[ltp] Almost dead battery

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh]

On Fri, 22 Apr 2022, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> In my case it's a T61.

I think the T61 still used a "SBS" system for batteries and the charger,
so it should be the same as the T4x...

> > If either the active i2c channel goes silent, or battery cell telemetry
> > received is shows a cell is bad, it will blink red.  It also does
> > temperature and charge telemetry, and has alarms tied to it.
> 
> Makes me wish all that info were exposed to GNU/Linux :-)

tp-smapi shows it, by issuing EC commands, hopefully it works well on
the T61.  I don't think you can do it through standard ACPI methods in
the T61.

> > If one of the cells really went bad, chances are the battery pack
> > controller will have bricked the battery pack (opened some protection
> > gates that will remain open, isulating the cells and permanently
> > powering off the battery pack).
> 
> At least this doesn't seem to be the case for my battery, since its
> remaining charge is still able to keep the machine running (tho
> obviously only until I use up the currently remaining 50%, after which
> it'll be "truly dead" unless I find a way to recharge it).

Hmm, usually when a battery pack does not *charge*, it is not a problem
in the battery pack, but rather in the notebook/charger
controller/charger.  Or the notebook's power supply, but if it is
working without the battery pack at all, that should rule it out.

You'd need to try to charge either a different battery pack in your
notebook, or to try to charge this battery pack in a different notebook
to know for sure.

-- 
  Henrique Holschuh