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
    2016-07-20T19:14:18+00:00

    I posted in another thread a while back about this and since then mine has even gotten worse.

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=4d1ef589-e6cc-4c48-b85d-880cfe832e3b)

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-20T17:11:17+00:00

    I have this issue as well.  I took it to the Microsoft store and the guy told me that it was my fault because I usually leave it plugged in to the port, and that a new battery would be $450.  I have had the Surface Pro 3 for 18 months and my cycle count is only 57!!!!  I am really surprised that Microsoft knows about this issue and hasn't offered a reasonable solution. 

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=d3b7ab44-3c59-4d5f-9bec-792687babf7c)

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-20T16:55:23+00:00

    I recently contacted Microsoft support with this issue as well. After extensive troubleshooting I was told that a $500 replacement was my only option I typically get 30 minutes to one hour of battery life.

    Battery Report

    COMPUTER NAME DARYLTABLET
    SYSTEM PRODUCT NAME Microsoft Corporation Surface Pro 3
    BIOS 3.11.1150 12/09/2015
    OS BUILD 10586.494.amd64fre.th2_release_sec.160630-1736
    PLATFORM ROLE Slate
    CONNECTED STANDBY Supported
    REPORT TIME 2016-07-2012:42:54

    Installed batteries

    Information about each currently installed battery

    NAME X898289
    MANUFACTURER SIMPLO
    SERIAL NUMBER 1167661572
    CHEMISTRY LION
    DESIGN CAPACITY 42,157 mWh
    FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 10,792 mWh
    CYCLE COUNT 459

    Battery capacity history

    Charge capacity history of the system's batteries

    2016-01-11 - 2016-01-25 40,260 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-25 - 2016-02-08 40,468 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-08 - 2016-02-14 40,491 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-14 - 2016-02-21 40,482 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-21 - 2016-02-29 40,546 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-29 - 2016-03-06 42,422 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-06 - 2016-03-13 41,210 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-13 - 2016-03-21 36,499 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-21 - 2016-03-27 33,948 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-27 - 2016-04-04 32,163 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-04 - 2016-04-11 31,199 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-11 - 2016-04-25 22,962 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-25 - 2016-05-02 17,691 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-02 - 2016-05-16 11,913 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-16 - 2016-05-23 10,420 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-23 - 2016-05-30 13,618 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-30 - 2016-06-06 15,493 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-06 - 2016-06-13 17,975 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-13 - 2016-06-20 22,584 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-20 - 2016-06-27 23,370 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-27 - 2016-07-04 20,495 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-04 - 2016-07-11 18,413 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-12 15,564 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-13 14,427 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-14 14,166 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-15 14,166 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-16 14,166 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-17 14,166 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-18 14,166 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-19 12,481 mWh 42,157 mWh

    Battery life estimates

    Battery life estimates based on observed drains

    2016-01-11 - 2016-01-25 3:54:27 90:06:34<br><br>18 % / 16 h 4:05:30 94:21:19<br><br>17 % / 16 h
    2016-01-25 - 2016-02-08 3:16:12 119:36:08<br><br>13 % / 16 h 3:24:23 124:35:38<br><br>13 % / 16 h
    2016-02-08 - 2016-02-14 3:21:49 106:33:22<br><br>15 % / 16 h 3:30:07 110:56:25<br><br>14 % / 16 h
    2016-02-14 - 2016-02-21 3:48:20 65:04:39<br><br>25 % / 16 h 3:57:47 67:46:13<br><br>24 % / 16 h
    2016-02-21 - 2016-02-29 3:58:49 66:21:09<br><br>24 % / 16 h 4:08:18 68:59:20<br><br>23 % / 16 h
    2016-02-29 - 2016-03-06 3:12:00 26:58:19<br><br>59 % / 16 h 3:10:48 26:48:12<br><br>60 % / 16 h
    2016-03-06 - 2016-03-13 - - - -
    2016-03-13 - 2016-03-21 4:27:03 105:21:12<br><br>15 % / 16 h 5:08:27 121:41:06<br><br>13 % / 16 h
    2016-03-21 - 2016-03-27 3:33:49 38:05:16<br><br>42 % / 16 h 4:25:31 47:17:52<br><br>34 % / 16 h
    2016-03-27 - 2016-04-04 3:43:42 24:48:55<br><br>64 % / 16 h 4:53:13 32:31:34<br><br>49 % / 16 h
    2016-04-04 - 2016-04-11 3:16:22 27:50:35<br><br>57 % / 16 h 4:25:20 37:37:21<br><br>43 % / 16 h
    2016-04-11 - 2016-04-25 2:12:54 64:27:17<br><br>25 % / 16 h 4:04:00 118:20:07<br><br>14 % / 16 h
    2016-04-25 - 2016-05-02 1:26:03 47:06:45<br><br>34 % / 16 h 3:25:04 112:16:02<br><br>14 % / 16 h
    2016-05-02 - 2016-05-16 0:52:34 11:09:41<br><br>143 % / 16 h 3:06:01 39:29:52<br><br>41 % / 16 h
    2016-05-16 - 2016-05-23 - - - -
    2016-05-23 - 2016-05-30 1:19:51 5:10:11<br><br>309 % / 16 h 4:07:12 16:00:16<br><br>100 % / 16 h
    2016-05-30 - 2016-06-06 1:42:58 81:51:36<br><br>20 % / 16 h 4:40:12 222:44:39<br><br>7 % / 16 h
    2016-06-06 - 2016-06-13 2:25:09 8:49:04<br><br>181 % / 16 h 5:40:26 20:40:50<br><br>77 % / 16 h
    2016-06-13 - 2016-06-20 1:56:10 15:14:50<br><br>105 % / 16 h 3:36:51 28:27:43<br><br>56 % / 16 h
    2016-06-20 - 2016-06-27 2:20:46 18:48:24<br><br>85 % / 16 h 4:13:56 33:55:31<br><br>47 % / 16 h
    2016-06-27 - 2016-07-04 2:18:47 56:50:48<br><br>28 % / 16 h 4:45:30 116:55:49<br><br>14 % / 16 h
    2016-07-04 - 2016-07-11 2:10:09 30:32:39<br><br>52 % / 16 h 4:58:00 69:55:55<br><br>23 % / 16 h
    2016-07-12 1:29:46 - 4:03:09 -
    2016-07-13 1:12:00 2:27:25<br><br>651 % / 16 h 3:30:25 7:10:48<br><br>223 % / 16 h
    2016-07-14 - - - -
    2016-07-15 - - - -
    2016-07-16 - - - -
    2016-07-17 - - - -
    2016-07-18 - - - -
    2016-07-19 1:03:18 10:25:35<br><br>153 % / 16 h 3:33:49 35:13:03<br><br>45 % / 16 h

    Current estimate of battery life based on all observed drains since OS install

    Since OS install 1:01:46 11:33:06<br><br>139 % / 16 h 4:01:18 45:07:31<br><br>35 % / 16 h

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-20T15:58:02+00:00

    Same for me. 507 cycles in total and since about 6 weeks battery capacity is decreasing rapidly to 22 Wh now. Continuing like that I won't be able to use my surface without power cord in 3-5 weeks. Hardware warranty until 02/2017, hope this also includes this battery problem and Microsoft will replace it without any fees.

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=8992b4ba-9c8b-4550-b608-1d74643f0fad)

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=6f7575b6-916a-45a8-b1cc-834828419525)

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