Battery Status Indicator in Notification Area

kgarrett67 · Aug 17, 2022

I've been curious why we have to stare at a battery status indicator in the notification area on desktop computers when there is no battery. I think I have stumbled upon something just now that may or may not indicate what it's monitoring. I have an APC UPS connected to my computer system, with the supplied cable connected to the computer that monitors the UPS through APC's PowerChute software. This morning, there was a power outage while I was away. When I returned home, I found my computer had shut down due to a low battery state on the UPS. I powered the system on. I found the UPS battery level at 50%, and about an hour later, it had increased to approximately 75%, so that's all good. For no apparent reason, I glanced at the lower right of my computer screen and noticed the battery indicator not showing a full charge as it always had been. I hovered the mouse over the icon and discovered it was at 86%. I've seen no documentation on the usage of the battery indicator on a desktop computer. Now, it seems likely it is obtaining information from the UPS indicating the battery level of the UPS.

Has anyone noticed this who uses a UPS?

imanlien2020 · Aug 17, 2022

kgarrett67 said:
I've been curious why we have to stare at a battery status indicator in the notification area on desktop computers when there is no battery. I think I have stumbled upon something just now that may or may not indicate what it's monitoring. I have an APC UPS connected to my computer system, with the supplied cable connected to the computer that monitors the UPS through APC's PowerChute software. This morning, there was a power outage while I was away. When I returned home, I found my computer had shut down due to a low battery state on the UPS. I powered the system on. I found the UPS battery level at 50%, and about an hour later, it had increased to approximately 75%, so that's all good. For no apparent reason, I glanced at the lower right of my computer screen and noticed the battery indicator not showing a full charge as it always had been. I hovered the mouse over the icon and discovered it was at 86%. I've seen no documentation on the usage of the battery indicator on a desktop computer. Now, it seems likely it is obtaining information from the UPS indicating the battery level of the UPS.

Has anyone noticed this who uses a UPS?

I have always thought the same thing..lol. they should have a manual disable show button for it somewhere in settings you would think.

kgarrett67 · Aug 17, 2022

@imanlien2020, you are correct. I guess understanding its purpose in a desktop environment would also be meaningful.

BrianInEngland · Aug 17, 2022

I've never seen a battery indicator on a desktop PC, mine certainly doesn't have one

Try3 · Aug 17, 2022

imanlien2020 said:
they should have a manual disable show button for it somewhere in settings you would think

Alien - You can choose to remove it using the dialog that this brings up
explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}\SystemIcons
[The same code also works in Windows 10.]

K - I think your original post is an excellent addition to our communal knowledge of the subject. I'm glad you bothered to tell us.

All the best,
Denis

kgarrett67 · Aug 17, 2022

BrianInEngland said:
I've never seen a battery indicator on a desktop PC, mine certainly doesn't have one

I'm not sure what triggers it to appear. Maybe it is because I have a UPS, but I think others have the icon as well.

kgarrett67 · Aug 17, 2022

Try3 said:
Alien - You can choose to remove it using the dialog that this brings up
explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}\SystemIcons
[The same code also works in Windows 10.]

K - I think your original post is an excellent addition to our communal knowledge of the subject. I'm glad you bothered to tell us.

All the best,
Denis

Denis, would you help me understand how to make it go away? I'm not following you on using the dialog that brings up explorer.exe shell::::

Thanks

Try3 · Aug 17, 2022

K,

Might I ask what, in practice, your UPS achieves for you - how long it powers your desktop for? And what is its rated power capacity?

I'd never seriously considered the subject before Monday when my area had two momentary loses of power about an hour apart.
I use a desktop computer as my TV recorder*** so could usefully consider adding a UPS to avoid problems.
*** It sleeps between recordings but I could easily change that to hibernation to enhance resilience.

All the best,
Denis

Try3 · Aug 17, 2022

kgarrett67 said:
would you help me understand how to make it go away? I'm not following you on using the dialog that brings up explorer.exe shell::::

Doesn't yours have a Power entry?
This is mine on a laptop.

Add back or remove missing System icons.png

You ought to be able to set that to Off then click the OK button to avoid the icon appearing. But, given that it is telling you the state of your UPS battery, I don't know if you would benefit from turning it off.

My only desktop is on Windows 10 and I do not have a UPS.

Denis

kgarrett67 · Aug 17, 2022

Try3 said:
K,

Might I ask what, in practice, your UPS achieves for you - how long it powers your desktop for? And what is its rated power capacity?

I'd never seriously considered the subject before Monday when my area had two momentary loses of power about an hour apart.
I use a desktop computer as my TV recorder*** so could usefully consider adding a UPS to avoid problems.
*** It sleeps between recordings but I could easily change that to hibernation to enhance resilience.

All the best,
Denis

Mine is a Back-UPS XS 1300. I purchased it from Costco a long time ago and have replaced the batteries once already. So smaller UPS units aren't designed to keep your computer running long. While the UPS indicator on my UPS shows about 25 - 30 minutes of battery power under a no-load condition, the more you have connected, the shorter that time will be. I have two monitors, a computer, a switch, a wireless router, and a cable modem all plugged in. The main purpose of a UPS is to keep your computer equipment running long enough for you to save your work and then shut down your computer in a safe manner. Larger UPS units may power equipment for a longer time. For instance, a 911 dispatch center may have UPS units that will run for 8 hours.

kgarrett67 · Aug 17, 2022

Try3 said:
Doesn't yours have a Power entry?
This is mine on a laptop.
View attachment 36693

You ought to be able to set that to Off then click the OK button to avoid the icon appearing. But, given that it is telling you the state of your UPS battery, I don't know if you would benefit from turning it off.

My only desktop is on Windows 10 and I do not have a UPS.

Denis

Denis, if your desktop is a Windows 10 computer, you will not have this battery status indicator. It is something new on Windows 11 OS. So far, there has not been any way to turn the battery status off on desktop computers.

Try3 · Aug 17, 2022

Thanks for the info. I'm going to look into the subject so your real-life experience is very helpful.
I'll have to consider my loading requirement - probably desktop itself [assuming it was in sleep / hibernation between recordings], monitor off, WiFi router, phone charger.

I have sort-of-UPSs for my main laptop, powerbanks that supply 19.5V that can each keep it running for an hour or more.
I did not consider this issue when deciding to buy a desktop for the secondary computer & TV recorder job. It replaced an old laptop that had started to fall apart.

All the best,
Denis

Not Myself · Aug 17, 2022

kgarrett67 said:
Denis, if your desktop is a Windows 10 computer, you will not have this battery status indicator. It is something new on Windows 11 OS. So far, there has not been any way to turn the battery status off on desktop computers.

Perhaps, but although I have an APC UPS running with PowerChute, I have never seen a battery status indicator on the task bar, and I am running Windows 11. Maybe I have found an unknown way to hide the miscreant status indicator.

kgarrett67 · Aug 17, 2022

Not Myself said:
Perhaps, but although I have an APC UPS running with PowerChute, I have never seen a battery status indicator on the task bar, and I am running Windows 11. Maybe I have found an unknown way to hide the miscreant status indicator.

I should mention that when I upgraded to Windows 11 Pro, I did a clean install and did not reinstall PowerChute. So the PowerChute software is not installed and running.