Is there any tool (for Windows 7) to set a threshold for when the laptop battery should stop charging? I could use the Lenovo Power Manager, however I actually prefer Windows' native power management for the other tasks.
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It is actually possible to set charging thresholds on ThinkPads through a proprietary API once introduced by IBM. Not only does it support a stop threshold (so your battery never exceeds e.g. 75% charge) but also a start threshold. I really like this feature. So if you often switch between your desk and walking through your office building you won't keep your battery charging and discharging between 90 and 100%. Because it's an API kept secret and unique to ThinkPads there are no generic implementations neither in other hardware brands nor different software tools (with tp_smapi being the only exception as an reverse-engineered implementation for Linux).
For years I've been using tp_smapi under Linux to set these values. According to Thinkwiki and my own tests booting Linux, setting the thresholds and rebooting to Windows works while keeping the set values. I can confirm that a complete battery rundown resets the values. I don't know yet what's happening when the system is shut down because my OS ever set the values again during boot.
I think it's quite awkward to boot two operating systems one after another just to set this option. Unfortunately to my knowledge there's no other way under Windows than using the Lenovo Power Manager. What are crappy program it is.
Maybe you can set the values with the power manager and than disable it? The battery control is done by hardware/firmware and no program is required to be running for the settings to take effect.
I have the battery manager running anyways and just didn't found the setting which brought me here. Hope the information above helps anyone.
Daniel Böhmer
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i am using Lenovo PM and charge thresholds set were not working as charging would continue till 100% was achieved. I upgraded my BIOS and it solved the problem. now charge thresholds settings are working
ashraf
- 31
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If I understand your question, you are trying to keep your battery at a level lower than 100% (let's say 40%). I wanted the same thing in the past because I used my laptop mainly as a desktop, and keeping the battery at 100% all the time was not necessary and not healthy for it. What I found is that even though in theory it is possible to find software controlling the level of the battery while the OS is running, when the computer is powered off/put to sleep, it will start charging because there is no hardware support for such feature - keeping the battery at lower level.
So in conclusion, if you have laptop different from Lenovo/ThinkPad, I think there is no way to achieve this.
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I did not work for me in the beginning because Z500 didn't know it had a battery.
- First do a clean install of Windows 7.
- Install all the drivers only for Lenovo site and respect the restarts. Install Lenovo Energy Management last. Go to Lenovo Energy Management and set it for full Performance.
- The indicator in the animation should be far right not center.
- Go to Advanced Power Settings in Control Panel -> Lenovo Energy Management and hit ENABLE
Now you restart and you should be able to do the firmware update
If you cannot do the firmware update then uninstall LEM, remove ACPI from Device Manager, Reinstall LEM, Enable again.
- If you cannot do the firmware update then try battery gauge reset in Safe Mode and remove ACPI after, and then Reinstall LEM, Enable.
The video is useful only if your Lenovo Z500 recognizes battery.
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A good practice is to unplug the laptop on occasion and let the battery drain down and plug it in when you get the warning. Batteries that are never discharged do not last as long a batteries that have been discharged. Once a battery is fully charged it should only be trickel charged and this does not happen on laptops. Charging a battery that is fully charged will shorten it's lifespan.
Jon Hall
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