Arch Linux

Expi1

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 8

Laptop won't charge to full capacity.

Since installing arch, my battery has only been charging to 99% and then every couple of days it only charges to 98%, currently the highest it gets is 90%. Any ideas?

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,210

Website

Re: Laptop won't charge to full capacity.

Are you sure it was charging and maintaining 100% before? The given number (90%) seems around value to which a battery in many modern mobile computers (be it a laptop or a smartphone) is charged. So my first guess would that you're observing a normal behaviour and possibly missing a really brief period of time at which true 100% is reached.

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Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

Expi1

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 8

Re: Laptop won't charge to full capacity.

Are you sure it was charging and maintaining 100% before? The given number (90%) seems around value to which a battery in many modern mobile computers (be it a laptop or a smartphone) is charged. So my first guess would that you're observing a normal behaviour and possibly missing a really brief period of time at which true 100% is reached.

It was at 100% when I started using Arch, and in Windows (dual boot). It seems to drop down a percent or so every day and never quite charge back up to full again, not sure why.

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,210

Website

Re: Laptop won't charge to full capacity.

But was it keeping that 100%? And are you sure it's not reaching 100% at any time now?

Various vendors make devices load to 100% only once and then drop to 90% (or lower) even if connected to mains. It's possible that you're missing a moment at which battery reaches 100%.

Discharge your batteries a bit. Then connect your laptop to mains and watch if it reaches 100% or stops at 90%. If it crosses 90%, goes to 100%, then goes back to 90% and stays there, everything is fine - you were just missing the peak. If it's not, then indeed something is wrong. But I doubt it's Arch's fault: the software just receives information from hardware/firmware.

Last edited by mpan (2014-05-13 14:41:39)

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Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

Expi1

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 8

Re: Laptop won't charge to full capacity.

But was it keeping that 100%? And are you sure it's not reaching 100% at any time now?

Various vendors make devices load to 100% only once and then drop to 90% (or lower) even if connected to mains. It's possible that you're missing a moment at which battery reaches 100%.

Discharge your batteries a bit. Then connect your laptop to mains and watch if it reaches 100% or stops at 90%. If it crosses 90%, goes to 100%, then goes back to 90% and stays there, everything is fine - you were just missing the peak. If it's not, then indeed something is wrong. But I doubt it's Arch's fault: the software just receives information from hardware/firmware.

I'll do that. Right now I'm getting the information from a Awesome widget. My laptop is always plugged in, I never use it anywhere else but home. All I know is it's plugged in and not reaching 100% ever, it just sits at 90%.

Like I said though, it wasn't always 90%, it was at 100% for a while, then after a couple days it went to 99% then after a couple days it went to 98%, and so on, now I'm at 90% and it's not going back up. The laptop isn't on all the time or anything, I turn it off during the night.

I'll do what you said though and report back.