Mailing List Archive

Full battery laptop only 1 hour
Hello guys,

I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life, everything ok,
(using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my laptop has only 1
hour of life, which is really annoying because its a brand new laptop
bought one year before.

Here is my upower -d in case its necessary:

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_ADP1
  native-path:          ADP1
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              lun 12 sep 2022 17:42:19 (1320 seconds ago)
  has history:          no
  has statistics:       no
  line-power
    warning-level:       none
    online:              no
    icon-name:          'ac-adapter-symbolic'

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
  native-path:          BAT0
  vendor:               HP
  model:                Primary
  serial:               SerialNumber
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              lun 12 sep 2022 18:02:19 (120 seconds ago)
  has history:          yes
  has statistics:       yes
  battery
    present:             yes
    rechargeable:        yes
    state:               discharging
    warning-level:       none
    energy:              34,904 Wh
    energy-empty:        0 Wh
    energy-full:         43,659 Wh
    energy-full-design:  43,659 Wh
    energy-rate:         22,661 W
    voltage:             11,617 V
    charge-cycles:       173
    time to empty:       1,5 hours
    percentage:          79%
    capacity:            100%
    technology:          lithium-ion
    icon-name:          'battery-full-symbolic'

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/DisplayDevice
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              lun 12 sep 2022 18:02:19 (120 seconds ago)
  has history:          no
  has statistics:       no
  battery
    present:             yes
    state:               discharging
    warning-level:       none
    energy:              34,904 Wh
    energy-full:         43,659 Wh
    energy-rate:         22,661 W
    charge-cycles:       N/A
    time to empty:       1,5 hours
    percentage:          79%
    icon-name:          'battery-full-symbolic'

Daemon:
  daemon-version:  0.99.17
  on-battery:      yes
  lid-is-closed:   no
  lid-is-present:  yes
  critical-action: PowerOff

I hope someone can help me, i don't like to plug my pc into the power
but i need to do it in order to follow my class.
Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 9:10 AM Guillermo García <
guillermo18barresiones@gmail.com> wrote:
<SNIP>
> energy: 34,904 Wh
> energy-empty: 0 Wh
> energy-full: 43,659 Wh
> energy-full-design: 43,659 Wh
> energy-rate: 22,661 W
> voltage: 11,617 V
> charge-cycles: 173
> time to empty: 1,5 hours
<SNIP>

This energy-rate seems very high. I have an old Asus laptop. energy-full
for me is around 60Wh. energy-rate, sitting idle, is around 5Wh. I
typically get 6-8 hours on battery with normal usage.

I'd suggest looking carefully into whether something is more active than
it needs to be. You can also invoke energy saving levels if you're using a
prepackaged environment like Kubuntu.

Good luck,
Mark
Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
I would recommend attempting to minimize CPU usage (as CPU usage usually computes to power usage)
You should also check your GPU, as if you have 2 (a non-graphics intense and a graphics intense), then the graphics intense one would likely draw more power.

With your story, its likely a usage thing, with the parts not a problem. Though, just in case, I would check out the parts in your laptop, seeing what might be some high-powered parts if you can't get CPU usage lowered.

> On Sep 12, 2022, at 11:10 AM, Guillermo García <guillermo18barresiones@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ?Hello guys,
>
> I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life, everything ok, (using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my laptop has only 1 hour of life, which is really annoying because its a brand new laptop bought one year before.
>
> Here is my upower -d in case its necessary: [...]
>
> I hope someone can help me, i don't like to plug my pc into the power but i need to do it in order to follow my class.
>
>
Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
If the laptop is still within warranty, you might want to see what
support you can get from the maker.

