How to test Surface 2 Battery?

[thatdennis]

I use my Surface 2 mostly for browsing and working on Office, but recently I observed that the battery drain is quite fast (42% in 2-3 hours, browsing and listening to music only, battery is set to default settings). So I wanted to try how long my Surface 2's battery is actually able to endure.
Then my question is: What is the best way to test the battery life?

 

[kristalsoldier]

Here is what I did (and do off and on). First, I charge the battery upto 100%. I use my Surface exactly as I would on any normal day (which involves browsing (min. 3 tabs open all the time), Office (with at least 2 documents open - usually Word and PPT), Mail (with 3 accounts checking mails every 15 minutes), WIFI and BT on all the time, SkyDrive open. I also spend about 30 minutes going through Flipboard. I time myself - at least the start time. I check the battery icon at irregular intervals - but more often towards the end of the day. I stop doing all this when I reach 20% (as per battery icon) but you could run it down till you get the warning from the system. Oh...I forgot to mention, brightness is at about 40%. This will give you a fair idea as to how long your battery will last under your specific use condition. I don't put too much faith in the battery tests that one reads about in articles/ blogs etc. because it is an artificial measure and each one's usage is different from that of others. Of course, YMMV.

 

[thatdennis]

Here is what I did (and do off and on). First, I charge the battery upto 100%. I use my Surface exactly as I would on any normal day (which involves browsing (min. 3 tabs open all the time), Office (with at least 2 documents open - usually Word and PPT), Mail (with 3 accounts checking mails every 15 minutes), WIFI and BT on all the time, SkyDrive open. I also spend about 30 minutes going through Flipboard. I time myself - at least the start time. I check the battery icon at irregular intervals - but more often towards the end of the day. I stop doing all this when I reach 20% (as per battery icon) but you could run it down till you get the warning from the system. Oh...I forgot to mention, brightness is at about 40%. This will give you a fair idea as to how long your battery will last under your specific use condition. I don't put too much faith in the battery tests that one reads about in articles/ blogs etc. because it is an artificial measure and each one's usage is different from that of others. Of course, YMMV.

What I was thinking was to play an HD video in max brightness, but does it work? I mean if we test the
Surface 2's battery at its maximum performance, we can roughly guess the length of battery with minimal use, no?

 

[Kellzea]

What I was thinking was to play an HD video in max brightness, but does it work? I mean if we test the
Surface 2's battery at its maximum performance, we can roughly guess the length of battery with minimal use, no?

in general testing a battery under certain conditions is only a reliable indicator to how it will perform in those circumstances. So thrashing a hd movie on full brightness will definatly shred your battery. But it wont give much of an indication of how long it will last looking at a pdf on min brightness.

 

[Gergolos]

Hey hey. I am pretty sure you know this already, but in case not:

You can always check the "battery report" from windows. How to do it: Battery Usage Report - Generate in Windows 8

It is a ms-tool for checking the batterystatus. Of course will not say how fast the battery will drain if you use the app xy or yz. But you can check it after and will get all the info you need.

Wish you good luck with your surface and hope the testing works out just fine!

Greetz

 

[kristalsoldier]

in general testing a battery under certain conditions is only a reliable indicator to how it will perform in those circumstances. So thrashing a hd movie on full brightness will definatly shred your battery. But it wont give much of an indication of how long it will last looking at a pdf on min brightness.

Very true!

 

[thatdennis]

Hey hey. I am pretty sure you know this already, but in case not:

You can always check the "battery report" from windows. How to do it: Battery Usage Report - Generate in Windows 8

It is a ms-tool for checking the batterystatus. Of course will not say how fast the battery will drain if you use the app xy or yz. But you can check it after and will get all the info you need.

Wish you good luck with your surface and hope the testing works out just fine!

Greetz

Wow thanks so much! Now I can see the progress and surprisingly the battery lasts longer now than before (is this normal)? Also for casual browsing and typing on word, is 13 hours normal?

 

[borka105]

So I also ran this test and it is interestingly showing that my that charge capacity is greater than my design capacity, but it also reveals that I am only getting 5-6 hours on a charge for the lifetime of the device. I've been concerned with the battery life of my device and this looks like proof.

I guess what I am not sure I understand then why the charge capacity is greater than the design capacity, but that it is only giving me 6 house of life for the lifetime of my device.

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









Since OS install 6:11:31
275:31:40
6 % / 16 h 6:07:46
272:44:52
6 % / 16 h