[REQUEST] Battery drained from 92% to 7% instantly after 7 mins on

[Appletax]

Got a Dell Latitude 5590 laptop from 2018 with an OEM 68w standard battery. Bought it used from eBay for a client. The UEFI states that all hardware is good and the battery is in good health. I nuked and paved it with Windows 11 24H2 and it worked mostly fine - just was a little slow here and there. The SSD health is 88%.

When I brought the laptop to the client's home, I ran the laptop off the battery for the first time and the charge % went from 92% to 7% instantly after running for about 7 minutes. I've got it at the shop now. I set it to never sleep and to keep the display always on. I ran it on battery and after 2 hours of being on I shut it down. I tested the charger and it showed a steady voltage of around 19.5 volts. The battery says it's 7.6 volts, and in the UEFI it says it's 8.685 volts - is that bad?

What to do? Get a new battery? Maybe it was just a one-time fluke?

 

[GTP]

Time for a new battery? The amount of time you'll spend fooling around with it will be 5 x what a new battery is worth.

 

[Appletax]

Time for a new battery? The amount of time you'll spend fooling around with it will be 5 x what a new battery is worth.

Right. I bought a new one for $32 on eBay - new genuine OEM. Hope that does the trick. I guess the UEFI reading is wrong. Or there's another issue like a bad power charger.

The laptop was $125 with no charger and no battery guarantee. Stinks that the battery is junk. I wonder if I could ask the seller if they could give me a partial refund of like $15 to go towards the new battery given that it's junk and not good at all.

 

[GTP]

Right. I bought a new one for $32 on eBay - new genuine OEM. Hope that does the trick. I guess the UEFI reading is wrong. Or there's another issue like a bad power charger.

The laptop was $125 with no charger and no battery guarantee. Stinks that the battery is junk. I wonder if I could ask the seller if they could give me a partial refund of like $15 to go towards the new battery given that it's junk and not good at all.

View attachment 16986

They wont. That's why they say "no guarantee." or "no warranty."
Life is short, batteries are cheap, replace and move on.

 

[NviGate Systems]

Failure under load. Happens with batteries and PSU.

I never trust raw numbers or "status". Physical testing would have caught this. You need to strengthen your QA process.

 

[Markverhyden]

6 year old battery is beyond retirement age for pretty much any application.

 

[britechguy]

You need to strengthen your QA process.

If you're buying from eBay, there is no QA process, really. And if the client knows that this is the avenue being taken, they should have been warned that it's always "a roll of the dice." I've gone eBay route, with the "we're rolling the dice here, and it may require several cycles, but I hope not" proviso, on several occasions before. Most recently I got an LG Gram 2-In-1 Touch 16T90P-K.AAE7U1 16'' Intel Core i7-1165G7 16GB 512GB Win 11 machine for just under $450. The WiFi card was wonky, but I replaced it with an Edimax nano sized WiFi adapter after discussing it with the client. She was very pleased, as you couldn't come close to getting a machine specced like that at that price new or even used in most cases, as used ones were generally around $700 at the time of purchase. The seller did also give a $50 refund as well, as the description said "everything works." I don't think he was lying, either, if the testing was relatively short term. It was an odd, irregular, and unpredictable drop out of WiFi.

An i5-8th gen is "old" at this point, and if it were to run perfectly without any battery at all, using only the power adapter, it's hard to complain for $125.

 

[NviGate Systems]

If you're buying from eBay, there is no QA process, really. And if the client knows that this is the avenue being taken, they should have been warned that it's always "a roll of the dice." I've gone eBay route, with the "we're rolling the dice here, and it may require several cycles, but I hope not" proviso, on several occasions before. Most recently I got an LG Gram 2-In-1 Touch 16T90P-K.AAE7U1 16'' Intel Core i7-1165G7 16GB 512GB Win 11 machine for just under $450. The WiFi card was wonky, but I replaced it with an Edimax nano sized WiFi adapter after discussing it with the client. She was very pleased, as you couldn't come close to getting a machine specced like that at that price new or even used in most cases, as used ones were generally around $700 at the time of purchase. The seller did also give a $50 refund as well, as the description said "everything works." I don't think he was lying, either, if the testing was relatively short term. It was an odd, irregular, and unpredictable drop out of WiFi.

An i5-8th gen is "old" at this point, and if it were to run perfectly without any battery at all, using only the power adapter, it's hard to complain for $125.

True, but we do owe our clients some form of QA even if we give limited warranty (like a limited xx days doa)

A quick rundown on battery would have identified this issue early on and the decision could be made on whether to replace or if the use case didn't need it.

Just because the unit is bought as is, doesn't always mean the customers understand or agree with the logic, so some basic tests will be in order.

I found if I kept the same standard no matter where a unit was sourced, it kept my routine tight with few mishaps and kept clients happy compared to some of my co workers who had very, very lower standards.

 

[sapphirescales]

When I sell a refurbished laptop, I Explain to the client that the battery should work but that if it doesn't hold a good charge to let me know and I'll order them a new one for free. Unfortunately there's no way to know for sure whether the battery is OK or not and even if it does hold a good charge, it could all of a sudden take a nose dive with no warning a few months later. Your reputation is important. You want a reputation for selling quality refurbished computers, not used to junk. I make sure to tell them that a battery is a consumable product sort of like tires on a car. A car can be mechanically sound but have worn tires. In other words, just because their battery took a dump doesn't mean that the computer that I sold them is a piece of crap. I sell a lot of refurbished computers only 8th Gen or newer nowadays and I would say 10% of them come back to the shop within six months to have their batteries replaced for free.

