Battery shows 5% remaining after 8 hours of charging and sometimes says "Battery not detected."

Question

Some Observations

• The computer runs as expected when it is plugged in.
• After charging overnight (about 8 hours), the battery life is at 5%.
• Sometimes, the battery task bar icon says, "Battery not detected."
• While plugged in, the battery says, "1 hour 34 minutes until fully charged."

I have run the power troubleshooter at "Find and fix problems with your computers power settings." I have also followed the steps here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4023536/surface-surface-battery-wont-charge

This is Windows version information:

PS C:\> [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
10     0      19041  0

How can I resolve this?

Answer 1

Surface Pro 4 was released in 2015. That is over 5 years ago; most batteries have a lifespan of around that time. The more a battery is discharged/charged and the deeper, the more the battery life is used up. Below are expected cycles depending on battery depletion before recharge.

• 100% discharge: 300 – 500 life cycles
• 50% discharge: 1200 – 1500 life cycles
• 25% discharge: 200 – 2500 life cycles
• 10% discharge: 3750 – 4700 life cycles

Unfortunately, you have a fixed battery so you can't quite replace it. There is a command you can run for more information within command prompt: powercfg /batteryreport. But at this point, your battery may just be shot, and it is time to decide to attempt a 3rd party replacement (they tend to shatter screens due to how the surface is built) or replace the device.

I guess you can keep it plugged in and maybe turn a plain TV into a smart device?