Battery drain when shut-down (HP Spectre x360)

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @pqkiller666,

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As I understand the laptops battery is discharging while it's in a shutdown state and you need assistance in resolving this concern,

I have a few suggestions for you,

You will need to Understand Lithium-Ion and Smart Battery Technology: Click here for details

Checking the Status of the Battery using the HP Battery Check it’s a utility in HP Support Assistant that provides a simple but accurate test results for the battery.

The maximum capacity of all batteries decreases with time and use. Loss of battery capacity varies with product configuration and usage, including but not limited to product model, applications running, power management settings, and product features. The battery warranty covers defects in materials or workmanship that result in failure; it does not cover natural deterioration of battery capacity. To determine if a battery has had a warranted failure, you may need to run additional diagnostics.

To get the latest version of the HP Battery Check, download and install HP Support Assistant

Remember that each time a battery is discharged and recharged, its useful life is shortened. To maximize battery life, charge it fully, and then remove it from the notebook while using AC power. Only use the battery when AC power is not available, and store the battery in a cool, dry place between uses - For FAQ's click here

Calibrating the Notebook Battery: HP Notebook PCs - Testing and Calibrating the Battery (Windows 7) - Click here

HP Notebook PCs - Testing and Calibrating the Battery (Windows 😎 - Click here

Re-install the battery drivers: 

Unplug the charge and use the laptop until the battery drains to 15%.

Turn off the laptop and turn it back on after 30mins.

Reinstalled Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery under device manager,

Restart the computer and the issue should be fixed.

If the issue persists, you will need to either contact HP phone support by clicking here.

Or using this link to know about Purchasing a Replacement Battery

If you are able to reach some resolution, please click on Accept Solution to help others with similar issues.

If you appreciate my assistance, please click on the thumbs up icon.

Both icons are below this post.

Regards,

[Tommm777]

Here is what Happened with my Lenovo Flex 3-1480 laptop

2 Weeks ago at was at 100% power after having been plugged in 3 days continuously.

Today it is at 84% after having been off for 2 weeks in a row.

[MikeJWall]

Updating my previous post (on p. 33). 

I had the typical battery drain and was able to fix it through the Sphinx fix and driver updates and BIOS changes. 

I turned the computer on last night and noticed that it is now no longer charaging (about 48 hours after fix applied). Someone else had this problem (p. 15), and allegedly has a solution, so I will be trying that tonight.  If no luck, I'm going to return this computer and shell out the extra dough for a Dell. 

it continues...

[lynx3333]

the charging issue happened to me when I applied the Sphinx update 1x. When I did the entire procedure a 2nd time, i was able to charge again. I also decided to apply the Official HP Sphinx update and found that I only installed that once and everything seemed to be correct (the verification step), charging worked, etc, so after already installing the flash.exe version 2x, I didn't have to do the official flash version 2x also to get back the charging ability.

[RadicalDad]

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@pqkiller666 wrote:

4% discharge per month is true only at 25 degrees celcius and after the battery would have drained 20% from its full charge, again at 25 degrees celcius, and I beleive the temperature for most fully charged batteries on these laptops is higher as the laptop tends to be warm if being used while charging not to mention the heat of the charge itself.

So, the battery should drop to around 80% very quickly after being fully charged and if it has 40-60% battery life when left alone, only then will it only drop the 4% per month cited.

As I said, most of the reports here are based on drops from 100% and I don't see anyone who has left their laptop for one month to see whether or not the drop levels out after the first 24 or even 48 hours, let alone a month excepting those who have done flashed their firmware with the Sphinx fix.

Also note that this 4% rate DOUBLES for every 10 degrees celcius increase in temperature, so if your laptop is 35 degrees when you turn it off (I would say the internal temp is probably much higher) then the discharge rate will be much higher.

What would be interesting to see is how many mobile phones lose charge if left off for long periods of time from 100% but since most people keep these switched on 24/7 that is a difficult test to perform unless you have a few spare phones lying around (which are brand new and assuming Android and Apple software dislays battery levels accurately.

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pqkiller666 -

After reading the Battery University article you linked, I would say that some of your key assumptions are incorrect and thus do not apply here.

• Initial drop from 100%.  Yes, the initial self-discharge rate is higher when the battery is fully charged, but I have seen similar high discharge rates (12% in 24 hours) when in shutdown mode starting at less that full charge.

• High discharge to due high battery temperature.  You confuse high operating temperature with high storage temperature.  The laptop cools down very soon after shut down.  It is the storage temperature that makes the difference.  Add to that, it is winter time in the northern hemisphere right now.  Average temperature where my laptop sits is well below 77 degrees F (25 degrees C).  More like 66 degrees where my laptop sits next to the window wall.  I'd say that is true for the vast majority of people commenting here.  Point being, high storage temperature is not a contributing factor.

• Some people report that HP repairs or the Sphinx fix results in the laptop reporting a 100% charge after being shut down for 12 to 24 hours.  That is also true in my case after HP repair (though I still have a problem).  Those reports would seem to invalidate all of your claims.

