Asus UL30VT FAQ / Official Owners Lounge redux

[David]

Originally Posted by hydra

I liked Dave's results but the ratio of Full to Current Capacity at 0 charge rate suggest that 97% is the "Life" indicator. So your wear is now at 3%.

None of our batteries has ever reached the Design Capacity so this is just for reference. The Current capacity is the one that we should be interested in as when the battery "wears" this will drop.

What is not shown is the rate of drop as batteries WEAR. Has anyone seen a battery at full charge but 10 minutes later it's dead?

3% is not the battery wear on msmcintosh's battery. The reason why the battery isn't charging at 97% is because it is designed that way to prevent overcharging and potentially damaging the battery cells. Most Li-ion batteries today are set to dis-engage the charging mechanism when the battery is at 95% or more. If you want to charge it up to 100%, let the battery drain below 95% before plugging in the power.

[hydra]

Originally Posted by David

3% is not the battery wear on msmcintosh's battery. The reason why the battery isn't charging at 97% is because it is designed that way to prevent overcharging and potentially damaging the battery cells. Most Li-ion batteries today are set to dis-engage the charging mechanism when the battery is at 95% or more. If you want to charge it up to 100%, let the battery drain below 95% before plugging in the power.

Yep, my bad. I was thinking he was at 100%. It's just I've never seen these reach near the designed level.

..stuffs rag in mouth..

[rexrzer727]

Originally Posted by msmcintosh

EmBatPower gives the following information:

Design Capacity - 84000 mWh
Full Charge Capacity - 77685 mWh
Current Capacity - 75540 mWh
Charge Rate - 0 mV
Life Left - 97%

Does that make more sense? Can you explain what the numbers indicate? Is this normal?

Thanks

Thanks for trying out another utility, it's appreciated and gives the whole picture with your particular battery.

I take a slightly more *pessimistic* view of your battery vs the others being listed here...3% capacity loss in a virtually new battery means it is at least 2% weaker than all of the other A1 batteries I've seen here, so it is a trifle weak vs the norm. Keep an eye on it, and if you continue to see charge capacity slip even more (let's say if it hits 6% in another month or less) you might initiate a Tech Support case on your battery with Asus (Call the #888 telephone number if you're in the USA...out of the USA contact your local Asus distributor/reseller/Asus Tech Support).

This might seem to be unnecessary, but I don't like to see a new battery slip 3% in a new state like yours has done, and I'd simply keep my eyes on it and see if the trend continues unabated...if it continues to slip at 3% a month for example, I'd petition Asus for a replacement battery--at some point.

OTOH the battery may just have a few weak cells, as some do, and it will stay where it is and deteriorate at a normal level until it becomes useless, as all batteries do at some point.

You might try the Calibrate Method with your battery, and see if it helps the situation. That is charge the battery to 100% capacity, or as high as it will currently go (98%, 99%, whatever) then discharge it fully, down to where the notebook goes into Hibernation...and LET it go into Hibernation. After that fully charge the battery, and see where it ends up.

In 2 weeks, or after another 10-15 charge cycles, Calibrate it again, and see how things are at that point. This should help to stabilize the battery's charge cycles and allow it to fully charge, wherever full charge ends up being, be it 97%, 95%, 98%, whatever point it will be charging to.

I think after it's been Calibrated twice you will see this particular battery's life-cycle unfold, ie whether it will continue to be @ or about 3% less than the norm, or whether it continues to deteriorate at a higher rate than normal.

David said your battery is normal...with qualifications in my view it is normal. See how it goes after being Calibrated twice, or just keep a close eye on it if you don't Calibrate it, and see how things are going after a couple months...by then you can surely figure out if the battery is sub-standard, or just has a few weak cells and will always be 3% behind the norm.

I do not mean to throw up a Red Flag and write that your battery is a bad one, not just yet anyway...just keep an eye on it, and/or if you can Calibrate it a couple times after a few cycles, then see what's going on with respect to its full capacity...I think the answer will be right there in those percentage numbers.

