Help increasing battery life Dell inspiron 1525

[henry_d]

I have a Dell inspiron 1525 and ubuntu 8.04 which i installed over vista but it seems to have less battery life.
Could someone give me some tips to increase the battery life and how long do you think i could get the battery to last as it is currently at 2 hours after a full charge.

Any help would be much appreciated

[joshuajtl]

I also have had the same problem since I first put ubuntu on this machine, 6 months ago.

[loneowais]

Same here...I also tried various methods & switched between various power management packages but still I get a max of 2 hours in Ubuntu in balanced mode, while as I get 3.5 hours in vista in balanced mode.

I hate MS & their products and I don't want to go back. Someone help...
I don't remember how Hardy was with power management...Should I downgrade?

[iggykoopa]

you could try the gui I'm working on, the thread is here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=988309 . It might help a little.

[dwarness]

I've been doing some research lately on exactly this topic and have gathered some suggestions from different sources. Some comes from powertop suggestions, others I got from the guide: Installing Ubuntu on a Dell XPS m1530 (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/InstallingUbuntuOnADellXPSM1530)

I haven't actually tested how much of a gain on battery time I've gotten, but it is noticeable. Most of this should be generic enough and not specific to my make/model of laptop. Let me know how it fairs for you. Just one caveat, though. After making these settings when running on battery, I did notice a slight pause each time a new file is opened. This has to do with the hard drive spinning down to conserve power.

Put the following code in a script and place that script in both: /etc/acpi/ac.d/ and /etc/acpi/battery.d/


#!/bin/sh

POWERSTATEFILE="/var/lib/acpi-support/powerstate"
POWERSTATE=`cat $POWERSTATEFILE`

if [ x"$POWERSTATE" = x"AC" ] ; then
echo 60 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
echo 3000 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs
echo 500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
echo 10 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
echo 40 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
echo max_performance > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy

# Enable CDROM Polling
/usr/bin/hal-disable-polling --enable-polling --device /dev/cdrom

# Enable the Firewire Module
/sbin/modprobe ohci1394
else
echo 10 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs
echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
echo 60 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
echo 95 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
echo min_power > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy

# Disable CDROM Polling (Warning, if you insert a CD, it won't automount)
/usr/bin/hal-disable-polling --device /dev/cdrom

# Remove the Firewire Module
/sbin/modprobe -r ohci1394
fi

[jakerella]

In case anyway is looking for some generic tips, try out:
http://pherricoxide.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/increase-battery-life-on-ubuntu-810/

In fact, from there I found the tool to disable your ethernet port (when my laptop is on battery power, I am usually using wireless). You will first need to install the ethtool:

sudo apt-get install ethtool

Then add this line to the script file Dave has (near the bottom, right after removal of the Firewire module):
# Disable ethernet (presumed using wireless)
/usr/sbin/ethtool -s eth0 wol d

Good luck.
--Jordan

[sdennie]

Not the same model but, you may find this thread useful for getting ideas: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=847773

[abn91c]

check your BIOS my inspiron 1000 has a battery conditioning utility there. they suggest you run it at night since it can take several hrs to complete.