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
    2016-07-14T18:10:46+00:00

    My wife's Surface Pro 3 is about 18 months old, and we have seen the battery life just tank on it in the last 3 months.  Running powercfg /batteryreport shows the following:

    Installed Batteries

    NAME X898289
    MANUFACTURER SIMPLO
    SERIAL NUMBER 1162811908
    CHEMISTRY LION
    DESIGN CAPACITY 42,157 mWh
    FULL CHARGE CAPACITY 144 mWh
    CYCLE COUNT 130

    Battery capacity history

    2016-04-17 - 2016-04-24 19,698 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-04-24 - 2016-05-01 15,069 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-01 - 2016-05-08 12,148 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-08 - 2016-05-15 10,091 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-15 - 2016-05-22 7,678 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-22 - 2016-05-29 5,717 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-05-29 - 2016-06-05 4,091 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-05 - 2016-06-12 2,770 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-12 - 2016-06-19 1,077 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-19 - 2016-06-26 551 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-27 502 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-28 272 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-29 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-06-30 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-01 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-02 144 mWh 42,157 mWh
    2016-07-03 144 mWh 42,157 mWh

    From searching this forum, it looks like Microsoft has a serious issue with these Surface Pro 3 batteries, specifically the SIMPLO model.  I spoke with support today, and even referenced the Reddit post that other's have found about the $200 replacement for batteries, and they did not budge off their position that it would be $450 + tax to exchange this unit out of warranty.  And they could provide no more than a 90-day warranty on the new replacement, no thank you!

    If they were an auto manufacturer, they would be forced to do a recall!  Looks like its time to shop elsewhere for a replacement system, one that is actually serviceable.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-14T07:04:43+00:00

    In my case, the tablet runs on battery only 1-2 minutes. It is practically unusable on the battery.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-14T02:15:55+00:00

    I have exactly the same problem: my surface pro 3 is one year old: and lately, since the last month i would say, the battery is running low faster and faster.. - I can now not work on battery for not even 2 hours  and i have the idea that each time it is shorter and shorter;...

    Trust me. It will be dead soon!

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-14T02:06:45+00:00

    HelloKridsada Thanabulpong,

    Thank you for reaching out to the Surface community. Sorry to hear you are having issues with your battery. If you do in fact have a hardware issue it would be a Warranty/Service related issue that you would have to contact Assisted Support to resolve if you do not have a Microsoft Store in your country. However, to try to determine what is going on with your Surface's battery please follow the troubleshooting steps in this link.

    Please reply with what steps you've tried and what the results were.

    Best Regards

    I have tried, and I think most of the people complaining of this issue have also tried the troubleshooting steps. The "trouble" is with the Microsoft product. We want our batteries replaced at no costs! It's ridiculous and unheard of for a battery to go out on a device 12-18 months from the date of purchase. MS should be ashamed and embarrassed, as opposed to encouraging us to pay $99 for customer service that will tell us to mail our Surface's in so we can buy a battery from you!

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