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
    2016-07-19T23:38:25+00:00

    I encourage everyone having this problem to document everything, run your battery report, and stay persistent.  I had exactly the same problem.  My battery had degraded to the point that my computer couldn't even power on.  My battery report indicated that the degradation started just two days before warranty expired, but I didn't notice it until a couple of months later.  Be persistent and factual with Microsoft.  I just received a replacement device at no charge.  I believe that is very fair.  It's working fine for now.   They need to be aware of this widespread problem.   PERSIST!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-19T23:38:14+00:00

    I noticed this problem over the weekend, then saw the article from Windows Central and followed it here.  It's nice that Microsoft says to contact them, but provides NO method of doing so without a $99 charge.  

    Here is my data:

    Installed batteries

    Information about each currently installed battery

    NAME X898289
    MANUFACTURER SIMPLO
    SERIAL NUMBER 1166809604
    CHEMISTRY LION
    DESIGN CAPACITY 42,157 mWh
    FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 7,760 mWh
    CYCLE COUNT 369
    2016-05-15 - 2016-05-22 42,583 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-22 - 2016-05-29 41,465 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-29 - 2016-06-05 38,655 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-05 - 2016-06-12 33,141 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-12 - 2016-06-19 27,537 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-19 - 2016-06-26 21,820 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-26 - 2016-07-03 17,900 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-04 15,656 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-05 15,656 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-06 15,656 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-07 15,656 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-08 15,656 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-09 13,769 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-10 12,049 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-11 10,926 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-12 10,260 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-13 10,260 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-14 9,682 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-15 8,688 mWh 42,157 mWh

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-19T23:25:06+00:00

    15 months after purchase of a premium product complete battery dead, but one thing keeps nagging at me - was I suckered - I paid £1200 for my SP3 i7/256 - but an out of warranty complete replacement was £400. Now I don't know how it works, but I am guessing that the true cost price to Microsoft is £400, after all an "out of warranty replacement" includes things like a broken screen, struck by lightening etc. I don't believe there is any attempt to repair the returned devices, nor to strip them for parts. If I spend £1200 on an HP laptop I expect £800 to be in the device at least.

    I feel abused, and now I am out for the surface brand. Make them fixable, Make them better value for money or don't make them anymore.

    COMPUTER NAME SURFACE1
    SYSTEM PRODUCT NAME Microsoft Corporation Surface Pro 3
    BIOS 3.11.1150 12/09/2015
    OS BUILD 10586.306.amd64fre.th2_release_sec.160422-1850
    PLATFORM ROLE Slate
    CONNECTED STANDBY Supported
    REPORT TIME 2016-06-0412:02:
    NAME X898289
    MANUFACTURER SIMPLO
    SERIAL NUMBER 1160976900
    CHEMISTRY LION
    DESIGN CAPACITY 42,157 mWh
    FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 2,622 mWh
    CYCLE COUNT 513

    Battery capacity history

    Charge capacity history of the system's batteries

    2015-12-21 - 2015-12-28 39,940 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2015-12-28 - 2016-01-04 40,136 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-04 - 2016-01-11 40,245 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-11 - 2016-01-18 40,323 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-18 - 2016-01-25 41,064 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-01-25 - 2016-02-01 41,240 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-01 - 2016-02-08 42,239 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-08 - 2016-02-15 42,583 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-15 - 2016-02-22 42,465 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-22 - 2016-02-29 42,583 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-02-29 - 2016-03-07 42,583 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-07 - 2016-03-14 42,583 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-14 - 2016-03-21 42,552 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-21 - 2016-03-28 39,796 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-03-28 - 2016-04-04 37,406 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-04 - 2016-04-11 34,213 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-11 - 2016-04-18 30,085 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-18 - 2016-04-25 26,110 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-25 - 2016-05-02 22,357 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-02 - 2016-05-09 18,057 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-09 - 2016-05-16 14,533 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-16 - 2016-05-23 9,301 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-24 6,240 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-25 6,066 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-26 5,685 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-27 5,685 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-28 5,566 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-29 5,457 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-30 5,457 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-31 5,457 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-01 5,457 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-02 5,457 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-03 3,919 mWh 42,157 mWh

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-19T23:24:04+00:00

    This would be the typical issue people are having with the Simplo batteries.  Not the issue I'm having.  I've only lost about 1% of battery degradation as per the picture I posted.

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