How can I get Win11 to protect my battery properly (on Surface Latop v7)

ship169 · Aug 22, 2024

Hello

How can I get Windows 11 (Home) to protect my battery properly?

i.e. Normally it should only charge to 80% when plugged in, and when it gets below 20% (30%?) give me a warning and then soon after put my latop into sleep mode.
AND allow me to override these settings when I am travelling.

SmartCharging does not appear to be enabled in the Surface App (which seems broadly useless).

e.g. Is the "Battery Limiter" app any good?

Note: I don't want to pay for this. I want a free or freemium app. I don't mind adverts.
Fwiw, I do find it utterly ridiculous that I can't already do this - particularly as there is no easy way to replace the battery in my Microsoft Surface Laptop (v7 - 15in.)

Any thoughts?

J

antspants · Aug 22, 2024

From what I am reading, Smart Charging is always active on the Surface Laptops.
Do you have the Surface App installed?

Smart charging on Surface - Microsoft Support

Learn how Smart charging helps protect your Surface battery.

support.microsoft.com

Brink · Aug 22, 2024

Hello,

Here's some more info below on Smart Charging for Surface devices.

Pause Smart Charging on Microsoft Surface Devices Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to temporarily pause Smart Charging on your Microsoft Surface device running Windows 10 or Windows 11. Smart charging is a feature that helps protect your Surface battery against conditions that may accelerate battery deterioration or lead to expansion. Smart...

www.elevenforum.com

ship169 · Aug 26, 2024

antspants said:
From what I am reading, Smart Charging is always active on the Surface Laptops.
Do you have the Surface App installed?

Smart charging on Surface - Microsoft Support

Learn how Smart charging helps protect your Surface battery.

support.microsoft.com

Yes the Surface App is installed.

My problem is that it keeps being in "Paused" mode. i.e. It keeps charging up to 100% and leaving it there for days, which I know is bad for the battery. So my question is: How can I turn it on again... and thereby start capping the charge at 80%?

cereberus · Aug 26, 2024

ship169 said:
Yes the Surface App is installed.

My problem is that it keeps being in "Paused" mode. i.e. It keeps charging up to 100% and leaving it there for days, which I know is bad for the battery. So my question is: How can I turn it on again... and thereby start capping the charge at 80%?

How do you know it is bad?

It is just marketing hype - nobody has ever tested it over long enough period of time to prove it.

ship169 · Aug 27, 2024

cereberus said:
How do you know it is bad?

It is just marketing hype - nobody has ever tested it over long enough period of time to prove it.

Well what do you make of this article about Lithium Ion batteries?

BU-808: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

BU meta description needed...

batteryuniversity.com

I am at the limits of my knowledge, but it seens pretty compelling to me...

J

TraderGary · Aug 27, 2024

ship169 said:
Well what do you make of this article about Lithium Ion batteries?

BU-808: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

BU meta description needed...

batteryuniversity.com

I am at the limits of my knowledge, but it seens pretty compelling to me...

J

Battery University is a well-regarded resource for information on lithium-ion batteries.

While it is a valuable source of information, it’s always a good idea to cross-reference with other reputable sources to get a well-rounded understanding.

The documentation for your computer should have reliable battery recommendations.

ship169 · Sep 1, 2024

OK so what's the answer?!

It's pretty clear that keeping the laptop's Lithium-ion battery at 100% charge for too long is BAD for the battery health.

So, how can I keep it below 80% charge?

J

cereberus · Sep 1, 2024

ship169 said:
It's pretty clear that keeping the laptop's Lithium-ion battery at 100% charge for too long is BAD for the battery health.

Yep clear as mud. There are loads of articles that also dispute how significant the 80% impact is.

My old laptop was always charged to 100% and after 4 years, it had reduced from 3hrs charge to around 2.5 hours, and after 6 years is down to around 2 hours.

I probably will not get 10 years - however battery is not that difficult to replace if I ever needed to.

The problem with all this so called advice is you can never prove a negative i.e. you can never prove 80% limit has actually helped.

In the end, your bios either allows you to limit charge or it does not.

rinconmike · Sep 1, 2024

I read that it may show pause on a new device and let it charge to 100%. As time goes on windows may turn this on (no pause it). I have had my surface laptop 7 for around 6 weeks and still shows pause. I have been letting it get down to around 25% to 30% before charging again.

ship169 · Sep 3, 2024

cereberus said:
Yep clear as mud. There are loads of articles that also dispute how significant the 80% impact is.

My old laptop was always charged to 100% and after 4 years, it had reduced from 3hrs charge to around 2.5 hours, and after 6 years is down to around 2 hours.

I probably will not get 10 years - however battery is not that difficult to replace if I ever needed to.

The problem with all this so called advice is you can never prove a negative i.e. you can never prove 80% limit has actually helped.

In the end, your bios either allows you to limit charge or it does not.

Interesting. However I find it hard to imagine that Microsoft would have built in (or claimed to have done so) if staying at 100% charge was not in some way damaging.

The BIOS only seems have one setting and that make is stop charging at about 48% and worse, is pretty clunky to change spontaneously e.g. when you're about to go travelling.... At which point you have to specially reboot the machine etc.

It's also irritating that the battery isn't particularly easy to replace (albeit vastly easier than the likes of Apple).

All pretty irritating.

J

PS Are we sure that there definitely isn't any 3rd party software that can manage the max (& min) charges... plus allow an override for when travelling ?