[ltp] Battery management
Alejandro Bonilla
linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Fri, 04 Feb 2005 11:07:42 -0600
Ignacion,
I always recommend fully charging the battery and then removing the
whole power from the battery until the PC even shuts down. It makes my
batterys live longer. I haven't received my IBM so I'm not too aware of
the apps for the IBM's, but there could be a Battery Calibration util or
so from IBM.
There was once an Issue I saw with acpi and the T42 where the PC
wouldn't shutdown and then drain 10% immediately from the battery. I had
this issue once and left the PC overnight as it was OFF. but really
wasn't and killed my battery.
Just make sure ACPI is current and working. I use 2.6.9 and works
fine for me in a previous T40.
Keep fluent the usage of that battery, even if you don't use it.
- Alejandro
Ignacio Fernández Galván wrote:
> Hi,
>
> In my ThinkPad R51 there used to be a bit of drain in the battery
> when powered off, maybe 2-3% in one day. I shut down the computer at
> 100% charge (according to gkrellm) and, when I turned it on the next
> day, it was at 96-98%. I took that as normal (it was not suspended or
> hibernated, just plain powered off)
>
> However since a few days, it does not happen anymore, everytime I boot
> up the computer it's at 100%. If that's true, it's fine, but I'm
> worried maybe the battery status is not reliably read. I have not
> updated the kernel, but I've installed a bunch of packages from
> thac's repository (Mandrake 10.1). The other possible change has been
> the fact I'm used the laptop a couple of times, for some hours each,
> without AC power (the laptop is quite now, I had had it always
> plugged before).
>
> So, the question is, is this normal? Does the battery need some
> "conditioning" before reaching its full capacity (or before being able
> to maintain it for longer)?
>
> Thanks
> Ignacio