I have an HP Laptop 15s-du1xxx that is about five or six years old. Its original battery had become unusable, dropping from nearly full to 20% in around ten minutes even during light schoolwork and web browsing. A service centre recently replaced it with a MaxGreen HT03XL internal battery advertised as premium quality. I also had 8 GB of RAM and new thermal paste installed, paying about 12,000 taka in total, including roughly 4,500 taka for the battery.
For the first two weeks, the replacement battery seemed fine and lasted around two to three hours unplugged. However, after about a month, its performance suddenly became terrible. It now falls from 100% to 20% in approximately 30 minutes.
Windows reports a design capacity of 40,937 mWh and a full-charge capacity of 29,665 mWh. HP diagnostics reports 3,610 mAh design capacity, 2,616 mAh full-charge capacity, and only eight cycles. The battery check still says it passed.
Could the battery be faulty, poorly calibrated, or lower quality than what I paid for? What should I check before returning to the service centre, and would this normally be covered by the battery warranty?
4 Answers
That kind of sudden drop is not normal, especially with only eight reported cycles. First, monitor battery usage in Windows or with a battery-monitoring utility to see whether a particular process is consuming power or whether the charge percentage is falling unusually quickly. If usage is ordinary, take it back under warranty and ask them to test the battery’s actual capacity rather than relying only on the percentage shown in Windows. Keep your receipt, warranty details, and screenshots of the battery reports so you have evidence.
Battery percentage readings can sometimes become inaccurate after a replacement. You can try calibrating it: charge it fully, leave it charging briefly, use the laptop until it reaches the manufacturer’s low-battery shutdown level, then charge it back to full without interruption. Follow HP’s calibration instructions and do this only occasionally, since repeatedly fully discharging a lithium battery is not ideal. If the real runtime remains around 30 minutes afterward, calibration was not the underlying problem.
Check Windows Battery usage and the power plan before assuming the battery is bad. High CPU usage, screen brightness, background updates, or a discrete graphics chip can reduce runtime. However, those factors usually cause a gradual or consistently short runtime, not a sudden change after several weeks. The service centre should still inspect the battery and charging system under warranty.
The reported full-charge capacity is already only about 72% of the design capacity, which is a significant loss for a recently installed battery. The diagnostic ‘passed’ result does not necessarily prove that the battery can deliver its rated runtime. Ask the service centre to compare it with a known-good compatible battery and confirm whether the replacement is covered by their warranty. That alone does not prove you were scammed, but a weak or defective replacement is certainly possible.
I’d avoid buying another battery immediately. Have them test or replace this one first, since replacing it again could make it harder to claim the original warranty.
It worked normally for about a month and only started doing this suddenly, so I’m leaning toward returning it rather than paying for another repair.