PC Battery Life

Superbiatch

I've just had exactly the same issue with Acer recently so opted to buy a new one and I'm so glad i did. Is yours the Aspire one by any chance?

The new battery cost £30 on ebay from a UK seller, arrived in 2 days and I get 6 hours power now using power saver mode. I've also done some reading about the lithium-ion batteries and to preserve life you should never allow them to discharge completely. Prior to this I had always been advised to discharge regularly (and did so approximately every other day) so maybe thats where I was going wrong. If you want the details of where I bought mine from PM me, but i get wht you're saying a battery should last longer but it didn't unfortunately and Acer had washed their hands of it (at that point I could only charge to 17%).

System

Acer extended warranty does not extend the warranty on batteries beyond that stated in the initial limited warranty that comes with the machine.

Acer batteries are only warranted for 6 months.

System

T_T wrote: »

Can you please reference the relevant UK legislation that causes batteries to be classed as 'consumables' and exempt from the Sale of Goods Act? I'm not aware of such legislation so I would be very interested in reading it.

For virtually all uses batteries are classed as consumables, be it your car, laptop, boogie box etc. It does not need legislation to specifically state that.

Hammyman

T_T wrote: »

Can you please reference the relevant UK legislation that causes batteries to be classed as 'consumables' and exempt from the Sale of Goods Act? I'm not aware of such legislation so I would be very interested in reading it.

Batteries being classified as a consumable is an industry wide agreement not only in the UK but the entire world. SOGA gives rights in the first 6 months against manufacturing defects which is why batteries have a 6 month guarantee but the end of the matter is that no matter how much you want to whine and moan on about it, rechargeable batteries have a finite life and are therefore classed as consumables.

If the OP had bought a Macbook, they would have a case as Apple state for their Macbooks that their batteries will do X number of cycles before only having 80% capacity. In that case if you get to less than 80% capacity before those number of cycles then you can claim under SOGA. However the OPs manufacturer states no such thing in regards to lifespan at all so once you get past 6 months then if you've been abusing it and it dies early then that is that.

eyeinthesky

Guess I must be Mr. Lucky then, lol. My acer is 18+ months old, and my missus acer is around 15 months old, and both still charge to 100%. We haven't been too good about remembering to use them on battery either, they are almost always used on mains.

asbokid

!!!!!! wrote: »

Acer extended warranty does not extend the warranty on batteries beyond that stated in the initial limited warranty that comes with the machine.

Acer batteries are only warranted for 6 months.

In the USA, the warranty on Acer laptop batteries is one year.

Dell also offers a one year warranty on its laptop batteries..

From http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/policy/en/policy?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~section=010#hardware ....

Portable computer batteries carry the lesser of either a 1-year limited hardware warranty or the length of the limited hardware warranty for the Dell computer with which the battery is shipped.

There is no law, nor any hard and fast rule about the length of warranty on a laptop battery.. not unless it forms part of the consumer contract of sale..

System

asbokid wrote: »

In the USA, the warranty on Acer laptop batteries is one year.

I wasn't aware that we were talking about US warranties.

asbokid

!!!!!! wrote: »

I wasn't aware that we were talking about US warranties.

Indeed not, and as I summed up before by saying...

There is no law, nor any hard and fast rule about the length of warranty on a laptop battery.. not unless it forms part of the consumer contract of sale..

The warranty offered on the battery is another factor to consider when buying a laptop.

As for the OP and his faulty battery, I would try to leverage the fact that Acer offers 12 months warranty on its batteries in the USA when asking for a replacement.

It might be worth bypassing the Great Satan of IT Stores (PCWorld) and approaching Acer itself with a request for a replacement battery.

In a recent report from Morgan Stanley, analysts have questioned whether Dixons Retail or Comet may have to fail, or perhaps both retailers may fail. It's worth considering the stability of a retailer when you plan to make a big ticket purchase.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/16/comet_close_boost/
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2011/04/14/dixons_swedish_future/

dfdsking

Thanks guys for all your comments about the battery life. Obviously it does seem like standard practice that the Warranty is 6 months with Acer and other brands a bit longer.

I did say to the techie guy at PC World that the sales guys should mention the warranty on the batteries can differ between makes? However when your pushing for a sale and commision, your not going to tell the customer the down side to things are they?.

But he did bang on about it being a Consumable Item but I am going to try and take this further. I haven't got my original paperwork to hand as I work on a ship so it will be nearly another month before I can check when I get home.

The other thing about how it has been used. It has been well looked after and never been damaged but I have always charged it upfrom the mains with the battery still attached, so maybe that is where I have gone wrong and in future when I get a new battery, I will not have it the system when I use the PC by the mains.

I have priced a new battery for the 5741 and I am now looking at £ 65 from Amazon, I think it was only £ 51 from the company PC world Recommended which they incidentley own also.... What a shock that was to find out? LOL.

asbokid

dfdsking wrote: »

I have priced a new battery for the 5741 and I am now looking at £ 65 from Amazon, I think it was only £ 51 from the company PC world Recommended which they incidentley own also.... What a shock that was to find out? LOL.

or...£26.39 from a company listed on Froogle... (with £3.29 shipping)