Surface 3 Battery Life and Charging Times?

[SCM]

I am getting 4-6 hours use on a charge. Coming from a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, this is pretty disappointing. (After two years, I was still getting 8-9 hours). I am also seeing VERY long recharge times. I've been charging for 6 hours from 4% battery left, and I am only at 52%. So, my questions are:
1. How long of active use are people getting with their Surface 3
2. How long is it taking for others to get the Surface to charge?

Thanks.

 

[bo_woods]

I haven't really taken the initiative to measure how many hours I am getting with my surface pro 3, but I can say this replacement Pro 3 that I have gotten from the Ms store doesn't perform as long as the original pro 3 that I had( its probably slightly older and refurbished)..so I can't really answer your first question
but as for the second one...
I think your model must be defective or something because my Surface pro 3 can go from 20% to 90% in a couple of hours (2-3), so 6 hours just to go from dead to half full is terrible

But then again I have the i3 model so ppl with the i5 and i7 may experience lesser battery experiences, since those processors need more juice since they are more powerful

 

[OberstDanjeje]

Total charge time must be around 5,5/6 hours
For a new device il could be even longer

Take a look here:
Battery Life - The Surface 3 Review

 

[anon(5327127)]

I haven't really taken the initiative to measure how many hours I am getting with my surface pro 3

This is the Surface 3 forum NOT the Surface 3 Pro forum.

 

[enixon]

I've noticed if you have ANY program running in the background, your charging time will be terrible. Even if you are just watching a movie or listening to music. The device has to be asleep for it to charge at normal speeds, which is not the best thing in the world. I've returned one unit because of this issue, but it would take 10+ hours to get to 50%, which obviously isn't right. However, with my second unit it is much better. It still doesn't charge very quickly while doing something in the background, but it charges in 4-6 hours in sleep mode.

If you are having the error "Plugged in, not charging", try uninstalling the battery in device manager and reinstalling it. That helped me when I ran into this issue the first time.

 

[Joe Dubya]

I have not "timed" battery life or charge time for my S3, but qualitatively the battery life is very good (nearly as good as my RT and better than my wife's SP3) and the charge time is bad....

 

[onkel_axel]

first of all.
so some charge cycle to garin the full potential capacity of the battery
after that, u should have a decent - good run time

charging time is kind of bad becaus of micro usb 3.0 specs
thats the trade off

 

[enixon]

first of all.
so some charge cycle to garin the full potential capacity of the battery
after that, u should have a decent - good run time

charging time is kind of bad becaus of micro usb 3.0 specs
thats the trade off

It's not Micro-USB 3.0, it's 2.0. If it were 3.0 or USB-C, it would have been loads better.

 

[9001020]

I've noticed if you have ANY program running in the background, your charging time will be terrible. Even if you are just watching a movie or listening to music. The device has to be asleep for it to charge at normal speeds, which is not the best thing in the world. I've returned one unit because of this issue, but it would take 10+ hours to get to 50%, which obviously isn't right. However, with my second unit it is much better. It still doesn't charge very quickly while doing something in the background, but it charges in 4-6 hours in sleep mode.

If you are having the error "Plugged in, not charging", try uninstalling the battery in device manager and reinstalling it. That helped me when I ran into this issue the first time.

How do you reinstall the battery? I see the option to uninstall it. This seems scary.

 

[enixon]

How do you reinstall the battery? I see the option to uninstall it. This seems scary.

Uninstall it, then scan for hardware changes.

 

[onlysublime]

It's not Micro-USB 3.0, it's 2.0. If it were 3.0 or USB-C, it would have been loads better.

Do you have a source that says the microUSB on the Surface 3 is 2.0?

Also, is everyone using the included charger? The included charger charges faster than other chargers or microusb cables.

 

[enixon]

Do you have a source that says the microUSB on the Surface 3 is 2.0?

Also, is everyone using the included charger? The included charger charges faster than other chargers or microusb cables.

I work for Microsoft, so there is that. Also, Micro USB 3.0 looks completely different than Micro USB 2.0, and they are not backwards compatible. As in a 3.0 plug cannot fit in a 2.0. Just Google Micro USB 3.0, it was used in like one mobile device and it flopped.

 

[P_Devil]

1. How long of active use are people getting with their Surface 3
2. How long is it taking for others to get the Surface to charge?

1) About 7-10hours depending on what I'm doing. I get a solid 9 hours of internet browsing using the modern version of IE, about half that with Chrome. Video playback off of a microSDXC card, with Bluetooth on, Wi-Fi off, and brightness set to 45% lasts a good 10 hours.

2) About 4 hours from less than 10% battery. That's about one hour slower than my Surface Pro 2 with its custom charger at the same level.

 

[ValentinG]

Quick question, I noticed the light on the USB charger cable (next to the connector).
Is it supposed to change color? Mine is always white.

 

[LibbyLA]

The light is always white.

 

[Tsang Fai]

Some basic facts every Surface 3 user must know:

• The original charger is 2.5A (output current)
• If you use other charger, make sure the output current is at least 1.5A. Otherwise, charging will be terribly slow. Phone charger or USB port of PC/laptop is usually not satisfactory.
• For a newly bought Surface 3, charging is slow. Go through several rounds of charging-discharging, and you will notice obvious improvement in charging speed.

Once you take care of the above, charging should not be a problem at all.

 

[seremify]

Some basic facts every Surface 3 user must know:

• The original charger is 2.5A (output current)
• If you use other charger, make sure the output current is at least 1.5A. Otherwise, charging will be terribly slow. Phone charger or USB port of PC/laptop is usually not satisfactory.
• For a newly bought Surface 3, charging is slow. Go through several rounds of charging-discharging, and you will notice obvious improvement in charging speed.

Once you take care of the above, charging should not be a problem at all.

The pack in is a 13w charger right- is the optional store bought one the same as this or more powerful? Reason I ask is on the labels at a few shops it's described as "24w" by the store-placed pricetag label but not mentioned anywhere on the box.

 

[Tsang Fai]

The pack in is a 13w charger right- is the optional store bought one the same as this or more powerful? Reason I ask is on the labels at a few shops it's described as "24w" by the store-placed pricetag label but not mentioned anywhere on the box.

The original charger should be 5V 2.5A (~13W).

As long as you buy a charger close to 5V 2.5A, it should be fine. As I know, those chargers used for Samsung tablets should be close to this.

 

[seremify]

I'm more asking from perspective of whether the optional Microsoft charger available in stores would be faster. I also have 3.1A chargers lying around the house and am wondering if maybe these would work well too.

 

[Tsang Fai]

I did try a 3A charger but I felt that the charging speed is just like 2.5A. Not much difference.

Most phone chargers are only 1A. iPad charger is also just 1.5A.