0

I have an HP ProBook 4540s that has a very weak battery from years of use and abuse. I bought an external battery pack, a Poweradd 32000mAh with the intention of using it with my laptop. The battery works just fine when I use it to power a Lenovo IdeaCentre Q190. The voltage required by the Lenovo IdeaCentre is 19V, and my HP ProBook requires 19.5V. The battery is capable of outputting both of these (apparently the battery detects if you need slightly more than 19, according to customer support). Why can I not get the battery to work with my laptop? Whenever I plug the battery in to my laptop when it is running, I get the following error message and the "battery charging" light blinks several times:

HP Smart AC Adapter

I have also tried tried turning off my laptop, pulling the on-board battery, and booting directly from this battery. When I try that, the "battery charging" light blinks a few times and then stops, failing to do anything more. I have also tried the same two tests on two other HP laptops in my house, and the only difference is that on the other laptops, the Smart Adapter message does not appear.

Here is the adapter for my laptop's charger:

HP Laptop Charger Adapter

Improve this question
10
  • How much ampage does your laptop require and the battery pack output? If the laptop requires more then 4.5A that is the reason.
    – Ramhound
    Jun 15, 2015 at 22:31
  • @Ramhound My laptop charger lists output amperage at 3.33A.
    – DaveTheMinion
    Jun 15, 2015 at 22:40
  • While inexpensive, I have encountered many problems due to third-party chargers and batteries. An extended life battery for one laptop drew too much power and melted a couple factory chargers.
    – i_am_root
    Jun 15, 2015 at 23:52
  • @i_am_root Do you have any idea what my problem is? The battery is just fine, but I cannot figure out what is topping it from working.
    – DaveTheMinion
    Jun 15, 2015 at 23:55
  • Make sure your laptop has the latest BIOS from HP. There were a number of bugs. Also, try 20V output -- a higher voltage is much less likely to do damage than a lower one.
    – David Schwartz
    Jun 16, 2015 at 0:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

HP is a total stickler when it comes to OEM batteries and external battery packs (ie: chargers). The reason it works on your Lenovo is because it simply works. There's nothing "wrong" with your external battery pack. The issue is with HP's manufactured firmware.

HP often doesn't charge the internal battery if it detects that the AC Power adapter isn't HP OEM. My personal experience (hundreds of HP's) has been that it will, sometimes, still provide power but not before prompting, through P.O.S.T., that the adapter isn't OEM and may not function properly.

I'm confident this is the issue you're running into. HP only wants you buying HP stuff so they program to detect only their devices (battery and chargers) and limit anything else. Clearly the device works if you can get to the screen you posted. Your HP computer also knows you're not using an OEM device, based on their prompt. From there, HP just doesn't let the device do it's thing and claims it's "not functioning properly."

EDIT: The same can be said for Dell and Apple products.

Improve this answer
5
  • Is there a way I can get around that? The battery is advertised as working with HP products, and I have seen a video that shows that it does.
    – DaveTheMinion
    Jun 16, 2015 at 0:29
  • Not that I know of regarding hardware. It's a firmware issue, so unless you know how to reverse engineer HP's programming, you're out of luck. Take it with a grain of salt when it's "advertised" as working with HP's especially when it isn't manufactured by HP. I've seen plenty of 3rd party AC Adapters "claim" to work with Dell and HP computers but none actually do. They provide power sure, but they don't actually charge the battery or work in the way you would expect.
    – user431052
    Jun 16, 2015 at 0:38
  • I don't know if mine is actually providing power though. I ran my on-board battery down to nothing with the external pack plugged in as an experiment, and it did not keep it running.
    – DaveTheMinion
    Jun 16, 2015 at 1:01
  • What I mean to say is my personal experience has shown me that AC Adapters provide power but don't charge the battery and that the same firmware issue, I'm sure, applies (slightly different results) to your external battery pack because you're plugging it into the same port. Regardless, your specific setup doesn't work "as expected", whether that's charging or providing power, due to HP's firmware.
    – user431052
    Jun 16, 2015 at 1:15
  • As much as I hate marking this answer as accepted, everything I find online points to this being correct. Thanks for filling me in on the fact the HP is not a company that is worthy of my respect. I already knew that of Apple and Dell, but not of HP.
    – DaveTheMinion
    Jun 16, 2015 at 20:16

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .