In ,
aaaaa typed:
I just received a new PA33838U-1BRS (?12 cell I think)
battery I bought from batterydepot.com and I am surprised
that it has so short a life in my Toshiba A75-S209 laptop.

I should say for the record that the battery arrived fully
discharged, dead as could be. That surprised me too.

But then I know nothing about Lithium ION batteries, so I
am not sure what to expect. I have read the info at
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a..._ion_batteries

As I watch Toshiba's Power Meter, with the desktop
displayed, but the laptop sitting idle otherwise, the
capacity has decreased from 97% to 50%. That says to me
that I will get only two hours out of a full battery
charge. Is that normal, good, bad, or what? I also wonder
why an overnight full charge (laptop off) only charged the
battery to 98%.

So - I have to ask. Is something wrong? What is normal?

Thank you

Sounds "normal" to me. I don't think the battery should have been dead, but
I'm not certain. How did you determine it was "dead"?

The 98% might have been "normal" too as their hold-voltage is slightly less
than the max voltage of other types of batteries.

Here are some links that may be helpful: Lithium-ion is different from other
batteries as you'll see:

http://batteryuniversity.com/index.p..._ion_batteries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery

the latest lithium ion battery technology which has no memory problems, so
there is no need to fully discharge them light before use.
The above caught my eye and seems to indicate that shipping the batteries
"dead" might be OK.

Luck,

Twayne`