Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Laurence Perkins <lperkins@×××××××.net>
To: "gentoo-user@l.g.o" <gentoo-user@l.g.o>
Subject: RE: [gentoo-user] Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2022 18:06:37
Message-Id: MW2PR07MB405890AEEFCC0CD2603E09A0D2499@MW2PR07MB4058.namprd07.prod.outlook.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour by Michael
1 >-----Original Message-----
2 >From: Michael <confabulate@××××××××.com>
3 >Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2022 11:01 AM
4 >To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
5 >Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour
6 >
7 >On Thursday, 15 September 2022 18:10:39 BST Laurence Perkins wrote:
8 >> Note that most batteries these days in anything more complex than a
9 >> watch have "smart" charge controllers and so upower or similar can
10 >> read what their design watt-hours and current maximum capacity are.
11 >> Also, often the total charge or discharge rate. That plus a little
12 >> math should tell you if it's an aging battery or if your machine is
13 >> simply failing to idle down for some reason.
14 >
15 >> LMP
16 >
17 >Larger capacity batteries have multiple banks in them connected in parallel.
18 >Some times one of the banks or its controller(?) fails and while the rest continue to work, the loss in capacity is a noticeable step change. I recall suddenly losing ~1/3 of the battery capacity on a laptop just 3 or so happy years into its life. The remaining of the battery capacity continued to degrade slowly and gradually over many years. So notwithstanding the high consumption identified by the OP the software causes of which should be investigated, there could be also a problem with the battery unit itself.
19 >
20 >BTW, short & frequent top ups of lithium-ion batteries is the best approach to their charging, while deep discharge can guarantee a shorter effective life.
21 >
22 At the same time, don't make it too short. The charger has to run for a few seconds to a few minutes to determine that the battery is, in fact, full, and repeated overcharging in that manner will destroy the battery in short order. Let it run down at least a few percent before you plug it in again.
23
24 Their lifetime is generally happiest if you keep them between 50 and 80%. Some packs automatically cut off the charging at the 80% mark and just tell you that it's full in order to increase the cycle count.
25
26 LMP