Surface Pro 3 battery degradation

Anonymous
2016-05-11T07:37:37+00:00

I've been using Microsoft Surface Pro 3 for a year, and shortly after the warranty expired I noticed my Surface Pro 3 can only last about 1-2 hours after a full charge. At first I thought this was a problem with background process draining the battery so I disabled everything running in the background. It didn't helped. Then I found out about the powercfg utility and run powercfg /batteryreport on it, and this was the result:

A full charge capacity has degraded by over 80% in just few weeks and continue degrading. I tried to "recalibrate" the battery by doing full charge then full drain multiple times, and it didn't helped. Talk with Microsoft via chat support and they insist this was a software problem and reinstalled the driver and asked me to wait few days to see if things improve. Not only it didn't improved, but now my Surface can only last 30 minutes.

Few days after chat (today), I called Microsoft support and they were being extremely unhelpful. Insist that this was a software problem (which the chat support person already did) and it's "perfectly normal" for battery capacity to degrade. I insist that I've already done the software "fixes" and it didn't work and tell them this is definitely hardware problem, but the person on the phone tell me there's nothing I could do except to order the out of warranty exchange (which cost about $560 in my local currency). 

Is there anything else I should do? My country has no Microsoft Store which I could take the machine for them to take a look. Phone/online support were the only option, and none of them could understand the issue.

Surface | Surface Pro | Power and battery

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Anonymous
2016-07-26T21:31:16+00:00

Hello everyone,

Thanks for your continued patience here. We have now completed our testing of the update and it has passed our quality assurance process.

The update, “System Firmware Update - 8/29/2016”, is now available to install from Windows Update.

Before installing this update, ensure that your Surface Pro 3 is plugged directly in to AC power using the standard AC power adapter (do not use the Surface Docking Station), disconnect any USB devices or external monitors, and check that Windows shows a 40% charge or greater when you hover over the icon in the taskbar before you begin.

Once you install the update, please select Restart now (do not shutdown). After your Surface restarts, please manually restart it a second time to complete the process. For more information, please see our Surface Pro 3 Battery FAQ article.

If you’re having trouble charging your Surface, you get a low-battery error, or your Surface turns off when you unplug it, the steps in our Surface battery won’t charge article can help you pinpoint the problem. Should you need any further assistance, please contact us. 

Thanks again.

Greg

Updated 8/29/16.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-07-26T04:41:01+00:00

    Let me woefully add my Surface Pro 3 into the pile of devices with a failed SIMPLO Battery.  

    With a designed capacity at 42,157 mWh, my SP3 now it sits at a 100% full charge capacity of 144 mWh.  It doesn't last long enough to unplug and move, as it powers off instantly.  144mWh with 187 cycles is a battery running at 0.34% battery life.

    This is without a doubt on the way to class action... and "offering" to fix the problem out of warranty for $450 and a 2 week wait is downright ridiculous.  Microsoft... wake up. Start working with us, rather than stonewalling us behind pay support choices that shouldn't be our only avenue of resolution for an obvious material and design failure.

    2016-03-28 - 2016-04-03 40,060 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-03 - 2016-04-11 35,707 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-11 - 2016-04-18 31,897 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-18 - 2016-04-25 38,340 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-25 - 2016-05-03 36,660 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-03 - 2016-05-11 19,304 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-11 - 2016-05-16 15,121 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-16 - 2016-05-24 12,225 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-24 - 2016-05-30 8,019 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-30 - 2016-06-06 6,829 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-06 - 2016-06-13 4,308 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-13 - 2016-06-20 4,226 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-20 - 2016-06-27 4,226 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-27 - 2016-07-04 4,226 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-04 - 2016-07-11 504 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-11 - 2016-07-18 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-19 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-20 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-21 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-22 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-23 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-24 144 mWh 42,157 mWh

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-26T04:21:23+00:00

    Kudos! I think this is a great idea to share the word out. Maybe should write in for the SP4 reviews as well.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-26T03:28:43+00:00

    So trying to get any answers online, outside of warranty you have to pay $99 just to talk to someone. Argh. Has anyone gone to a physical MS store and tried to chat up any of the reps there? I doubt they would know much, but I might give it a try. I have a store closeby at the Mall of America where I bought the machine 17 months ago, so maybe I will take it down there and show them what is going on. What do you guys think?

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-26T02:55:47+00:00

    Here's mine:

     ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=2277f58b-1ad2-425d-800e-63b25a409871)

    Serial number is removed because I have been posting this pic in a lot of other places too.

    But this is just not right.  This device is supposed to be portable but mine will not work unless it is plugged into the wall at this point.  The second power is removed it will shut off.  A surface is almost pointless if it is not portable.

    I paid a lot of money for this device because I thought it was built with quality and customer service in mind, but it is clear neither of those are true.  There is no way I would have bought this thing if I knew the battery would be completely dead in less than two years (and only 5 months out of warranty).  And if I knew back then and had the option, I would have made sure it did not have the SIMPLO battery in it.

    This is clearly a defect from the factory.  I really hope that Microsoft does the right thing with this one.

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