Lenovo battery charge level declining even though plugged in

Buddy · Aug 14, 2024

I just happened to hover over the battery icon on my Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 10 and it shows 95% charge remaining even though the computer is connected to the charger and the icon shows it as charging. Going into the power settings, it shows the charge level as gradually declining over the last 7 days, which is the farthest back it will go. It's clearly not running on the battery alone - if it was, it would have run down long ago.

Anyone with a clue what's happening here?

The computer is about 2 1/2 years old.

andrew129260 · Aug 14, 2024

Some laptops have a battery health feature in the bios / windows that won't allow a full charge for battery health reasons if it's constantly plugged in.

antspants · Aug 14, 2024

I wondered about my new lenovo Yoga in regards to that. Do you have Lenovo software installed?

Regardless

If Conservation Mode is turned off and the AC adapter is added when the battery capacity drops from 100% but is still more than 95% (95% - 100%), the battery will not start charging. This is not a bug. It is due to the battery charge self-protection feature.

Buddy · Aug 14, 2024

antspants said:
Do you have Lenovo software installed?

It's had Lenovo Commercial Vantage installed on it since I unboxed it. I just opened Vantage and I'm 99% sure that's the first time I've seen it. Had to go through the EULA stuff when it started. Anyway, Battery Saver is "off", which I guess was the default, since I didn't put it there. I didn't find "Conservation Mode". Is that something different from Battery Saver?

Buddy · Aug 14, 2024

antspants said:
If Conservation Mode is turned off and the AC adapter is added when the battery capacity drops from 100% but is still more than 95% (95% - 100%), the battery will not start charging. This is not a bug. It is due to the battery charge self-protection feature.

I get what you're saying, but this appears to be something new. Looking at the 7-day battery status history (farthest back the power settings go) it's dropped from 98% to 95% over the last week. Down a per cent every day or two. It went from 96 to 95 last night.

I've had laptops that, with age, would eventually only run on the charger. I'm wondering if this one is heading into that. Seems a bit early in its life for that, but who knows?

FWIW, it's charging through the umbilical to the CalDigit TS4 dock, which is the way it's been set up since day one. It rarely leaves the dock, maybe 3 or 4 times a year.

Helmut · Aug 14, 2024

I would not worry, my Lenovo is currently at 98%, but looking at the 7 day graph in Windows it looks to be triggering a charge to 100% at around ~94% as far as I can tell. That is clear from my graph, so just wait...
I presume this is a Lenovo thing.

Nothing to do with battery full charge capacity reducing over the years.

I have switched off the Rapid Charge as the battery got very hot during a full rapid charge.

antspants · Aug 14, 2024

Buddy said:
The computer is about 2 1/2 years old.

Most batteries have a shelf life of 1 year or a little longer before they degrade. Depending on the use and charging methods I would imagine. Warranties for batteries are generally no longer than 12 months for this reason.

Buddy · Aug 14, 2024

Helmut said:
I would not worry, my Lenovo is currently at 98%, but looking at the 7 day graph in Windows it looks to be triggering a charge to 100% at around ~94% as far as I can tell. That is clear from my graph, so just wait...
I presume this is a Lenovo thing.

Nothing to do with battery full charge capacity reducing over the years.

I have switched off the Rapid Charge as the battery got very hot during a full rapid charge.

Interesting and (I hope) helpful. Thanks.

Full disclosure - I have only VERY rarely hovered over the battery icon. And I've never looked at the history until an hour or so ago. I'll wait to see what happens. At the rate it's been gently dropping, it should hit 94 sometime in the next 48 hours.

TechnoMage2021 · Aug 16, 2024

I have several laptops, some of which I've had to replace the internal battery. But they all remain on charge, 24x7.

An age old rule of thumb on laptops and their batteries, is.... to unplug the charger, occasionally, and run the laptop till the battery is down to around 50%. Then plug the charger back in and recharge the battery.
I've never fully understood the Chemistry of LAPTOP batteries, but this routine seems to help give them LIFE.

When that fails, just replace the battery. There are many sources....

TM

Anibor_11 · Aug 16, 2024

TechnoMage2021 said:
An age old rule of thumb on laptops and their batteries, is.... to unplug the charger, occasionally, and run the laptop till the battery is down to around 50%. Then plug the charger back in and recharge the battery.

TM

On recent laptops, this can be done automatically, via Vantage in Lenovo.

The same applies to recent phones. In Samsung phones this is the default setting. Change to 100%, disconnect the charger, reconnect when charge drops to 95%, all automatic.

archfoto · Aug 16, 2024

When we still had a Lenovo laptop in the family, it was plugged in almost all the time it was in use, and used as a desktop, with a regular monitor and keyboard. To keep the battery going for as long as possible, I removed the battery and ran the computer on house current, inserting the battery every couple of weeks to charge it back up. I hardly ever used it solely on the battery. It had a built-in limit, and would not recharge the battery until it went below 95% charge. It lasted 7 years that way. I had read that it was bad to always have the battery on charge all the time. Then I replaced the computer with a desktop.