good for the battery but it is the only way to sort out what may be a calibration issue. You should recharge immediately after calibration. I tend to do a calibration no more frequently than six months with the indicator being (as you have encountered) an uneven discharge curve.

The result of the calibration may be either (i) the wear is reduced (ie there was a calibration problem) or (ii) the wear is increased (ie the battery is sick). If you get (ii) then it strengthens your case with Dell. I think they aren't being very generous. I would expect recent notebook batteries with only 27 charge cycles to have negligible wear. Modern batteries are usually good for 500 or more charge cycles although, by then, there will be a significant loss in capacity. Maybe if you ask to talk to a supervisor you will get through to someone who appreciates the significance of the low charge cycle count and agree that the battery is defective and the loss of capacity is not normal wear.

John

 

Sorry for the extended silence--I missed your reply. I've been through my Latitude's BIOS and diagnostics screens but can't seem to find a "battery calibration" option. Do you know where it might be?

I also feel that Dell is being really slack. Like you said, 27 cycles is tiny compared to the 600-800 cycles modern Li-ion cells are good for.

I definitely think the issue is being caused by a bad cell in the pack. Interestingly, battery wear now seems to have settled at 23%. Hopefully it'll remain there for a while.

Cheers