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wdrbbq · May 4, 2011, 01:39 PM

I have an Acer Aspire 5517 laptop. Every so often I notice the blue battery status light turns amber although it's continuously plugged in. When I check the charge level in the system tray I see that it's around 97% charged. It continues to charge until fully charged and the amber light returns to blue. I would say this occurs about once a month. Here's my question: Is this normal cycling or could something be wrong?

cmeeks · May 5, 2011, 08:13 AM

Keeping a laptop plugged in all the time is not good for the battery. Normal charge and discharge cycles do eventually lessen the compatibility of batteries, but this is preferable over a constant charge. I am a heavy user of my laptops 8-12 hours a day and have found that depleting the battery to les than 20% before charging gets me the best usable lifespan on my batteries. As batteries get better you have to be less cautious of your charging routine however there is no such thing as a memory free battery. Also now more and more batteries are smart or have circuits that communicate with the laptop (Apple is one) constant charging can be interpited as a failed battery by these systems.

wdrbbq · May 5, 2011, 12:57 PM

So, is this normal or not?

XOXOlove · May 5, 2011, 08:52 PM

You shouldn't leave the laptop plugged in continuously. Doing so kills your battery after a while. I used to do the same thing with my laptop and had to replace the battery after a year.

The light may indicate that you need a new battery soon. You could check the Acer site for a battery test tool or check to see if you have one installed on your computer already. If you can't find one call Acer and have them test the battery. They can probably guide you through it or just do it for you if you give them your laptop model number and info.

wdrbbq · May 6, 2011, 03:10 AM

I think people are missing the point and it's at least partially my fault. This laptop was purchased new a year and a half ago. It has done this about once per month from day 1. It is not a new "problem" and I have seen no negative effects. It is occasionally run off the battery, sometimes right down to no charge at all and runs as long now as ever on a full charge. Perhaps I shouldn't have said it was plugged in all the time. That was meant to mean that when it's at home it's always on the charger. It does spend time at work and it's running off the battery then. Sorry if I misled anyone. I only wanted to know if it's built into the laptop to periodically partially drain and recharge automatically. When this happens it begins at 97% and charges until it reaches 100%, usually less than five minutes. This won't be repeated for about a month. Just want to know if it's intended by the manufacturer.
If you're wondering why I don't go to Acer's web site, it's because I get shuffled off to a forum where I must sift through hundreds of Frequently Asked Questions to make sure it hasn't been asked already instead of simply allowing me to ask the question. Ridiculous.

XOXOlove · May 7, 2011, 04:46 PM

In that case, there probably isn't anything wrong with it. If it happens once a month I'm guessing it's just some type of cycle. If there was something wrong with the battery ever since you got, it probably would have died by now.

wdrbbq · May 8, 2011, 04:24 AM

Thank you XOXOlove. That's what I think also. It's been a year and a half since I bought it new. I have noticed this monthly drain and recharge since it was new and seeing it happen again moved me to ask the question. Every time I notice the amber light I check the charge level and it's always at least 97% and takes about ten minutes to come up to 100%. Over the time I've owned it I have run on the battery alone quite often and I can say that I've not noticed any decrease in the time I get from a full charge.
I had hoped to get a definitive answer directly from Acer but of course it can't be as easy as that. I just want to add that I wish more sites were like this one, where you can simply ask a question and get answers from knowledgeable people without having reams of Frequently Asked Questions thrust in your face to pore through after clicking the link, "Contact Us", which turns out to be an outright lie. They seem to only be interested in questions that have already been asked. Too many sites, namely manufacturer's sites, take great measures to assure that you can't actually ask them a question, or when you do, as in the case of Microsoft, you get someone whose main interest is establishing that your problem can't possibly be their fault and point fingers at everyone else. Now, before I download anything new I go to the manufacturer's site and see if I can simply talk to them. If not, I won't download what they're selling. To me, a frequently asked question means that you should do more to put the answer out there so it doesn't have to be asked in the first place. Thanks again.