Surface Pro 3 short battery life

My SP3 only lasts around 4.5 hours when I am browsing the internet and at around 50% brightness.

My average CPU consumption during this activity is around 5-10%.

Not enough activity for even the fan to be running.

By browsing I mean, reading articles. Not even watching any videos or looking at graphic heavy sites.

This problem has persisted since I brought the device, as you can see in the reports below

I ran the powercfg reports and you can find them here: http://1drv.ms/1ezoXOp

This is the my example session have the above use case:

10:45:00	Active	Battery	100 %	41,777 mWh
11:21:18	Connected standby	Battery	86 %	35,773 mWh
11:34:08	Active	Battery	85 %	35,416 mWh
11:53:39	Connected standby	Battery	77 %	32,087 mWh
11:53:47	Active	Battery	77 %	32,080 mWh
14:01:10	Connected standby	Battery	12 %	5,221 mWh
14:02:00	Active	Battery	12 %	5,191 mWh
14:02:26	Active	AC	12 %	5,092 mWh
14:06:00	Report generated	AC	14 %	6,057 mWh

Some important points:

• I have the i5 256gb model.
• All updates have been installed.
• I have tried all the basic power management techniques and I am writing this after extensive self-help
• I try to keep my software stack lean.
• I already contacted Microsoft chat support and that was the most useless experience ever.

I purchased the S3 Pro in November and have being experiencing low battery after maybe 1.5 to 2 hours max of usage. I ran a check using the windows powercfg command to generate a report which included the following error and warnings.

Can you help me to determine if there is something I can do to resolve this problem? 

CPU Utilisation:Processor utilisation is high

The average processor utilisation during the trace was high. The system will consume less power when the average processor utilisation is very low. Review processor utilisation for individual processes to determine which applications and services contribute the most to total processor utilisation.

Average Utilisation (%)	48.27

Warnings

USB Suspend:USB Device Rarely Entering Selective Suspend

This device intermittently entered the USB Selective Suspend state during the trace. Processor power management may be prevented when this USB device is not in the Selective Suspend state. Note that this issue will not prevent the system from sleeping.

Device Name	USB Input Device
Host Controller ID	PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_9C31
Host Controller Location	PCI bus 0, device 20, function 0
Device ID	USB\VID_045E&PID_07DC
Port Path	3
Time Suspended (%)	16

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	WmiPrvSE.exe
PID	6168
Average Utilisation (%)	37.95
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll	17.67
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\System32\KernelBase.dll	14.98
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\System32\cfgmgr32.dll	3.84

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	rundll32.exe
PID	2136
Average Utilisation (%)	0.82
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.37
\SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\cmdguard.sys	0.10
\SystemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll	0.07

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	chrome.exe
PID	5996
Average Utilisation (%)	0.49
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\40.0.2214.111\chrome.dll	0.32
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.07
\SystemRoot\System32\win32k.sys	0.02

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	chrome.exe
PID	6668
Average Utilisation (%)	0.44
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\40.0.2214.111\chrome_child.dll	0.32
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.04
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll	0.02

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	System
PID	4
Average Utilisation (%)	0.39
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.24
\SystemRoot\system32\hal.dll	0.03
\SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrvlpcie8897.sys	0.02

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	cavwp.exe
PID	6008
Average Utilisation (%)	0.38
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Program Files\COMODO\COMODO Internet Security\scanners\pe.cav	0.16
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Program Files\COMODO\COMODO Internet Security\scanners\unpack.cav	0.14
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Program Files\COMODO\COMODO Internet Security\scanners\script.cav	0.01

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	chrome.exe
PID	7048
Average Utilisation (%)	0.36
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.17
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\40.0.2214.111\libglesv2.dll	0.06
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\40.0.2214.111\chrome_child.dll	0.03

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	explorer.exe
PID	7620
Average Utilisation (%)	0.36
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\SystemRoot\System32\win32k.sys	0.12
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.12
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\explorer.exe	0.02

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	svchost.exe
PID	540
Average Utilisation (%)	0.24
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.11
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll	0.02
\Windows\System32\wer.dll	0.02

CPU Utilisation:Individual process with significant processor utilisation.

This process is responsible for a significant portion of the total processor utilisation recorded during the trace.

Process Name	dwm.exe
PID	5832
Average Utilisation (%)	0.23
Module	Average Module Utilisation (%)
\SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe	0.07
\Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\System32\dwmcore.dll	0.04
\SystemRoot\System32\win32k.sys	0.02

Information

Platform Timer Resolution:Platform Timer Resolution

The default platform timer resolution is 15.6 ms (15625000 ns) and should be used whenever the system is idle. If the timer resolution is increased, processor power management technologies may not be effective. The timer resolution may be increased due to multimedia playback or graphical animations.

Current Timer Resolution (100 ns units)	156251

Power Policy:Active Power Plan

The current power plan in use

Plan Name	OEM Balanced
Plan GUID	{381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e}

Power Policy:Power Plan Personality (On Battery)

The personality of the current power plan when the system is on battery power.

