What is the meaning of mAh difference for same model battery?

ketanco

Member
I have an 8 year old Asus 73S computer and its battery is like this:



Model: A32-K72 10.8V 5200mAh 56Wh



I saw a battery on internet, as follows



Model: Same as above. 10.8V 4400mAh 48Wh



Although same model it has lower mAh and Wh as you see.



What difference does it make, when mAh and Wh is different? It will not harm my computer right?

And of course this is not from original manufacturer and they only give 6 months warranty, and after that what is your opinion? Big difference in price between original and not original.
 

_Pete_

Active Member
From Google. mAh means milliamp Hour and is a unit that measures (electric) power over time. It is commonly used to measure the energy capacity of a battery. In general, the more mAh and the longer the battery capacity or battery life.

Take it with a pinch of salt. It depends to a great extent on usage.
 

ketanco

Member
so this 4400mAh 48Wh will not harm my computer right? I rarely unplug my laptop anyway, %95 of the time it is on my desk , adapter plugged so longer battery time does not mean much for me, but right now my battery is dying in 5 seconds if i unplug it.. it is that old, so i must replace it
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
My suggestion is stay with a name brand if ya can. Off brand is surely a fire hazard.
The power supply you picked will work. amps an volts are ok. I dont like the idea of
leaving the power supply plugged in constant.
 

ketanco

Member
okay thanks for the answers. i bought the battery, it arrived and i am using it since yesterday, so far no problems but of course its running time is less than the original battery when the original battery was new, which is not a big deal for me as i use it like a desktop almost always.

now here is another question about this. i looked at the user manual of battery and it says the following, but they may be generic wording so please comment:

-charge the battery for 8 hours when computer is off before using it first time. this will enable the cells of the battery to open

-minimum 2-3 times a week, consume the battery until the the computer brings itself to sleep mode

-if the computer will be plugged more than 3 hours, remove the battery from its slot after it is charged 100%. Long time plugged in usage causes heating and harms cells inside the battery

-Li-ion batteries can be charged 400-500 times at full capacity. After this, their performance drop

Please comment on these - do they make sense? especially the 3 hour item
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
that applies to a good battery. yours is dead because ya didn't maintain properly.
Overcharging and using the battery and running down to zero volts. If ya buy a new
battery then maintain it properly. and by a name brand battery. i would just take the battery out
and use the power supply at this time.
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
they only give 6 months warranty

Which battery did you purchase, where did you purchase, and for how much? A quick search shows $20 to $50 replacement batteries with a 1-year warranty.

-charge the battery for 8 hours when computer is off before using it first time. this will enable the cells of the battery to open

-minimum 2-3 times a week, consume the battery until the the computer brings itself to sleep mode

-if the computer will be plugged more than 3 hours, remove the battery from its slot after it is charged 100%. Long time plugged in usage causes heating and harms cells inside the battery

-Li-ion batteries can be charged 400-500 times at full capacity. After this, their performance drop

This is atypical of newer Lithium-ion batteries; sounds as if it's an older style Li-ion, it's not a Li-ion, or it's super cheap. But if the manual states not to overcharge, then don't overcharge. Operate the laptop without the battery when at home and fully charged.

that applies to a good battery. yours is dead because ya didn't maintain properly.

He purchased a new one.
 

ketanco

Member
i had bought the computer (and its battery) 8 years ago when i was in the US.... now I am in Turkey. I bought it from one of online shopping sites here. The battery came to about a little less than $20. (with 6 months warranty from a decent online seller of computer parts)

thanks for the replies. my old original battery (8 year old) lost its capacity about 3 years ago i think it was because of i never did the unplugging thing, and left it plugged for months sometimes.

as for performance report with my new battery, i got a little over 2 hours of run time, with normal usage, and my screen is 17".

BUT one negative thing was, it seemed to drain normally down to about %15, then suddenly went to about %7 and then it put itself to sleep ... i had to plug it in to turn it on again, which it turned on normally (not like from irregular shut down ) i was waiting it would drop to %1... it didn't happen
 

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
i was waiting it would drop to %1... it didn't happen
You'll never see that. My work Dell sleeps at around the same mark. Keep in mind, sleep needs the battery to maintain RAM state, so if it didn't sleep until 1% or less you are much more likely to have to cold boot after a hard shutdown.
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
my old original battery (8 year old) lost its capacity about 3 years ago i think it was because of i never did the unplugging thing, and left it plugged for months sometimes.

5 years on a laptop battery is pretty great and most laptop batteries have overcharge protection, so I doubt you hurt the old battery by leaving it plugged in all the time; if anything, you extended the life since you weren't consistently deep cycling the battery. But again, the newer battery is cheap, so I doubt you'll get the same level of performance or longevity compared to the original, no matter what you do.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
5 years on a laptop battery is pretty great and most laptop batteries have overcharge protection, so I doubt you hurt the old battery by leaving it plugged in all the time; if anything, you extended the life since you weren't consistently deep cycling the battery. But again, the newer battery is cheap, so I doubt you'll get the same level of performance or longevity compared to the original, no matter what you do.
This is correct. Overcharging is not a thing on modern electronics and hasn't been for a while.
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
think it was because of i never did the unplugging thing, and left it plugged for months sometimes.
Unlikely. The manual written there wasn't one by an actual battery tech and as per others overcharging isn't a thing with li-ion as they use monitored charging. If anything the notes provided will decrease battery life, requiring you to buy another one (hello profits).

Keep in mind the new battery you bought has 84.6% max capacity of the original, so you will never get the same runtime.
 
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