Can't get more than 4 hours of battery life on new HP Envy 13" 2018 ah0501sa

[Poet_Chris]

I recently bought a HP Envy 13" 2018 and the battery life is nowhere close to what I've seen in reviews.

For reference:

[edit]

This review states 8 hours 57 minutes of 720p video at 75% brightness with presumably the keyboard back light left on.

[edit]

This review states 7 hours of looping video but without details of the resolution or brightness.

I'm only getting 4 hours while sat on the desktop doing nothing at 50% brightness with the keyboard back light turned off and even less when I start doing anything else.

The strange thing I found is that HWInfo says that my discharge rate is pretty much always 12.335w. It doesn't change if I change the brightness, or if I disable the backlight, or if I start browsing the web or if I turn airplane mode on, or if I turn Bluetooth off. I even turned on the setting for windows to turn the screen off after 1 minute of idle and then just left it for 4 hours completely idle on the desktop, and it still died after the same 4 hours. The only thing that really affects it and actually alters my battery life is putting load on the NVIDIA GPU by playing a game or rendering a video etc. Then the battery life decreases as you'd expect. I tried disabling the NVIDIA GPU in Device Manager but same old 4 hours whether it's completely idle or actually doing tasks. I'm not sure how accurate HWInfo is but it's the only thing I could find that somewhat would explain it. I'm starting to think it's a software issue, but I'm not sure. Maybe the Windows battery driver is reading it wrong?

Some details:

I've tried a Windows refresh but not a complete clean install.

All the windows updates are installed

Here's all the processes running:

https://imgur.com/a/NC3o418

In my system tray, excluding the standard windows stuff, I have MSI Afterburner, NVIDIA Settings, Lightshot and RivaTuner Statistics Server

I looked at a friend's laptop which is also an HP Envy albeit a 15" instead of a 13" but the specs are the same both with a 52Wh battery too except his has a 1TB HDD in addition to the SSD but his charge rate is -9.2w with a bunch of programs open. What I did notice is that his battery has a lower voltage than mine by over 2 volts. My battery voltage is 16.34. This would affect the power draw right?

In conclusion, I'm not really sure what to do to fix it but I hope you guys can help.

Specs:

i5 8250u

8GB 2133MHz DDR3 RAM

NVIDIA MX150 256GB SSD

The screen is 1080p @ 60Hz

There's a 128GB Micro SD Card inserted

[Jeet_singh]

@Poet_Chris,

Welcome to HP Support Community,

Let's start off by updating the Bios and Chipset drivers on your PC from our HP support website, using this link.

Also, download and install HP support assistant on your PC. It should automatically download and install the latest updates and drivers for your PC.

Refer this link to know how to use HP support assistant.

Once done, restart the computer and check.

If the issue persists, I would suggest you uninstall the battery drivers from Device manager: 

Step 01. Click on the Start Button
Step 02. Type "Device Manager" in the start search box & open the Device Manager
Step 03. Look for Batteries and expand it by click on the + symbol on the left
Step 04. Right Click on "Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery" & uninstall
Note: This Battery driver will get reinstalled automatically when you restart the Notebook again
Step 05. Please Shutdown the Notebook
Step 06. Please remove the Battery and unplug the Power Adapter
Step 07. Press and Hold the Power Button for full 1 Minute
Step 08. Go ahead and put back the Battery and connect the Power Adapter
Step 09. Look for "Plugged In Charging" message on the Battery icon

Try performing a clean boot on your PC and check if it helps.

Refer this article to further troubleshoot battery issues with your PC. Click Here

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the Accepted Solution and Kudos buttons, that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Have a great day!

[Poet_Chris]

Hi Jeet, 

Besides not having a clue how to open this laptop or knowing what type of screws these are, wouldn't doing that void the warranty?

Thanks,

Chris

[Jeet_singh]

@Poet_Chris,

You don't have to open the laptop, instead follow the steps which should help you in improving the battery performance on your PC.

If you're finding difficulty following the instructions, I would personally suggest you contact our HP support team so that then you can guide you with the steps.

1)      Click on this link – www.hp.com/contacthp/

2)      Select the product type.

3)      Enter the serial number of your device or select let HP detect your product option.

4)      Select the country from the drop-down.

5)      You should see the HP phone support number or Chat option listed.

Fill the web-form. A case number and phone number will now populate for you.    

They will  be happy to assist you immediately.

(No charge to repair if the device is covered under Warranty).

Regards,