Battery Level Software

[champion-7891]

Not sure if this belongs in this sub-forum or the Notebook one.

I have tried a few softwares like BatteryCAre and HWMonitor to check the battery wear levels of my 2 year old HP Probook 4540 and they always show Battery Wear Level at 100% although I can subjectively tell that what used to be a nominal 4 hour usage period is now down to about 2.5 hours. So why isn't this being shown in software?

 

[HOSED]

I would try calibrating the battery if windows, and 2 third party programs do not show proper wear level. Fully charge battery, set up a custom windows power plan where critical battery level = 1% and critical battery action is shutdown. Once the shutdown occurs, plugin and check the wear level again.
Note the settings referenced are in advanced settings, battery ...

 

[Dahak]

Here is HP's recommended way to check and test the batteries
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c00821536

 

[code65536]

This has absolutely nothing to do with charge-discharge calibration.

The problem with battery levels is that they all depend on the battery to self-report this data. All that these battery programs do is spit out what the battery tells them.

And batteries don't always provide accurate information.

Normally, batteries are supposed to report their design capacity (i.e., their maximum charge when they are fresh from the factory) and their current maximum capacity. The difference between these two gives you the wear level.

In the case of the batteries used by the ProBook 4x30s series (and from your post, this apparently applies to the 4x40s series as well), the battery always reports a design capacity equal to the current maximum capacity. The current maximum capacity is reported correctly, AFAICT, but the design capacity is not. To get the correct battery wear level for these batteries, you have to read the design capacity off of the battery label and compare that to what the battery is reporting for its current design/maximum capacity.

And not to single HP out, there are other batteries out there with their own reporting quirks. E.g., I have an Asus battery that reports a design capacity that is well over what it should be (and what is written on the sticker), so it looks like the battery has a high wear level even when it's brand new.

 

[sonitravel09]

You can easily check battery status. Just install "Battery Calibration " App. When your device is rooted this makes very easy to wipe battery status

 

[Muadib]

You can easily check battery status. Just install "Battery Calibration " App. When your device is rooted this makes very easy to wipe battery status

Wut? Since when do you root a laptop?