vdobriakov
January 6th, 2009, 01:58 PM
I typically use my notebook as follows:
* using at home at a power outlet
* close lid to switch the notebook to standby mode and drive to work, during this time the charge state goes down from 100% to 98%
* connect to outlet at the office - the notebook starts charging; so it wears the Li-Ion battery out
Sometimes I also need the notebook on travel, where I wish the full battery capacity. And it should be nearly the same in one or two years (as with my old Thinkpad).
Experts say, that modern Li-Ion batteries wear out quicker when they hold a large charge or are subject to higher temperatures. So they recommend to avoid charging if battery is nearly full, unless you will need its full capacity soon; keep it on the 30%-85% charged range.
For my old IBM Thinkpad there was a special tp_smapi module (you had to compile it yourself) http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Tp_smapi Also see http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=546537 But I did not find anything similar for my Dell XPS M1330. Is there any special kernel module or acpi setting for that?
It is unfortunate, that the default Ubuntu + Dell behaviour is to kill the battery as fast as possible. I do not think, they make a lot of money by selling new batteries and hope, that this is simply an oversight. BTW, does the Windows version have such a tool?
Best Regards,
Vladimir Dobriakov
http://www.innoq.com/blog/vd
* using at home at a power outlet
* close lid to switch the notebook to standby mode and drive to work, during this time the charge state goes down from 100% to 98%
* connect to outlet at the office - the notebook starts charging; so it wears the Li-Ion battery out
Sometimes I also need the notebook on travel, where I wish the full battery capacity. And it should be nearly the same in one or two years (as with my old Thinkpad).
Experts say, that modern Li-Ion batteries wear out quicker when they hold a large charge or are subject to higher temperatures. So they recommend to avoid charging if battery is nearly full, unless you will need its full capacity soon; keep it on the 30%-85% charged range.
For my old IBM Thinkpad there was a special tp_smapi module (you had to compile it yourself) http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Tp_smapi Also see http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=546537 But I did not find anything similar for my Dell XPS M1330. Is there any special kernel module or acpi setting for that?
It is unfortunate, that the default Ubuntu + Dell behaviour is to kill the battery as fast as possible. I do not think, they make a lot of money by selling new batteries and hope, that this is simply an oversight. BTW, does the Windows version have such a tool?
Best Regards,
Vladimir Dobriakov
http://www.innoq.com/blog/vd