HP Spectre takes 18 hours to charge battery

[johnrobert]

Supplied a new battery 3 months ago client called me saying it was not charging I tried my universal charger that I brought with me still not charging
took the laptop home and tried another charger now it charging been charging now for 14 hours and only ay 90% it should fully charge but I am concerned about the time it's taking, Bought battery from laptopbattery.com they have one years warranty but they are not cooperative.
He did not use laptop for a couple of months so battery would be drained is this normal to take so long it is a small charger.
My Dell laptop charges in a couple of hours

 

[NviGate Systems]

If you can, replace with original batteries from OEM. If that means sending it to HP so be it.

My reason is simple, I don't want to deal with what you are dealing with. If it fails, they get to yell at HP.

It very likely could be a faulty battery, but it's a little concerning that the seller isn't co operative. What exactly did you mention? You have to be exact with what you say, battery not charging, needs replacement. Or did they want the machine too? I've heard of that in the past.

 

[Markverhyden]

As much as it annoys me I have to agree with using an OEM replacement. It's just another thing OEM's are doing that we no control over.

 

[johnrobert]

They want to me do a multitude of things and then send the videos of the steps since it is charging now I will return it to the client, other than it takes a long time, I think he blew his charger trying to charge it when completely dead I have a rechargeable drill if I try to charge a dead battery that got mixed in it kills the charger.
had bad luck with batteries working for a few months than at 30% capacity.
Thanks for the help I agree only OEM next time.

 

[NviGate Systems]

Well, if it's only charging slowly that's not exactly a "solution" for your client.

Don't think chargers "blow" when charging things from dead. The battery chips are actually quite intelligent, more likely the management chip saw a high resistance on the battery, so charging it faster would have made it go boom.

So why not do the steps and work with the vendor? Because your customer honestly deserves better, IMHO.

 

[Diggs]

Even laptop batteries have a BMS in them (Battery Management System). Typically they manage the charge so that it is full charge current until 90% then they go into leveling mode where they taper the current but maintain the voltage until each cell is fully charged. At the 90% point the BMS is charging the individual cells (not in series) to make them all the same. Old 18650 laptop batteries are usually 2px3s. (2 parallel by 3 in series). The newer Li-Po pouch style that lay flat internally are typically 1x3s. Each cell gets topped off individually to 100% during the last phase of charging. (Not sure which style you have.) It sounds like one cell or pair have failed and not accepting a charge. A thermal scan would tell you which one that is during charging but it's not like you do individual cell replacement.

I typically build 5px14s (52 volt) packs for my ebikes. The one I built from used laptop batteries did not fare well (see below) and started to leak and failed in its second year. Seems laptop cells didn't like the heavy current draw of an ebike. The packs I made from Tesla Model S 18650 cells are going strong three years later. The red wires at the top of the pack are the balance wires to the individual banks of 5 cells so it can keep all banks in parallel charged to the same voltage.

I see in the news this morning that New York has had 200 Lithium battery fires already this year from ebikes/escooters/skateboards. I have a feeling the industry may be switching over to LiFePO 4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) instead even if they are less energy dense. They vent but won't turn into the unquenchable blow torch that Li-Io cells do.

 

[alexsmith2709]

I've seen this on phones. When completely dead they charge very slowly and sometimes get no indication on the screen for about 10 mins that its even charging.
I would leave it off when charging then do a discharge and then try charging again. Most of the time it'll then charge at normal speed

 

[NviGate Systems]

But for a battery to take 14 hours to charge, clearly something is wrong.

Also, given that batteries can have issues when they are failing, it's a "better safe than sorry" situation. You don't take risks with Lithium batteries. You replaced the battery, it's your hot potato now.

I apologize if I seem overly harsh, but the last thing the client needs is to head home with a replacement charger and the idea that somehow 14 hours is "sorta ok" and then the battery puffs up and causes more damage. Lithium batteries, even ones that are made to "HP Standards" can and still cause issues ranging from damaging devices to plain puffing or igniting when the safety mechanisms are ignored or fail.

Many of the manufacturers know how dangerous these things are. They often advise customers to stop using the devices and remove the battery if possible. I know some of that is liability issues, but it's based on reality of what goes wrong and how quickly it can get out of hand.

I think as a technician you not only have a duty to do quality work, but also consider the safety and well-being of your clients.

/End Rant