[rexrzer727]

tanhi wrote: "Interesting that you get a 25% increase in battery life. i think as an A1 user i get about 8-10 hours? meaning i'd get 11-12 on a SDD! :O

wow, thats really good. a 1% wear rate? how are you charging/using your battery? draining it to 20% or something else."

The increase in battery run time (not "life") was a very pleasant surprise, but not a complete surprise. I figured to get something out of my SSD investment, but when I saw the increase to more than 8 hours run time vs less than 6 hours run time with my Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache HD in place it sort of stunned me. All factors being considered that is at least a 25% increase in run time with the Intel SSD, or being a real optimist you could say 33% increase in run time...I'm careful with what I say with numbers so I wrote 25% for this group of UL30VT owners.

I can't speak for your battery use, just my own, but if you install an SSD I think you will get at least a 25% increase in run time vs a platter HD. This seems to be about normal for people on the 'Net: if you do any reading on this subject you can see increased run time being mentioned over and over. YMMV, as everybody's uses differ with battery run time, but there will be some benefit running an SSD.

As to my battery charge methods, and my particular battery in the UL30VT-X1, I am doing nothing special really, just taking care of this one like I do my other notebooks. I try to use a full charge cycle when I am on battery, that is I usually let the notebook go to 7% battery charge remaining before I plug it back into AC power again. There are times when I can't attend to that cycle, and I put the notebook back on AC with varying percentages of run time left, but I do try to discharge the battery as much as possible during a cycle, generally.

Where I differ from most people's battery charging and discharging techniques is how much I Calibrate the battery. I will Calibrate a battery every 15-20 cycles, and I have been doing this for years with my notebooks, whether it's made by Asus, Apple, Acer, or Sony it doesn't matter-- I've always done this. Over time I think this helps a battery maintain a full charge, but that's just what my experience has been...YMMV. With the notebooks in my stable the past 10 years or so I have achieved long battery life, with sustained battery use in all of them, using the Calibrate Method.

This particular battery in my UL30VT-series notebook seems to be a good one, as batteries go, as it still charges up to 60,752mWh via both EmBatPower's reading and Everest Ultimate's reading. So far so good with this one, as it is as close to Design Capacity as is practical to get in my experience...literally 95.5% of that capacity, so it is quite good. It won't stay there forever, as all batteries deteriorate at a sustained rate over time, but for 2.5 months of heavy use my battery is doing comparatively very well...I will continue with the present program and see how it goes in a couple months.

[rexrzer727]

Originally Posted by hydra

I think we all are keeping an eye on the market prices ..and my honey-do side of the house is keeping an eye on me

I'm just suspisious if this a planed "shortage" or just crazy demand? The economy is still not 100% here state side with a lot of guys and gals looking for work. I would venture demand is still down a bit on these luxury items, no?

Originally Posted by tanhi

I am unsure of an increase in prices of SSDs. All technology gets cheaper. except apple, in which case, the cheapest time to buy it is when it is released.

I can only speak from watching the market as you are all doing, but I am doing a bit more research perhaps, reading into Tech Republic and ZDNet News Digest every day, and watching the wholesale market trends also, along with the retail market. What happens is that the quote necessary for making, let's say 40 million iPads with various GB flavors, 30 million Androids by Motorola and others, and 50 million Gen. 4 iPhones for the rest of this year gets factored into the supply chain, and then the manufacturers realize that Samsung, Toshiba, and the other Chinese manufacturers of the NAND memory are only making XXX Billion GB of the memory...then the concept of shortages enters the picture, and prices on retail units stay the same, or increase.

That is the picture I am talking about, and this year is particularly grim in that regard, therefore my ideas about prices either staying the same, or increasing if things don't improve on the supply chain for NAND memory. I am not trying to scare people or say something wacky at all, this is just pure and simple supply and demand economics I am speaking about, and the amount of NAND being produced this year is less than the demand for devices made by Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, and the other cell phone and computer manufacturers who are using huge amounts of NAND for this year's products.
Understand where I am coming from with my predictions now?

