Re: Enhancing battery lifetimes
From: Jim (james_at_the-computer-shop.co.uk)
Date: 09/08/05
- Next message: ynotssor: "Re: Friend is interested to learn Linux Sys admin, will it help for his Career?"
- Previous message: Kent Paul Dolan: "Re: What is it with linux dissing in this newsgroup?"
- In reply to: Madhusudan Singh: "Enhancing battery lifetimes"
- Next in thread: Madhusudan Singh: "Re: Enhancing battery lifetimes"
- Reply: Madhusudan Singh: "Re: Enhancing battery lifetimes"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 00:29:36 GMT
Madhusudan Singh wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have had a LinuxCertified LC2210 laptop since April, 2004. On the whole,
> hardware compatibility with Linux has been total and I have been very happy
> with it (my initial attempt to use software suspend with kernel 2.6.3 got
> snarled in a buggy bios, and I have not revisited it since). When it was
> shipped, the battery lifetime was nearly 4 hours. Over the period of the
> next 6-7 months, I saw this plummet down to 1 hour and change. Then in
> February, 2005, the battery died utterly (you unplug the power cord and the
> laptop abruptly powers off). Since I was not travelling much, I just used
> the power cord with the dead battery still in there (the laptop looks ugly
> with the battery missing).
>
> Today, I received a new battery (paid some $80 for it). And I want to
> enhance its life as much as possible. Any general hints about proper
> working habits (and any Linux tricks/tools to enhance the lifetime) would
> be very welcome. I have heard conflicting advice on :
>
> 1. The desirability of letting the battery completely discharge at least
> once a week.
> 2. Not plugging in the power cord when the battery is fully charged.
>
> I am not certain how true / untrue the above admonishments are, but I do
> understand that the battery has a limit on how many times it can be
> charged / discharged (suggesting thereby that I not use the battery at all
> under most circumstance when I do not expect to be away from a power
> source), but any other suggestions would be welcome.
>
> Thanks.
Most, if not all, notebook batteries have a charge counter in them. They
add one every time a live power cord is inserted. Once that counter
reaches a certain number, it deactivates the pack, hence forcing you
into parting with some dosh for a very expensive, equally smart battery.
Forced obsolescence at work. The average laptop battery lasts 12-18 months.
As an individual who makes a living repairing laptops, I would advise
these steps:
1. If you're near a power socket, use it. Use the battery as little as
possible, but if you must use it, let it drain. Then give it a complete
power-off charge cycle.
2. Go into the BIOS settings and set the power scheme for battery
operation to "Battery Optimised". If your BIOS doesn't have this;
a: for AMD processors, there's not a great deal you can do except turn
down the LCD brightness, switch the HDD timeout, screen timeout and S2D
(if your kernel supports this) to short times (1min, 3min and 15min
respectively).
b: for mobile Pentium 3/4 processors, most BIOSes have what's known as
Speedstep; this allows you to choke the processor speed, saving power,
allowing the processor to run cooler hence the machine won't kick in the
fans as much. Again, set LCD brightness etc to low levels.
3. Again, in the BIOS: disable any external sockets you don't use (ie
IRDA, parallel, usb, firewire, PCMCIA); this will not only cut power to
these busses, it will also save time during boot and some normal
operations while the kernel's configuring these ports.
Even if you're running on mains, setting Speedstep to On and setting HDD
timeouts to say, 5min, would save a lot of power and help to reduce the
risk of hardware failure through thermal overload.
HTH
-- Cheers, http://www.dotware.co.uk Jim http://www.dotware-entertainment.co.uk It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
- Next message: ynotssor: "Re: Friend is interested to learn Linux Sys admin, will it help for his Career?"
- Previous message: Kent Paul Dolan: "Re: What is it with linux dissing in this newsgroup?"
- In reply to: Madhusudan Singh: "Enhancing battery lifetimes"
- Next in thread: Madhusudan Singh: "Re: Enhancing battery lifetimes"
- Reply: Madhusudan Singh: "Re: Enhancing battery lifetimes"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Relevant Pages
|
