Laptop battery life is a crucial aspect of productivity, and mastering the art of extending it is essential. This article is not just about squeezing more hours out of a single charge, but about adopting practices and tweaks that ensure your laptop’s battery remains robust and reliable for years to come. We will discuss Linux… continue reading.
The article is really useful. I have been trying to find a means of controlling my laptop’s battery charge levels while keeping it plugged in, i.e. the oft-quoted 20% and 80% in order to manage and extend the battery’s lifespan. I have tried TLP and some of the related options. However none seem to work. After a fair amount of research and discussion with various folk, it appears that the ‘problem’ I have is dependent on the hardware of my Clevo laptop; The BIOS doesn’t offer any advanced battery management options. A comment that came out of my search is that Lithium Ion batteries generally have a battery management system (BMS) built in which achieves a similar end and ensures no over or under charging. Any comments on this would be useful.
@GOMpt Thanks for the feedback! Welcome to our Linux community!
I’m glad you found the article helpful. Regarding your Clevo laptop, you’re absolutely right that battery charge limiting depends on hardware support.
Many manufacturers offer built-in battery management settings either in the BIOS/UEFI or via vendor-specific tools (e.g. tlp for Lenovo ThinkPads, asusctl for ASUS laptops). Clevo machines probably lack these.
Here’s how you can check:
Check Vendor-Specific Support
Some Clevo models do allow charge limit settings via their EC (Embedded Controller) firmware, but this varies. First, can check if there’s a update available for your BIOS/firmware that might enable charge thresholds.
Kernel Level Battery Management
After installing TLP, run this command:
sudo tlp-stat -b
…look for charge thresholds in the output. If they are N/A, it means your hardware doesn’t expose or support charge limit control.
Regarding built-in Battery Management System (BMS):
Lithium-ion batteries have a built-in Battery Management System (BMS) that prevents overcharging, but this doesn’t mean they enforce the 20-80% range for longevity.
The BMS ensures safety but doesn’t optimize long-term wear like software-based charge limits would.
Manually managing charge levels with a smart plug like this one or monitoring battery levels manually might be your only options with that laptop model. With the smart plug you may be able to fab something using IFTTT.