I hope that this qualifies what I wrote a little bit, and some of it is my perception about these things also, so please take it for what it's worth...it's not the gospel, it's simply what I see happening with the production and retail markets this calendar year, no more, no less.

[killah21]

Problem fixed. Thanks

[Wisse]

You have to grab camera drivers from Asus support page. Make sure to follow their instructions since there are 3 or so versions of cameras used in these notebooks.

If you already have drivers on, then I don't know what the problem is. Try reinstalling or something -.-

[msmcintosh]

Originally Posted by rexrzer727

Thanks for trying out another utility, it's appreciated and gives the whole picture with your particular battery.

I take a slightly more *pessimistic* view of your battery vs the others being listed here...3% capacity loss in a virtually new battery means it is at least 2% weaker than all of the other A1 batteries I've seen here, so it is a trifle weak vs the norm. Keep an eye on it, and if you continue to see charge capacity slip even more (let's say if it hits 6% in another month or less) you might initiate a Tech Support case on your battery with Asus (Call the #888 telephone number if you're in the USA...out of the USA contact your local Asus distributor/reseller/Asus Tech Support).

This might seem to be unnecessary, but I don't like to see a new battery slip 3% in a new state like yours has done, and I'd simply keep my eyes on it and see if the trend continues unabated...if it continues to slip at 3% a month for example, I'd petition Asus for a replacement battery--at some point.

OTOH the battery may just have a few weak cells, as some do, and it will stay where it is and deteriorate at a normal level until it becomes useless, as all batteries do at some point.

You might try the Calibrate Method with your battery, and see if it helps the situation. That is charge the battery to 100% capacity, or as high as it will currently go (98%, 99%, whatever) then discharge it fully, down to where the notebook goes into Hibernation...and LET it go into Hibernation. After that fully charge the battery, and see where it ends up.

In 2 weeks, or after another 10-15 charge cycles, Calibrate it again, and see how things are at that point. This should help to stabilize the battery's charge cycles and allow it to fully charge, wherever full charge ends up being, be it 97%, 95%, 98%, whatever point it will be charging to.

I think after it's been Calibrated twice you will see this particular battery's life-cycle unfold, ie whether it will continue to be @ or about 3% less than the norm, or whether it continues to deteriorate at a higher rate than normal.

David said your battery is normal...with qualifications in my view it is normal. See how it goes after being Calibrated twice, or just keep a close eye on it if you don't Calibrate it, and see how things are going after a couple months...by then you can surely figure out if the battery is sub-standard, or just has a few weak cells and will always be 3% behind the norm.

I do not mean to throw up a Red Flag and write that your battery is a bad one, not just yet anyway...just keep an eye on it, and/or if you can Calibrate it a couple times after a few cycles, then see what's going on with respect to its full capacity...I think the answer will be right there in those percentage numbers.

Thanks Rexrzer727. I'll give your suggestions a try.

I'm only a novice when it comes to battery information. I just thought "wow", it's design capacity is 84000 mWh and my full charge capacity is 77700 mWh after a few months of use. I was under the impression that the more you use the battery, the greater the wear and I hardly use my battery. Is that a misconception?

[rexrzer727]

"Thanks Rexrzer727. I'll give your suggestions a try.

I'm only a novice when it comes to battery information. I just thought "wow", it's design capacity is 84000 mWh and my full charge capacity is 77700 mWh after a few months of use. I was under the impression that the more you use the battery, the greater the wear and I hardly use my battery. Is that a misconception?"--msmcintosh wrote

I've had quite a bit of battery experience, especially with Li-Ion batteries, both in R/C race cars and trucks, and in laptop computers, so maybe I can offer you a some tips since you say you lack experience at this time.

Batteries are funny things, and yes, using them will wear them out, but what's the point of having one and not using it at all, or very little? This idea is a simple one: using your battery should be part of your repertoire about how you use your laptop, not an exclusion. Now, HOW you use the battery is the key to the whole equation, and the idea here is to get maximum use out of the battery during its lifetime, which is finite of course.

