Surface 3 Battery Life and Charging Times?

[Dewg]

Another thing to remember is that not all Micro USB cables can handle 2.5A. I know many people who use their phone's USB cable to charge the Surface and it's painfully slow. Try using a Micro USB cable with 24 AWG wire (most are 26/28 AWG, which can't handle the higher amps).

 

[web1b]

Lots of people are going to be disappointed with charging because they don't know that both the charger and the cable have to support higher voltage than most cell phone chargers and most cables.
If you use the right charger and they right cables, then charging is reasonably fast.
Next year, there will probably be a Surface 4 with USB Type C with faster charging and less confusion.

 

[seremify]

I confirmed with Microsoft rep the charger available for sale as an optional accessory is same as the one in box. (At least here in Singapore)

 

[cygnus11]

I've always used the charger and cable that came with the Surface 3 and I have not seen any terrible charging times. I went from 5% to full in under 4 hours yesterday. I wasn't using the Surface during charging, so I'm sure that helped. But 4 hours for a full charge seems acceptable. Is it the fastest charging device I own? Definitely not. But I don't think it is that slow to be considered an issue.

 

[Dos101]

Finally drained the battery on my Surface 3 today (wouldn't even turn on, battery symbol would flash on the screen). Charged it for 2 hours 45 minutes and was at 85%, took an additional hour to get to 100%, so roughly 3 hours 45 minutes from dead to full charge while the Surface is turned off. Not too bad at all IMHO.

 

[Tsang Fai]

Lots of people are going to be disappointed with charging because they don't know that both the charger and the cable have to support higher voltage than most cell phone chargers and most cables.
If you use the right charger and they right cables, then charging is reasonably fast.
Next year, there will probably be a Surface 4 with USB Type C with faster charging and less confusion.

Hopefully USB-C will become widely used in 1-2 years. Perhaps it would take much longer as there have been huge number of devices, from small to big, using the traditional USB.

Maybe the next Surface generation would support both traditional USB and USB-C.

 

[M3GRSO]

It shouldn't take this long to charge a laptop even though calling the Surface 3 a laptop is splitting hairs. It took around 7hrs to fully charge on one occasion with no programs running. Occasionally I would turn the display on to see where it was and after about 3hrs I was at 18%. Mind you for the first 45min it wouldn't even power on because the battery was so depleted.

Should I sell it for the i5 Pro 4 is the better question...

 

[Smithy London]

I no longer use the standard charger and USB cable as their not really up to the job.
I bought the following - Anker PowerPort 5 (40W 5-Port USB Charging Hub) + Volutz Equilibrium Series Nylon Braided Micro-USB to USB Cable 19 AWG.
I no longer suffer from the "plugged in and not charging" issue. The above charges my Surface 3 at 23% an hour and the Anker charger doesn't even get warm, unlike the stock item!!!
Very pleased with this upgrade.