Personality	Balanced

Power Policy:Video Quality (On Battery)

Enables Windows Media Player to optimise for quality or power savings when playing video.

Quality Mode	Balance Video Quality and Power Savings

Power Policy:Power Plan Personality (Plugged In)

The personality of the current power plan when the system is plugged in.

Personality	Balanced

Power Policy:802.11 Radio Power Policy is Maximum Performance (Plugged In)

The current power policy for 802.11-compatible wireless network adapters is not configured to use low-power modes.

Power Policy:Video quality (Plugged In)

Enables Windows Media Player to optimise for quality or power savings when playing video.

Quality Mode	Optimise for Video Quality

System Availability Requests:Analysis Success

Analysis was successful. No energy efficiency problems were found. No information was returned.

Battery:Battery Information

Battery ID	291ESDIX863568
Manufacturer	SDI
Serial Number	291E
Chemistry	LION
Long Term	1
Sealed	0
Cycle Count	48
Design Capacity	42157
Last Full Charge	41146

Platform Power Management Capabilities:Supported Sleep States

Sleep states allow the computer to enter low-power modes after a period of inactivity. The S3 sleep state is the default sleep state for Windows platforms. The S3 sleep state consumes only enough power to preserve memory contents and allow the computer to resume working quickly. Very few platforms support the S1 or S2 Sleep states.

S1 Sleep Supported	false
S2 Sleep Supported	false
S3 Sleep Supported	false
S4 Sleep Supported	true

Platform Power Management Capabilities:Connected Standby Support

Connected standby allows the computer to enter a low-power mode in which it is always on and connected. If supported, connected standby is used instead of system sleep states.

Connected Standby Supported	true

Platform Power Management Capabilities:Adaptive Display Brightness is supported.

This computer enables Windows to automatically control the brightness of the integrated display.

Platform Power Management Capabilities:Processor Power Management Capabilities

Effective processor power management enables the computer to automatically balance performance and energy consumption.

Group	0
Index	0
Idle State Count	11
Idle State Type	Micro Power Engine Plug-in
Nominal Frequency (MHz)	2501
Maximum Performance Percentage	100
Lowest Performance Percentage	30
Lowest Throttle Percentage	3
Performance Controls Type	ACPI Performance (P) / Throttle (T) States

Platform Power Management Capabilities:Processor Power Management Capabilities

Effective processor power management enables the computer to automatically balance performance and energy consumption.

Group	0
Index	1
Idle State Count	11
Idle State Type	Micro Power Engine Plug-in
Nominal Frequency (MHz)	2501
Maximum Performance Percentage	100
Lowest Performance Percentage	30
Lowest Throttle Percentage	3
Performance Controls Type	ACPI Performance (P) / Throttle (T) States

Platform Power Management Capabilities:Processor Power Management Capabilities

Effective processor power management enables the computer to automatically balance performance and energy consumption.

Group	0
Index	2
Idle State Count	11
Idle State Type	Micro Power Engine Plug-in
Nominal Frequency (MHz)	2501
Maximum Performance Percentage	100
Lowest Performance Percentage	30
Lowest Throttle Percentage	3
Performance Controls Type	ACPI Performance (P) / Throttle (T) States

Platform Power Management Capabilities:Processor Power Management Capabilities

Effective processor power management enables the computer to automatically balance performance and energy consumption.

Group	0
Index	3
Idle State Count	11
Idle State Type	Micro Power Engine Plug-in
Nominal Frequency (MHz)	2501
Maximum Performance Percentage	100
Lowest Performance Percentage	30
Lowest Throttle Percentage	3
Performance Controls Type	ACPI Performance (P) / Throttle (T) States

Device Drivers:Analysis Success

Analysis was successful. No energy efficiency problems were found. No information was returned.

Hi,

Just purchased a new Corei5 126gb Surface Pro3

The battery is draining more than I was led to expect... In ten minutes of web browsing only with no other programs in the background I have lost 10% of my battery...

In addition with the same usage the top right corner is already exceptionally hot!

I assume there's is something wrong.. but what? Is there a way to find out if one program is running inappropriately in the background causing both problems. Task Manager says no.

Need answers

Jon

I experience the same when streaming videos on YouTube or using Netflix. I've never really officially timed it but it seems like it only lasts about 4 hours. I haven't tried video playback from a file locally on the device itself (without streaming). I think the majority of what I do on the Surface is web-based (streaming video or web surfing), so if using Wifi is what is draining the battery then maybe that is the source of our problems.

Unless both of us have defective units... :-(

Hi Jeff, 

I am using Chrome 40.0.2214.28 beta-m (64-bit). 

I was not using Chromecast, I was just plugged into a HDMI cable. 

Are there other things that you could see from my usage that could be a batter killer? I will definitely try IE next time and see how that impacts things.