On 2022.09.12 12:05, Guillermo Garc?a wrote:
> Hello guys,
>
> I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life, everything
> ok, (using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my laptop has
> only 1 hour of life, which is really annoying because its a brand new
> laptop bought one year before.
>
> Here is my upower -d in case its necessary:
>
> Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_ADP1
> ? native-path:????????? ADP1
> ? power supply:???????? yes
> ? updated:????????????? lun 12 sep 2022 17:42:19 (1320 seconds ago)
> ? has history:????????? no
> ? has statistics:?????? no
> ? line-power
> ??? warning-level:?????? none
> ??? online:????????????? no
> ??? icon-name:????????? 'ac-adapter-symbolic'
>
> Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
> ? native-path:????????? BAT0
> ? vendor:?????????????? HP
> ? model:??????????????? Primary
> ? serial:?????????????? SerialNumber
> ? power supply:???????? yes
> ? updated:????????????? lun 12 sep 2022 18:02:19 (120 seconds ago)
> ? has history:????????? yes
> ? has statistics:?????? yes
> ? battery
> ??? present:???????????? yes
> ??? rechargeable:??????? yes
> ??? state:?????????????? discharging
> ??? warning-level:?????? none
> ??? energy:????????????? 34,904 Wh
> ??? energy-empty:??????? 0 Wh
> ??? energy-full:???????? 43,659 Wh
> ??? energy-full-design:? 43,659 Wh
> ??? energy-rate:???????? 22,661 W
> ??? voltage:???????????? 11,617 V
> ??? charge-cycles:?????? 173
> ??? time to empty:?????? 1,5 hours
> ??? percentage:????????? 79%
> ??? capacity:??????????? 100%
> ??? technology:????????? lithium-ion
> ??? icon-name:????????? 'battery-full-symbolic'
>
> Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/DisplayDevice
> ? power supply:???????? yes
> ? updated:????????????? lun 12 sep 2022 18:02:19 (120 seconds ago)
> ? has history:????????? no
> ? has statistics:?????? no
> ? battery
> ??? present:???????????? yes
> ??? state:?????????????? discharging
> ??? warning-level:?????? none
> ??? energy:????????????? 34,904 Wh
> ??? energy-full:???????? 43,659 Wh
> ??? energy-rate:???????? 22,661 W
> ??? charge-cycles:?????? N/A
> ??? time to empty:?????? 1,5 hours
> ??? percentage:????????? 79%
> ??? icon-name:????????? 'battery-full-symbolic'
>
> Daemon:
> ? daemon-version:? 0.99.17
> ? on-battery:????? yes
> ? lid-is-closed:?? no
> ? lid-is-present:? yes
> ? critical-action: PowerOff
>
> I hope someone can help me, i don't like to plug my pc into the power
> but i need to do it in order to follow my class.
>
>
Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
Am Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 06:05:03PM +0200 schrieb Guillermo García:
> Hello guys,
>
> I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life, everything ok,
> (using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my laptop has only 1 hour
> of life, which is really annoying because its a brand new laptop bought one
> year before.
>
> Here is my upower -d in case its necessary:

If it’s an Intel laptop, check powertop. It will tell you all sorts of
causes for power usage, including interrupts, display, different chips,
their sleep states and so on. Also check whether your CPU can reach the
deepest C-state available. I’m not sure how much the tool helps on an AMD
system, since I don’t have one yet.

Anecdote: when I bought my passively cooled mini-PC with an Intel N5100, it
drew 10 W from the socket. I was a bit disappointed, because I knew it could
do less. Powertop told me that it remained at C3 and did not enter C6. I
checked for a BIOS upgrade and – sure enough – there was one and the
changelog said something about C states. After the upgrade, C6 was available
and power draw decreased to 6..7 W.

--
Grüße | Greetings | Salut | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network.

A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.
Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
On 2022-09-12, Guillermo García wrote:

> Hello guys,
>
> I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life, everything
> ok, (using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my laptop has
> only 1 hour of life, which is really annoying because its a brand new
> laptop bought one year before.

Did anything change? Is this the same system/install which used to last
4 hours on idle? Or, when you say "brand new bought one year before",
you mean it wasn't used before?

--
Nuno Silva
Re: Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 1:40 PM Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@ist.utl.pt> wrote:
>
> On 2022-09-12, Guillermo García wrote:
>
> > Hello guys,
> >
> > I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life, everything
> > ok, (using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my laptop has
> > only 1 hour of life, which is really annoying because its a brand new
> > laptop bought one year before.
>
> Did anything change? Is this the same system/install which used to last
> 4 hours on idle? Or, when you say "brand new bought one year before",
> you mean it wasn't used before?
>
> --
> Nuno Silva
>

Battery life can change over time. I've had batteries that after a couple of
years just didn't last as long. I've purchased a few replacement batteries
from Amazon and one of them didn't hold charge at all.

1 year is pretty short but possibly he might buy a new battery as
a test. They generally aren't overly expensive.

Or how about booting just to a console and testing how long
the machine stays up?
Re: Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
Am Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 01:51:39PM -0700 schrieb Mark Knecht:
> On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 1:40 PM Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@ist.utl.pt> wrote:
> >
> > On 2022-09-12, Guillermo García wrote:
> >
> > > Hello guys,
> > >
> > > I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life, everything
> > > ok, (using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my laptop has
> > > only 1 hour of life, which is really annoying because its a brand new
> > > laptop bought one year before.
> >
> > Did anything change? Is this the same system/install which used to last
> > 4 hours on idle? Or, when you say "brand new bought one year before",
> > you mean it wasn't used before?
> >
> > --
> > Nuno Silva
> >
>
> Battery life can change over time. I've had batteries that after a couple of
> years just didn't last as long. I've purchased a few replacement batteries
> from Amazon and one of them didn't hold charge at all.

My Thinkpad is 6¼ years old and the batteries it shipped with are at 72 and
75 % of their original capacity. But I didn’t use them *that* much, and
always kept them betweet 40 and 80 % charge when I didn’t need them, which
is probably 98 % of the year.

