Arch Linux

Erik Xian

Member

Registered: 2008-09-15

Posts: 18

Battery last full charge detected incorrectly

I have a 1691p battery for a Dell Inspiron 4000 which never seems to charge all the way. It only goes up to about 60% before stopping.

The "last full charge" reading is much higher than the "design charge" reading in /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info which doesn't make much sense. I've confirmed that this is the case for this battery when placed in several other machines. This misreading is consistent across several operating systems (Arch Linux, FreeBSD, Windows XP), so I'm led to think that the problem is the battery itself.

Does anyone have any idea what I should do? The last thing I want to do is get it replaced but right now it seems like that may be the only solution.

R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: Battery last full charge detected incorrectly

If your notebook as some battery calibration option in the bios maybe you should give it a try.

Just out of curiosity, how do you know it never charges past 60% ?

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R00KIE
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Erik Xian

Member

Registered: 2008-09-15

Posts: 18

Re: Battery last full charge detected incorrectly

I'm guessing it stops at 60% because if I remove the AC and disable all power management, it shuts off when it hits 0% rather than staying around at 0% for a bit.

Unfortunately, there's no battery calibration tool. I think I'm a victim of a "smart" Lithium-ion gone wrong.