Needless to say, all of your assumptions should apply to any laptop, not just HP.  I've never seen this behavior from any other laptop I've owned in the last 20 years.  ThinkPads were notable for their unique (at the time) habit of not fully charging the battery at all times in order to lengthen service life.  Despite Apple's iOS trick of not accurately reporting battery charge at the top end, the many generations of ThinkPads we owned would drop off 100% very quickly in usage, leading one to believe that the battery monitor was accurate.  Same goes for the Surface Pro line.  I never saw drops like this when not in use with those machines, and the battery monitors weren't playing iOS games.  As to Battery University, they know their stuff, so why laptop batteries don't generally behave as Battery University outlines is a bit of a puzzle.  Perhaps laptop batteries are built with better separators or otherwise act like pre-charged secondary cells which don't in any way exhibit the properties outlined in that link.  In any case, it seems that article doesn't apply here.

What seems true is that either HP is using really crappy batteries with inadquate seperator materials (see the Battery University article you linked) or something in the laptop continues to use battery power while in shutdown mode.  Given my experience, I'm going with the latter, but it seems for others, they may have faulty batteries.

[MikeJWall]

Oh, cool. Thanks. I installed the HP one first, but when I checked the version it was on 13 and not 14. I installed the non-HP one after that. I will try installing the HP one again when I get home and see if that helps. I think someone found a solution earlier on a separate HP support forum involving a bios update that I will also try if that fails. 

[pqkiller666]

To address your points RadDad...

I stated fairly clearly that yes there is a problemthe with the battery in some fashion but after the Sphinx fix, it would seem at least some of the factors I mentioned are at play... So any battery drop occurring to a firmware upgrade of any sort is not a concern or a consideration of any of my comments. I clarified this fairly early on.

Secondly, if the highest battery drop occurs at the highest storage temperature, something which occurs straight after charging (and everyone seems to be charging their laptops to 100% then switching it off to see the drop whilst switched off over the ensuing hours/days so its safe to assume that immediately after charging the laptop it is then OFF and thus in STORAGE) then the storage temperature for let's say the first 20 minutes to 1 hour is at 65 degrees celcius then the discharge rate is going to be very high and then this tapers off as the temperature drops but alas the damage/discharge has already occurred.

Thirdly, most of the people reporting laptops at 100% have sent their laptops to HP for repair (albeit at risk of having their home addresses emailed to other support seekers as I mentioned) and not simply after applying the Sphinx Fix.

Also, this continuously repeated 3% per day figure has come from people checking their computer every day for a percentage drop, expecting the battery not to lose any charge any time they turn it on - and not actually accurately measuring the discharge over a period of say ten days or a month to see whether it fits into or improves upon Battery Universities' expected discharge percentages which should be considered fairly approximately as the quality and 'ingredients' of any given battery would vary so vastly that putting a single percentage onto every battery one would estimate makes it fairly innacurate.

A few anecdotal reports from a few users of HP devices failing to include all relevant information (including how some of these people who can afford a laptop they rarely use might have their central heating system blasting all winter to heat their house to some ridiculous temperature) is hardly an invalidation of anything and I only sought to include some persepctive.

And voila, suddenly people are considering the possibility that these batteries may have manufacturing defects which render them fairly inferior against the vast majority of current laptop battery technology because know we have examined knowledge and know something about separator plates and whatnot.

And thank-you HP rep for that disgusting display of ineptitude not only in responding to anything I have written but the general idea that you would just repeat the first 4 or 5 steps most people took long before coming to this forum to discuss something which our batteries have drained more logging into and contributing to than they ever would whilst observing a closed laptop and wondering what percentage it will show on the counter when we open it in some sort of miserable tirade that prevents us from doing anything except becoming experts in firmware upgrade version numbers.

[reyemtm]

After having no luck with the sphinx, laptop not charging, laptop charging again, bios upgrades, driver updates, windows updates, etc, I can happily report that my new Lenovo Thinkpad 14 drains appx 1% per 24hrs while off. My old x360 is probably dead by now in the back room of a bbuy warehouse.

[MikeJWall]

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@lynx3333 wrote:

the charging issue happened to me when I applied the Sphinx update 1x. When I did the entire procedure a 2nd time, i was able to charge again. I also decided to apply the Official HP Sphinx update and found that I only installed that once and everything seemed to be correct (the verification step), charging worked, etc, so after already installing the flash.exe version 2x, I didn't have to do the official flash version 2x also to get back the charging ability.

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Thanks! I re-installed the HP Sphinx fix when I got home and the charging issue has been resolved. I'll leave it unplugged overnight to see if the battery drain is back or remains solved. Here's hoping...

[EMM_ELL]

My latest drain results, (and it is a pain to leave the commputer unused intentionally):

i7/8GB/256GB,   BIOS F11,    Sphinx version with "Flash.exe"

• Duration:    59 hrs
• Ambient temp of room:   15*C   (if that matters)
•  
• % drop:       4%
• % range:     72% to 68%
•  
• % drop per hr:   0.068%
• % drop per day:   1.63%
•  
• mWh drop:      2,218
• mWh range:   42,874  to  40,656
•  
• mWh drop per hr:  37.6

So I'm doing much better than you guys who are saying 4% per day.   This is my 2nd test starting without a full battery that has it just a bit less than 2% per day.  At this point I'm leaning towards keeping mine.