If you don't have a "routine" about using the laptop's battery, then there is little hope for your battery's future, so let me give you a basic routine that should help you out, along with some examples.

First of all, use the thing, that's Rule No.1! Don't leave it IN the laptop 100% of the time if you aren't using it, and I mean REMOVE it if you are in the habit of not using the battery for a week or two at all, and still have it IN the laptop trying to get charged and discharged...that is death to batteries, ie they cannot survive or survive well with this sort of non-use. So let me say it again: use the battery, and if you're not using it for an extended time REMOVE it from the laptop and store it in a cool place, about 40% charged, preferably in a HD plastic bag in a cool and dark place.

When you are using it, try to discharge it fully, or at least try to structure your use of the battery around that idea if possible. If it's not possible, then we'll deal with it another way but that's Rule No.2: try and discharge it fully when you use it.

During normal use of the battery charge it back to 100% charged status so it's ready for the next service. However, if you've used it partially, say down to 40-60% discharged, and you'll be using it again later in the day for sure/certain, do not charge it fully, just put the laptop to sleep or Hibernate it (even better), then use the battery until it's fully discharged at the later session.

So Rule No.3, don't charge the battery if you've discharged it partially and plan on using it more later in the day: Hibernate or Sleep the laptop, then discharge it fully if possible at the second session.

Those are some basic things which are common sense, so let's try out some more advanced ideas which will help your battery maintain a long life, and give you xlnt service during its lifetime.

After 15-20 cycles, either full or partial discharges (it doesn't matter, each run counts) it's best to Calibrate the battery with a complete, full discharge right down to where the laptop Hibernates, then immediately charge it fully up to 100% capacity. If you don't use the battery much during a 30-day period, ie if you don't use 15-20 cycles in that period, Calibrate it anyway! Calibration keeps the battery at its peak by resetting its "clock", its ability to be fully charged after being 100% discharged. Calibration is a good thing for batteries, so do it with regularity and the battery will stay healthy and ready for action.

If you're not using the battery at all, if you're parked at home or the office and not using the battery for an extended period of time, REMOVE the battery from the laptop and keep it stored at about 40% of capacity in a cool, dark place (cabinet or office drawer will do fine) in a HD plastic bag, preferably. When you're ready to use it again, replace it into the laptop, charge it 100%, and you're ready for action! Oops, I double posted that...but that's ok it's a good thing because it's so darned important!

The rest is pretty simple:

1) Use a good battery utility to keep track of how the battery is doing with its discharges and charges

2) Time the battery with your utility of choice every couple of discharges, and see how it's doing with respect to how it charges, ie the mWh it reaches, and how the discharge goes, ie how long and how 'deep' it goes into a complete discharge

3) Don't worry about the battery, except for runs where you are using the battery utility, just use it and keep track of the charges and discharges on Notepad, your calendar, any convenient place, so that you'll have a handle on when to Calibrate it next

Those basic "rules" along with the common sense, and your battery utility is all you need to take care of the battery 100% of the time, so there you go, I hope those tips help you out with battery management. It's really easy with today's batteries to optimize and get the most out of them, just use your head, don't be afraid to use the thing, and most of all discharge the battery fully if possible, as that's what they like most of all!

[bluesdeluxe]

This is a little off on the battery talk; I do not notice a problem with my wifi connection on my A1 but since I travel a lot I thought I should install another antenna when I tear my laptop apart for the backlit keyboard mod.

My question is, if I want to put the antenna into my monitor, am I just connecting it to the existing antenna? Everything I've read so far talks about plugging the second antenna into the card itself which is near the hard drive. But someone was also saying the monitor is the best place to house the new antenna. Any details on how to install the antenna into the monitor?

Also, this has not been discussed at all as far as I can tell but I'm really annoyed with the the sleep switch on my laptop. If I close the monitor 80% it cuts off and puts the computer to sleep. My other laptops require about 95% closure to put the computer to sleep. Is there a way to fix this with software or is it a hardware problem? I like to pass my laptop to other people with the lid almost all the way closed and it drives me crazy that this computer turns off so easily.