Software to limit charge/prolong battery life?

The Compal IFL90 comes with an app called SmartBattery that allows you to set 'charge levels' in order to prolong battery life. You could set it to only charge your battery to 100, 75 or 50%.

Can anyone suggest a freeware equivalent? Or any tips on prolonging battery life that doesn't involve physically removing it from the aao when not in use.

 

That's an interesting concept. I've wondered before why i'm required to charge batteries to full capacity when it has been shown that this negatively effects the lifespan of the battery. Why can't we keep charge between 40-60% to maintain the battery life like research has demonstrated?

I'd love to see where this goes.

From Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-io ... te_note-18)

Guidelines for prolonging Li-ion battery life

Unlike Ni-Cd batteries, lithium-ion batteries should be charged early and often. However, if they are not used for a long time, they should be brought to a charge level of around 40%–60%. Lithium-ion batteries should not be frequently fully discharged and recharged ("deep-cycled") like Ni-Cd batteries, but this is necessary after about every 30th recharge to recalibrate any external electronic "fuel gauge" (e. g. State Of Charge meter). This prevents the fuel gauge from showing an incorrect battery charge.

From BatteryUniversity.com: (http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm)

"...The worst condition is keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures, which is the case with running laptop batteries. If used on main power, the battery inside a laptop will only last for 12-18 months. I must hasten to explain that the pack does not die suddenly but begins with reduced run-times.

The voltage level to which the cells are charged also plays an important role to longevity. For safety reasons, most lithium-ion cannot exceed 4.20 volts per cell. While a higher voltage boosts capacity, the disadvantage is lower cycle life. Figure 2 shows the cycle life as a function of charge voltage..."

 

i think you're missing a critical point, and its that the 40% charge recommendation to improve the battery's life applies to long term storage. if you're using the battery and limiting it to 40% charge, then you're just limiting the battery's usefulness without really affecting its longevity.

 

No, it ultimately applies to what percentage of the battery's life is "lived" at full charge. Because a lot of laptops spend a huge percentage of their usable life plugged in, they are holding the batteries at a state which is the worst condition for longevity (full charge) so that when the user unplugs they have a the most available use time. Storage doesn't need to mean removed from the machine and put in a box, it just a period when it's not needed. That's the point of Compal's battery util.

I spent years using a laptop at a desk 5 days a week plugged in, i only used the machine on battery on weekends. If i had a truly intelligent battery app that allowed me to give a "charge schedule", such as maintain 40% mon-fri and charging the battery to full at 4am saturday morning, i would have greatly extended the life of the battery. Even allowing me to do it manually, like the Compal app, would have been greatly beneficial.

edit: typo

 

you may be right, as i'm not an expert in batteries. but in the batteryuniversity.com link you provided, notice in the "simple guidelines" summary at the end that they never suggest using a battery at 40% capacity to help increase its lifespan, but rather, "Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns." i've had many laptop batteries die over the years, and i never really gave it much thought since they were paid by the office. but looking back, they all had one design flaw, they attached to the laptop at or near the hottest part.