Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

devmrfitz · 2021-01-15 04:16:11

I have a Lenovo IdeaPad 14ARE05 and have shifted from Debian to Arch. I feel that the battery drains much faster after the shift. I've enabled TLP and calibrated and auto-tuned PowerTop already. Is there some way for me to find the culprit?

Arch Trav · 2021-01-15 05:37:26

Start with your BIOS settings then look at system-specific settings located in your mounted volume, especially as it pertains to systemd setup.

nibirrayy · 2021-01-15 16:17:01

There is tool in AUR called auto-cpufreq that automatically tunes the cpu freq and disables and enables turbo boost base on system load you can try that. It boosted my battery life.

Auto-cpufreq github : https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq

There is also another project which is inspired by auto-cpufreq and is written in rust which has a better gui

github project of that inspired project: https://github.com/sebastian-xyz/yablo

and if really want to save some juice by disabling cpu cores you can also install cpufreq in conjunction with the above tools.

cpufreq : https://github.com/konkor/cpufreq

devmrfitz · 2021-01-15 16:28:05

Arch Trav wrote:

Start with your BIOS settings then look at system-specific settings located in your mounted volume, especially as it pertains to systemd setup.

Could you please explain what you meant? I'm a bit new to linux

seth · 2021-01-15 17:23:25

A BIOS setting would impact certainly debian just as much and systemd is, even reduced to the init daemon, a very generic target and equivalent to "check your system configuration, something is maybe broken" or "it's cold in winter"…

You can and want use powertop to monitor what is actually drawing battery and esp. compare that to the situation on debian (if still available)

Good contenders are always:
- Backlight - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Backlight
- CPU - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CP … cy_scaling
- dedicated GPU (though afaics your system doesn't have that? => "lspci", VGA/3D devices)
- CPU hogging processes (a "helps: mining bitcons on arch & gnome draws more battery than some office work on debian & openbox!" situation) - check "top" for whether some process is running wild

loqs · 2021-01-15 17:28:14

Would add to seth's list confirm the battery level is being read correctly and it is fully charging.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2021-01-15 17:50:32

Which version of Debian were you using? The current stable release kernel won't support your 4th generation Ryzen CPU properly and you would need the AMD graphics firmware from either testing/unstable or buster-backports to avoid using software rendering. Arch utilising your hardware to a fuller extent could account for a faster battery drain.

Have you formally measured the battery life under both distributions?

devmrfitz · 2021-01-16 02:46:25

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Which version of Debian were you using? The current stable release kernel won't support your 4th generation Ryzen CPU properly and you would need the AMD graphics firmware from either testing/unstable or buster-backports to avoid using software rendering. Arch utilising your hardware to a fuller extent could account for a faster battery drain.
Have you formally measured the battery life under both distributions?

I was on Debian SID. I'd installed the amdgpu drivers. The problem is I've replaced Debian with Arch. So can't take a formal measurement.
As I don't have actual data to support my observation, I guess my question should be "How to best optimize battery life?"

devmrfitz · 2021-01-16 02:47:01

loqs wrote:

Would add to seth's list confirm the battery level is being read correctly and it is fully charging.

I'm using conservation mode that caps battery level at 60%

seth · 2021-01-16 08:41:26

devmrfitz wrote:

As I don't have actual data to support my observation, I guess my question should be "How to best optimize battery life?"

devmrfitz earlier wrote:

I feel that the battery drains much faster after the shift.

devmrfitz as subject wrote:

Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

…

Maybe we add some hard data, like… facts and truth and reality.
1. Is there still a windows installation?
2. Did you at any point measure the actual battery drain/battery time (either on Windows, Debian, Arch) - in doubt with a wall clock? (But again: usage profile)
3. powertop stats: what draws battery, what is "excessive"
4. Did you read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Power_management ? Do you struggle w/ anything there?
5. What actually drives your "feeling" of "excessive battery drain"?
6. Did you at least check that there isn't excessive processor usage by an isolated process? (Eg. if a tracker indexes your harddisk because you didn't tell it to not do that on battery)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2021-01-16 11:37:03

devmrfitz wrote:

I'd installed the amdgpu drivers

Firmware != driver.

devmrfitz wrote:

The problem is I've replaced Debian with Arch. So can't take a formal measurement

Use a live ISO image then, preferably one of the unofficial versions that already include non-free firmware.

wooque · 2022-10-13 11:58:14

I noticed the same, I was using Debian and idle power draw would go down to 3.2-3.3W, with Arch lowest it goes is 3.5W, it's not much difference, with it's not statistical error either.
I used TLP on both with same config. Used Debian Testing so package versions are about the same.
I guess it comes down to kernel config, maybe Debian uses some configuration that makes it use less power on idle

GamerzOH · 2022-10-13 14:43:03

Well, I don't know about the Debian config, but I sure can help you with what I know.
1. First of all TLP is awesome, but if you are using gnome or kde, please switch to your desktop environment specific powercontrol tool, eg: on gnome, it is power-profiles-daemon and disable TLP. Reboot and switch powerprofile to balanced or powersave.
2. Make sure your fan is working and your system temperature is low (view temperature using command 'sensors').
3. Install cpupower-gui from AUR. Enable it and reboot. After reboot open cpupower-gui and then select balanced power plan.

This actually gives me more battery life on my arch install (4-5 hours) than I used to get on Windows (2-3.5 hours).

Hope It helps!!! Have a great Day.

GamerzOH · 2022-10-13 14:49:54

If you are a beginner, it should do the job...

When you are doing something intensive (like video editing), open cpupower-gui, then switch power profile from balanced to performance mode.
Also do the same for your desktop environment.

Also, If you would tell me what of the following software are you using, I may be able to do more:
Your Desktop Environment, Your Processor, Any discrete Graphics, Laptop or desktop...

wooque · 2022-10-15 00:57:16

power-profiles-daemon is useless with AMD (https://www.phoronix.com/news/Lenovo-AMD-PP-Not-Working)
I set CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR_ON_BAT=powersave in TLP, that gives me best battery but it gimps the performance

GamerzOH · 2022-10-15 04:32:43

Ok, then you should just keep tlp as it is and use cpupower-gui. It can work alongside tlp and gives a ton of batterylife

Arch Linux

#1 2021-01-15 04:16:11

Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#2 2021-01-15 05:37:26

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#3 2021-01-15 16:17:01

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#4 2021-01-15 16:28:05

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#5 2021-01-15 17:23:25

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#6 2021-01-15 17:28:14

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#7 2021-01-15 17:50:32

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#8 2021-01-16 02:46:25

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#9 2021-01-16 02:47:01

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#10 2021-01-16 08:41:26

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#11 2021-01-16 11:37:03

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#12 2022-10-13 11:58:14

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#13 2022-10-13 14:43:03

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#14 2022-10-13 14:49:54

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#15 2022-10-15 00:57:16

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

#16 2022-10-15 04:32:43

Re: Excessive battery drain as compared to Debian and Windows

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