Battery indicator not updating properly when plugging in charger

I'm using Zorin OS Core 17.2 on a ThinkPad X270 with only the external battery installed (so no dual batteries with PowerBridge).
Unplugging the charger updates the battery indicator correctly, but when plugging it back in the indicator doesn't update.

I've already done a bit of troubleshooting. When I run the upower -i command to see my battery status, that causes the indicator to update and display properly. When using the acpi_listen command, I see events coming in both when I unplug and when I reinsert the charger.

battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000000
thermal_zone LNXTHERM:00 00000081 00000000
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000001
thermal_zone LNXTHERM:00 00000081 00000000
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000000
thermal_zone LNXTHERM:00 00000081 00000000
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000001
thermal_zone LNXTHERM:00 00000081 00000000
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000000
thermal_zone LNXTHERM:00 00000081 00000000
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
battery PNP0C0A:01 00000080 00000001
ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000001
thermal_zone LNXTHERM:00 00000081 00000000

Why does the acpi event for plugging in the charger not update the indicator, while the acpi event for unplugging it does?

This is not exactly a dealbreaker, as Zorin has otherwise been treating me very well, but I use this laptop on the go for projects so I often quickly plug it in to charge and leave right away so it's a bit annoying having to either double check with the upower command or be paranoid it's somehow not charging :grin:

Ahh, this is a common issue with Linux, as it has difficulties with battery percentage level indicators. ( I don't know why ) But its been a common thing forever pretty much. What I find what works the best for me, is doing a battery training procedure.

Run on the battery till dead, then plug in the charger, and charge the battery all the way up. Then unplug the computer, and do it all over again. Usually after doing this a few times, the OS seems to get the picture. And it starts reporting the battery percentage better.

Additionally, I don't know how old your notebook is, but mine is from 2021, and it has a modern feature, where it prevents the battery from sitting at 100% all the time, while I keep the cable plugged in. This is a feature to save the battery lifecycle.

But it does let me get to 100% occasionally, like right now, its at 100%. I was surprised at the activity at first, until I researched it, and found it was a modern feature, to extend the life of the lithium battery.


my battery indicator does the same , it's an old laptop so battery isn't that great, lasts about hour and half if i unplug charger . so i keep it on charge all the time ( my laptop is stationary , like a desktop lol)
anyway my indicator show waiting to charge , and sometimes it shows full .
i don't pay it any attention anymore

on the rare occasion i do unplug the charger , the indicator is pretty accurate on how much percentage is left until it dies

This happens when it’s charged at (lets say) 90% and you remove the cable and reinsert it back. Then it will charge to 100%.

In cosmic there will be a setting that it will change to 80% at max to improve battery.