How to Identify and Fix the Causes of your Laptop’s Fast Draining Battery?

If you are concerned about your laptop’s draining battery, you must first try and identify the reasons, before contemplating a fix. While there can be many reasons for the same, you should first try and make out the brand-specific problems before proceeding. Next, you must try and use the device in the power saver mode for a while to see the improvements that follow. 

However, if the battery issues continue to persist even after following a brand-specific remedial approach, it might just be the time to look inwards for the problem. Plus, you should even ascertain the nature of the drain before moving ahead with the fixes. For instance, certain laptops discharge within an hour or two despite promising over 6 hours of back whereas some drop dead the moment you unplug the charger.

But then, if you are concerned about the second reason, replacing the entire battery pack might be the best way forward. For anything else, here are the steps to first identify the root cause and eventually determine the patch-ups.

Why is your Laptop Battery draining so fast?

Before planning a way out, it is necessary to first address the elephant in the room, i.e., the actual reason for the battery drain. Here are some of the most common and disconcerting causes that might be haunting your state of productivity:

• If you are doing everything right and still seeing the battery counter go down at an alarming pace, check for the devices connected to the USB ports and try to unplug as many as possible
• If you frequently use the keyboard’s backlit functionality, you might experience quick and uncalled battery depletion
• If your laptop has several programs installed with a majority of them loading at the startup, you might end up looking at several untoward battery concerns
• If you have erratic wireless connections to deal with, including slow wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, battery exhaustion can be quite common
• If you prefer keeping the screen brightness at its highest level, you might have to watch the battery go down, almost distressingly
• If your laptop has an optical drive for CDs and DVDs, the pressure exerted on the machine on deployment is almost unnerving, which then hits the battery life hard. 

While these are some of the more pronounced reasons, battery depletion and quick-draining can also be attributed to driver issues, malware, and other elementary problems.

What are the best ways to Fix Battery Issues?

Now that you are aware of the common battery-specific issues, it is time to look at the solutions to scale beyond the same:

• Configure Power Settings

Use this strategy to ensure that your laptop uses the stored energy more prudently. Once you open Settings and reach out for the ‘System’ menu, you will find a ‘Power and Sleep’ tab. This section allows you to modify the sleep habits, screen time factors, and other aspects of device usage. A good head start would be to turn the auto-sleep mode on, in case the laptop remains inactive for a few minutes. 

• Adjust Brightness

Arguably the simplest strategy to stop the battery from draining profusely, a minor brightness adjustment can go a long way in keeping the entire device more performant. You can simply toggle the levels using the function keys or head over to the Settings tab, access System modes, and click on Display to modulate the same, as per preferences. 

• Fix the Wireless Connections

Staying connected to the wireless network can hit the battery hard. Therefore, if you do not have the charger plugged in and there is no need for you to be connected to the internet at the given time, it is better to turn the Wi-Fi off. Also, if you have Bluetooth devices connected to the laptop, like a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard, do consider switching back to standard on-device resources, if in the battery preservation mode.

• Disable Keyboard Backlit

Even if your keyboard supports backlighting, it might be wise to get a rain check on the same, especially if you are operating the laptop on stored juice. Disabling backlit support is quite easy as you can simply access the ‘Mouse and Keyboard settings and do the needful.

• Get Rid of the Peripherals

If you are serious about stemming the alarming battery erosion, it is better to unplug all the peripherals from the laptop, including the USB connectors, external keyboards, data hubs, existing discs if the laptop has an optical drive and almost anything else that derives power from the notebook. But then, hasty removals aren’t suggested as you need to right-click on the concerned icon and click disconnect before pulling the devices out.

• Stop Specific Processes

Every laptop keeps running a truckload of processes, without being all loud about it. However, not every process is essential and therefore, can be terminated to put a lid on the depleting power reserves. You can access the processes by activating the task manager and ending the unwanted processes in a few clicks. 

• Keep the Laptop Temperature in Control

If the laptop starts overheating, it can cause a cascading throttling effect that can make the battery drain at an expedited rate. Therefore, it is advisable to plug in a cooling pad to ensure improved heat dissipation and keep the throttling effects to a minimum.

Should you even Try to Charge the Laptop Differently?

While you can follow each of the aforementioned steps to improve battery life and stem the erosion, as a user you might even consider better charging habits to make the battery last longer in time. Here are some of the strategies that you can follow to ensure that the battery is charged, rather perfectly:

• No need to wait for the battery to drain completely before plugging in the charger
• You are free to keep using the laptop while it is being charged
• However, if the battery is fully charged, kindly unplug the charger, and wait for the laptop to drain a bit before plugging it in, again
• Always use the laptop immediately after it has been charged

Each of the mentioned strategies, along with battery-saving techniques can go a long way in keeping the power reserves in top-notch condition, whilst maintaining a balance between laptop performance and battery life. However, if you find it hard to implement any of the mentioned strategies, you can reach out to me, and I will surely assist you better.