HOWTO: Extend the Life of Your Thinkpad's Battery (tp_smapi)

[lunatico]

Yeah... it'll charge to 100% if you leave it plugged in whilst off. Nothing really can be done about that.



I'm honestly not sure... if you try it, keep us posted! Also, if you try it and get a "thinkpad_ec: no ThinkPad embedded controller!" error, try updating your BIOS.

Mike

Anyone figured out how to apply the threshold values to the BIOS?
I know that if you install the Lenovo power software in Windows this changes get written the the BIOS as well but I don't know how to do that from Linux.

[kabturek]

Anyone figured out how to apply the threshold values to the BIOS?
I know that if you install the Lenovo power software in Windows this changes get written the the BIOS as well but I don't know how to do that from Linux.

Aren't they saved to the battery ? It worked that way before i.e. they were saved until you disconnect the battery.

[jeremija]

They are saved to the embedded controller in the battery, but this data is lost as soon as you turn off the pc and disconnect the charger.

I use a T60p and am having a problem: stop_charge_thresh works ok, but start_charge_thresh seems to have no effect. No matter what value I set to it, the battery will always charge to stop_charge_thresh value.

For example, I have set the following values:
start_charge_thresh = 80
stop_charge_thresh = 90
and the PC is running on battery which is at 85%. When I connect the charger, the battery will charge to 90%. Shouldn't it only be charging if it were below 80%?

It seems that setting the start_charge_thresh value only has an effect for a brief second, and then the battery resumes with charging (???)

edit:
I noticed that what I wrote up there happens only when I turn on the PC while it was totally disconnected to from the power supply and connect the charger before ubuntu boots up. It seems that if I connect the charger after the ubuntu has booted and the values set, it works ok. Is that the way it was supposed to work? I should iether leave the PC on charger all night or connect it after ubuntu has booted?