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
    2016-07-20T09:40:05+00:00

    In my case, the generated report does not show the actual battery capacity. It can be checked using external programs.

    ![](http://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=b0c87008-e995-48ca-a5f6-b71738edd8bb)

    COMPUTER NAME SURFACE
    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 2016-07-20 11:31:35

    Installed batteries

    Information about each currently installed battery

    NAME X898289
    MANUFACTURER SIMPLO
    SERIAL NUMBER 1163401732
    CHEMISTRY LION
    DESIGN CAPACITY mWh
    FULL CHARGE CAPACITY mWh
    CYCLE COUNT 85

    Recent usage

    Power states over the last 3 days

    2016-07-17 13:13:02 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    15:00:13 Active AC 100 % mWh
    15:00:42 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    2016-07-18 11:15:09 Suspended 100 % mWh
    11:33:40 Active AC 100 % mWh
    13:06:28 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    15:51:38 Active AC 100 % mWh
    16:10:00 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    16:24:43 Active AC 100 % mWh
    16:35:45 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    16:40:08 Active AC 100 % mWh
    17:25:29 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    19:54:18 Active AC 100 % mWh
    21:06:24 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    21:06:59 Active AC 100 % mWh
    22:35:00 Suspended 100 % mWh
    2016-07-19 10:42:53 Active AC 100 % mWh
    10:52:56 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    11:25:43 Active AC 100 % mWh
    14:43:42 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    15:06:29 Active AC 100 % mWh
    19:20:00 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    19:39:51 Active AC 100 % mWh
    21:39:00 Suspended 100 % mWh
    2016-07-20 10:46:19 Active AC 100 % mWh
    10:56:21 Connected standby AC 100 % mWh
    11:14:29 Active AC 100 % mWh
    11:31:00 Report generated AC 100 % mWh

    Battery usage

    Battery drains over the last 3 days

    - - - - -

    Usage history

    History of system usage on AC and battery

    2016-05-20 - 2016-05-27 0:22:58 0:01:45 61:10:33 16:22:00
    2016-05-27 - 2016-06-03 1:10:24 0:02:33 57:35:54 11:38:12
    2016-06-03 - 2016-06-10 1:06:54 0:01:36 58:16:25 5:15:05
    2016-06-10 - 2016-06-17 0:03:24 - 63:25:29 26:09:57
    2016-06-17 - 2016-06-24 1:02:06 0:32:45 69:37:44 34:45:53
    2016-06-24 - 2016-07-01 0:04:18 - 1:36:21 14:24:13
    2016-07-01 - 2016-07-08 - - - -
    2016-07-09 - - - -
    2016-07-10 - - - -
    2016-07-11 - - - -
    2016-07-12 - - - -
    2016-07-13 0:00:09 - 9:46:52 -
    2016-07-14 - - 10:50:12 0:38:36
    2016-07-15 - - 3:10:46 9:49:26
    2016-07-16 - - - 23:59:46
    2016-07-17 - - 0:00:29 23:59:17
    2016-07-18 - - 5:27:30 16:48:35
    2016-07-19 - - 9:40:30 1:15:23

    Battery capacity history

    Charge capacity history of the system's batteries

    2016-05-20 - 2016-05-27 mWh mWh
    2016-05-27 - 2016-06-03 mWh mWh
    2016-06-03 - 2016-06-10 mWh mWh
    2016-06-10 - 2016-06-17 mWh mWh
    2016-06-17 - 2016-06-24 mWh mWh
    2016-06-24 - 2016-07-01 mWh mWh
    2016-07-01 - 2016-07-08 mWh mWh
    2016-07-09 mWh mWh
    2016-07-10 mWh mWh
    2016-07-11 mWh mWh
    2016-07-12 mWh mWh
    2016-07-13 mWh mWh
    2016-07-14 mWh mWh
    2016-07-15 mWh mWh
    2016-07-16 mWh mWh
    2016-07-17 mWh mWh
    2016-07-18 mWh mWh
    2016-07-19 mWh mWh

    Battery life estimates

    Battery life estimates based on observed drains

    2016-05-20 - 2016-05-27 2:25:44 - 5:39:43 -
    2016-05-27 - 2016-06-03 1:34:52 2:03:04<br><br>780 % / 16 h 4:39:55 6:03:10<br><br>264 % / 16 h
    2016-06-03 - 2016-06-10 1:12:15 0:30:21<br><br>3163 % / 16 h 4:45:41 2:00:01<br><br>800 % / 16 h
    2016-06-10 - 2016-06-17 0:44:01 - 3:55:44 -
    2016-06-17 - 2016-06-24 0:33:40 3:02:04<br><br>527 % / 16 h 4:14:33 22:56:30<br><br>70 % / 16 h
    2016-06-24 - 2016-07-01 0:06:00 - 0:45:36 -
    2016-07-01 - 2016-07-08 - - - -
    2016-07-09 - - - -
    2016-07-10 - - - -
    2016-07-11 - - - -
    2016-07-12 - - - -
    2016-07-13 - - - -
    2016-07-14 - - - -
    2016-07-15 - - - -
    2016-07-16 - - - -
    2016-07-17 - - - -
    2016-07-18 - - - -
    2016-07-19 - - - -

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

    Since OS install 0:13:38 0:47:02<br><br>2041 % / 16 h 4:14:01 14:35:32<br><br>110 % / 16 h

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-20T08:59:06+00:00

    But let's not sink this thread, keep it active until Microsoft gives us a formal explanation.

    Agree 100% -- please keep posting new info and if you have access to feedback hub search for "Surface Pro 3 Battery Degradation" and up vote. :)

    Actually just searching for "Surface Pro 3 Battery" yields a high number of hits so looks like many are suffering from this but putting it down to recent Insider slow/fast ring builds.  I hope the Microsoft response of "we are aware" is our issue and not just battery life in general.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-20T07:48:19+00:00

    I'm still holding out hope that this might be firmware related, after all this has happened to Surface Pro 2 devices in the past:

    http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Fix-Surface-Pro-2-Plugged-In-Not-Charging-Error-412945.shtml

    I remember this because my wife has a Surface Pro 2 and it wouldn't charge after installing the December firmware so had to be permanently plugged in to use.  If the Surface Pro 3 firmware is preventing the device from charging but the system thinks it is charging then it might register as reduced capacity.

    The status of my battery is currently "97% available (plugged in, not charging) and it always seems to do that around the 95% mark.

    I know, glass half full view of the situation...

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