I have been getting strange results from my battery this week and was wondering if there was any software solutions that would help ?
I normally use the computer with the power supply connected. Earlier this week (Monday evening) I was using it with battery power only. When I switched on with the power supply connected on Tuesday morning the battery icon said 34%. I used the computer a couple of times that day and in the evening the battery icon still showed 35%.
Last night I left the computer plugged in and charging, and this morning it showed the battery was 100%.
I unplugged the power supply and left it sitting for 2 hours, I have just plugged it back in and switched on the computer and the battery icon says 35%, so I reckon summat’s wrong. Is it just a bad battery that needs replaced ? The machine was purchased brand new from Novatech in February 2014. ?
Or is there some software settings that can be tweaked, like power savers or something ?
You can kill the battery by charging it overnight.
Check the staus with:
upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
Look for : enrgy-full: vs energy-full-design:
You could have the battery fully charged but at 1/2 the capacity
That’s a bit scaremongery, Sezo. Newer technology in both the adaptors & batteries themselves should prevent overcharging. I’ve never had any problems with modern laptops. That said, it is a fact that batteries die over time (same as mobile phones). But as the laptop is barely a year old in this example, there shouldn’t be a problem (for example, maybe the battery life decreases from 6 hours to 3-4 hours now, but that’s far from dead)
So are you saying the charge level indicator isn’t changing ?
Which distro/version/architecture ?
Is this Peppermint 6 ?
Hi Mark,
I have been using the computer off and on all day and the battery icon still says 35%.
Yes its Peppermint 6 (I have just changed my specs in my profile) :-[
@SeZo
don@ldwatson ~ $ upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
native-path: BAT0
vendor: NOTEBOOK
model: BAT
serial: 0001
power supply: yes
updated: Wed 21 Oct 2015 20:31:33 BST (8 seconds ago)
has history: yes
has statistics: yes
battery
present: yes
rechargeable: yes
state: charging
energy: 17.0385 Wh
energy-empty: 0 Wh
energy-full: 47.7633 Wh
energy-full-design: 48.84 Wh
energy-rate: 0 W
voltage: 11.575 V
percentage: 35%
capacity: 97.7955%
technology: lithium-ion
Hope this helps.
I contacted Novatech today and they say that when the battery gets to 100% I should disconnect the power supply in case the battery feeds back into the mains :
OK, lets try switching to the xfce4-power-manager
First uninstall the mate-power-manager:
sudo apt-get remove mate-power-manager
now install the xfce4-power-manager:
sudo apt-get install xfce4-power-manager
now go to:-
menu > Preferences > Default applications for LXSession > Core applications (tab)
and change:-
Power Manager: mate-power-manager
to
Power Manager: xfce4-power-manager
Close the “LXSession configuration” window.
Now REBOOT ← IMPORANT
When you’ve rebooted, right-click the power manager icon in the system tray and select “About”, and it should say you’re now running the xfce4 power manager
The battery is still OK at 97% design capacity. Also the 35% is about right at having 17Wh charge of 47 Wh capacity.
Either the battery is reported incorrectly or it is a coincidence that it is at 35% whenever you look.
Try disconnecting the charger and take periodic readings to see if the charge drop is linear.
Hi Mark,
It now says xfce4-power-manager 1.2.0 when I right click, and when I hover over the icon it says
Adapter is online
Your battery is charging (35%)
@SeZo I will come back to this in the morning
So is the charge level indicator now tracking properly ?
?
I have been working on this machine all day and the icon still records 35% the other command gives this
don@ldwatson ~ $ upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
native-path: BAT0
vendor: NOTEBOOK
model: BAT
serial: 0001
power supply: yes
updated: Thu 22 Oct 2015 15:58:05 BST (24 seconds ago)
has history: yes
has statistics: yes
battery
present: yes
rechargeable: yes
state: charging
energy: 17.0385 Wh
energy-empty: 0 Wh
energy-full: 47.7633 Wh
energy-full-design: 48.84 Wh
energy-rate: 0 W
voltage: 11.564 V
percentage: 35%
capacity: 97.7955%
technology: lithium-ion
don@ldwatson ~ $
That is interesting. The chances to get exactly the same reading on different days is slim, unless there isa bug with upower not updating.
Try acpi insted and compare figures:
acpi -b
If that indicates 35% and Charging then something is not right.
As this is Peppermint, you’ll probably need to install acpi before carrying out SeZo’s test.
in fact installing acpi (and possibly laptop-mode-tools) might even solve the issue.
Hi Mark,
I have done as SeZo suggested and get this (after installing)
don@ldwatson ~ $ acpi -b
Battery 0: Charging, 35%, charging at zero rate - will never fully charge.
don@ldwatson ~ $
I’d have to guess the battery is fubar then 
Hi Mark,
I am in agreement with you.
I can remove the battery I suppose, as I am usually plugged into the mains,even when running the computer downstairs.
It should run from the mains with no battery ? or should I buy a new battery ? (it was 1 year old in February)
Just leave the battery in as a power spike buffer, and in case you suddenly loose mains … in other words, just ignore it.
Thanks Mark,
Problem solved. Many thanks again Mark 
If it’s less than a year old, you should contact Novatech. They might provide an exchange or something
Not convinced that the battery is dead(yet), it could be just mis-reported.
Try running it with power disconnected, that should force the status update. Also you could try to boot to another live distro and get the battery status that way.
In any case it is not good practice to constantly charge the battery, might as well remove it and just run the laptop off the mains.