 

[britechguy]

When I sell a refurbished laptop

If you are the refurbisher, that's one thing, and if you're not, but just acting as a purchasing agent, it's another. I am not the refurbisher, so I make clear to clients considering refurbished hardware that there is a difference between OEM refurbished, third-party refurbished, and simply used and "claimed to be fine."

But I agree that clients purchasing refurbished or used equipment need to be made aware of possible eventualities, and that battery death could be an early one if the battery in any laptop is more than 3 to 4 years old.

 

[sapphirescales]

acting as a purchasing agent

I've never done this. If they're paying me for a product then they're buying it from me and I'm going to have to warranty it. The only exception would be a brand new computer that has a manufacturer warranty. I don't understand how you could sell somebody something that's refurbished and then not stand behind it because you're merely the "purchaser."

 

[Markverhyden]

If you're buying from eBay, there is no QA process, really.

Certainly nothing from eBay. And in my book the ratings thing sellers is suspect as well. Couple of years ago I needed to buy replacement fans for a couple of Mac Mini's. So I tried an outfit that was in China. They advertised "new" so I figured they were tied to Foxconn somehow and was getting the real thing. I got the fans and they were used and broken. One was even split in half around the shroud. Seem to remember they were something like 4.5 out of 5 or something similar. While I did get my money back I'm done with buying eBay stuff from China. At least with Amazon they will eventually kick someone off the platform.

 

[GTP]

I needed to buy replacement fans for a couple of Mac Mini's. So I tried an outfit that was in China.

I don't want to turn this discussion into an "is ebay any good or not" discussion, but everything (except one item) I've bought on ebay (for myself - never for clients) has worked flawlessly.
I had a problem with a soldering torch and a quick email to the seller got me an instant refund. He was more concerned about me giving him a 4+ star rating than refunding the AU$38.00!

 

[GTP]

replacement fans

I bought a replacement fan for my Intel NUC about 4 years ago and still working to this day.
Cost was around AU$4.00 so good value.
I was surprised to see it was identical in every way as compared to the genuine one.
Even the sticker on it was identical except instead of having the "Intel" logo emblazoned on it it had "Sunni" lol.

 

[sapphirescales]

So I tried an outfit that was in China

That was the problem, not eBay. Knockoff Chinese stuff is garbage. No exceptions. They counterfeit EVERYTHING there so even if they claim it's "OEM/Genuine" it's guaranteed to be fake. I buy stuff from eBay all the time and I never have a problem. But I vet the seller before I buy from them. If they're from China, I nope out of there instantly. You have to check the seller's profile because they'll set up warehouses to peddle their cheap junk here in the US so that it says it's shipped from the US but it's still the same Chinese garbage.

Most recently I got a client in with an NUC unit with a bad CPU. Obviously that required replacing the whole board. Boards were like $200+ so I found an eBay seller that had the exact same model without an SSD or RAM for $50. All I did was put their existing SSD/RAM in the machine and swap the top and bottom covers. That was a cool $250 in profit.

eBay is the #1 place I go for parts. It's extremely rare to be ripped off there nowadays. I wouldn't recommend buying a still sealed $2,000 MacBook on there or whatever because it's probably a scam or stolen but when it comes to parts I've had very good luck. Buying whole systems is a mixed bag. I'd say the physical condition isn't as described at least 50% of the time, as in they show a nice, almost new looking unit then ship you something that looks like it's been run over by a car. A lot of times they don't even bother to tighten the hinge screws so the screen is flopping all over but that's a quick and easy fix. They hardly ever install Windows properly, as in they install it in BIOS instead of UEFI mode and it doesn't have any of the proper drivers. That's not a big deal either for someone like you or me but the point is, don't expect a perfect working computer without it needing some work. I certainly would never recommend a normal non-tech-savvy person buy a computer from there. I've bought a laptop from eBay on more than one occasion and when I get it, the hard drive is just flopping around loose in there because they didn't have a caddy and decided to use duct tape or something to keep it in. It's not good.

 

[timeshifter]

They hardly ever install Windows properly

Bought a business laptop that supposedly came with Windows Pro. While setting it up I discovered Home was installed. I figured they sold me a machine with a Home license and I'd have to buy a Pro license (or upgrade). I ended up just doing a clean install with a Pro disk and it installed and activated with no hiccups. Don't know how they managed to get Home installed and activated.

 

[timeshifter]

I guess the UEFI reading is wrong. Or there's another issue like

I think the issue is that you went into this not understanding the lifespan of these types of batteries. As Mark pointed out, 6 years is well beyond retirement age for a battery.

I've been using a Mac laptop as my daily driver for a long time. I buy AppleCare which extends the warranty to three years. On two different machines I've had the battery replaced for free as they reached the three year mark by Apple for free under that program. The batteries still worked but didn't last as well as they did in prior years, enough that they deemed they could be replaced. To expect any battery to perform at a reasonable level after 6 years is unreasonable.

My dad always preached that you should replace your car's battery every three years whether you think it was needed or not.

 

[sapphirescales]

Don't know how they managed to get Home installed and activated.

Yeah that happens too. They probably used an image and accidentally put Home on there instead of Pro. I use images and I've done this myself once or twice.

 

[Diggs]

If I questioned the battery on a laptop I was selling (and had time) I'd run Prime95 on it and walkaway for a bit. Usually weeded out the good from the bad battery packs pretty quick. (Let me hear the fans also.)I even had a brand new cheapy pack fail. Customer said they got it on Amazon.