April 26 – “The laptop battery”

Not all that long after we got our laptop we found out that one of the biggest problems they have is that the battery doesn't keep its charge.  I wasn't sure if that was just a Lenovo problem or if they are all like that.  Ours lasted pretty well for about a year before it started going downhill.  As it turned out, it gave us enough time to get back into our house after the flood and get the desktop docking station set up.  Now I use it on the dock most of the time, so the battery life wasn't really an issue.  I got a bit lazier, though, and when baseball season hit, I wanted to be able to watch the Astros while I worked on the sermon or the journal or checked email.  That's when I noticed that the battery was discharging faster and faster.  I could take it off the dock at 97% (It seems to stay at 97%, but it will occasionally read 100%), and by the time I typed for about 20 minutes, it was down to warning me about its imminent demise.    I emailed Josh and asked him if his buddy who helped us get the laptop in the first place could tell me where to get a new battery.  He sent me the info and I promptly lost it, so I made do with what I had for another six months or so.    A few weeks ago I cycled back around to thinking about the battery again, so I asked Josh to send me the info again.  This time I went ahead and ordered a new battery.  But I went the cheaper route and got the off brand.  Living dangerously.   It came in last week.  I installed it and followed the instructions for charging it to the letter.  Taking no chances.  It bumped up to 100% and looked to be working like a charm.  Then, after about a week, for some inexplicable reason, it began to very slowly discharge.  Not much at a time.  It took almost a week for it to get down to 85%.  I was puzzled, because it had been hooked up to the desk port the whole time.  Was the battery bad?  Was I going to have to send it back, or worse, go into Houston and exchange it?  I emailed Josh to see if he or his buddy had any clues.   Finally I decided to try shutting everything down and taking it off the base and rebooting it.  Wise decision, if I do say so myself.  For only then did I discover that the desk port itself … also has an on/off switch.  And somehow it had been switched off.  Oops.  I turned it back on, hooked up the laptop, and watched as it immediately started climbing back up to its usual 97%.  Almost a week on battery power alone and it had only dropped to 85%.  Hey, that's a good battery.  I had to email Josh and say, "Never mind."    Hebrews 4:13 says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."   Father, forgive me when I think I have to "inform" you.  Amen.