> 1 year is pretty short but possibly he might buy a new battery as
> a test. They generally aren't overly expensive.

I don’t believe that they went down to 25 % of their original capacity
within a year. To achieve that, they must have endured unspeakable abuse.

--
Grüße | Greetings | Salut | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network.

The three main languages in India: Hindi, English and HTML.
RE: Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
Note that most batteries these days in anything more complex than a watch have "smart" charge controllers and so upower or similar can read what their design watt-hours and current maximum capacity are. Also, often the total charge or discharge rate. That plus a little math should tell you if it's an aging battery or if your machine is simply failing to idle down for some reason.

LMP

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@gmx.de>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 4:46 PM
To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour

Am Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 01:51:39PM -0700 schrieb Mark Knecht:
> On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 1:40 PM Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@ist.utl.pt> wrote:
> >
> > On 2022-09-12, Guillermo García wrote:
> >
> > > Hello guys,
> > >
> > > I bought a laptop and i got like 4 hours of batter life,
> > > everything ok, (using more than 1 vm, etc), however now in idle my
> > > laptop has only 1 hour of life, which is really annoying because
> > > its a brand new laptop bought one year before.
> >
> > Did anything change? Is this the same system/install which used to
> > last
> > 4 hours on idle? Or, when you say "brand new bought one year
> > before", you mean it wasn't used before?
> >
> > --
> > Nuno Silva
> >
>
> Battery life can change over time. I've had batteries that after a
> couple of years just didn't last as long. I've purchased a few
> replacement batteries from Amazon and one of them didn't hold charge at all.

My Thinkpad is 6¼ years old and the batteries it shipped with are at 72 and
75 % of their original capacity. But I didn’t use them *that* much, and always kept them betweet 40 and 80 % charge when I didn’t need them, which is probably 98 % of the year.

> 1 year is pretty short but possibly he might buy a new battery as a
> test. They generally aren't overly expensive.

I don’t believe that they went down to 25 % of their original capacity within a year. To achieve that, they must have endured unspeakable abuse.

--
Grüße | Greetings | Salut | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network.

The three main languages in India: Hindi, English and HTML.
Re: Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
On Thursday, 15 September 2022 18:10:39 BST Laurence Perkins wrote:
> Note that most batteries these days in anything more complex than a watch
> have "smart" charge controllers and so upower or similar can read what
> their design watt-hours and current maximum capacity are. Also, often the
> total charge or discharge rate. That plus a little math should tell you if
> it's an aging battery or if your machine is simply failing to idle down for
> some reason.

> LMP

Larger capacity batteries have multiple banks in them connected in parallel.
Some times one of the banks or its controller(?) fails and while the rest
continue to work, the loss in capacity is a noticeable step change. I recall
suddenly losing ~1/3 of the battery capacity on a laptop just 3 or so happy
years into its life. The remaining of the battery capacity continued to
degrade slowly and gradually over many years. So notwithstanding the high
consumption identified by the OP the software causes of which should be
investigated, there could be also a problem with the battery unit itself.

BTW, short & frequent top ups of lithium-ion batteries is the best approach to
their charging, while deep discharge can guarantee a shorter effective life.
RE: Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour [ In reply to ]
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael <confabulate@kintzios.com>
>Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2022 11:01 AM
>To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
>Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Full battery laptop only 1 hour
>
>On Thursday, 15 September 2022 18:10:39 BST Laurence Perkins wrote:
>> Note that most batteries these days in anything more complex than a
>> watch have "smart" charge controllers and so upower or similar can
>> read what their design watt-hours and current maximum capacity are.
>> Also, often the total charge or discharge rate. That plus a little
>> math should tell you if it's an aging battery or if your machine is
>> simply failing to idle down for some reason.
>
>> LMP
>
>Larger capacity batteries have multiple banks in them connected in parallel.
>Some times one of the banks or its controller(?) fails and while the rest continue to work, the loss in capacity is a noticeable step change. I recall suddenly losing ~1/3 of the battery capacity on a laptop just 3 or so happy years into its life. The remaining of the battery capacity continued to degrade slowly and gradually over many years. So notwithstanding the high consumption identified by the OP the software causes of which should be investigated, there could be also a problem with the battery unit itself.
>
>BTW, short & frequent top ups of lithium-ion batteries is the best approach to their charging, while deep discharge can guarantee a shorter effective life.
>
At the same time, don't make it too short. The charger has to run for a few seconds to a few minutes to determine that the battery is, in fact, full, and repeated overcharging in that manner will destroy the battery in short order. Let it run down at least a few percent before you plug it in again.

Their lifetime is generally happiest if you keep them between 50 and 80%. Some packs automatically cut off the charging at the 80% mark and just tell you that it's full in order to increase the cycle count.

LMP