Help with battery issues

Hello everyone,
I am new to Zorin OS and so far I am enjoying the experience, however I noticed abnormal battery drainage
I did install tlp but saw no changes so far, I read on this forum that I need to let battery drain twice for it to calibrate(is this standard for all devices)
So do i let it drain to 0% or around 20 is fine..Any other advice for same is appreciated
Thankyou

1 Like

You want to let the battery drain until the device dies.
Then, plug the charge in and let the device charge until it is fully charged.
Once fully charged, then power it on.
I suggest repeating a round - leaving it used and uncharging until the device dies again, then fully charging again.

In the old days, this partly had to do with how batteries work. It was better to fully discharge then charge them. These days... not so much. Batteries are made differently and once calibrated, can be charged as little or as often as you need.
Definite improvement there.
But the Battery Sensing software still needs to be calibrated.

Below is a Lengthy Description - click the arrow:

Summary

Picture a jug of water. You can get pretty accurate in determining how much water is in the jug. You can give a percentage point within several decimal places. And... you can measure the volume in more than one way. You can weigh the jug. Or you can use measurement lines on the side of the jug.
Many people view a battery as a Jug of Electric. And many manufacturers want you to view it this way, as it gives the illusion of greater reliability.
A battery is not a jug. Of electricity or of water.
Electricity does not flow - like water does.
When water flows, the molecules, the particles, end up somewhere else. The move away from the source.
Diagrams and animations would lead us to think electricity flows like this. It doesn't. The molecules in the wire or in the battery stay put. They do not leave the source. You cannot weigh a battery to see how much electric is still in it.
When you add energy (in this case, the form of electricity) to an atom, the electron shell will ascend a valence (or however many valences are needed to accommodate the extra energy). Nature always balances her books, so in order to drop the electron down to the base energy level, it must pass that energy on. This can be in the form of heat or light (EM Radiation) or... if it is near enough to another similar atom - to pass that energy on to that atoms electron cloud. Which it passes to the next.
Picture a Bucket Brigade passing water, and you get a little bit better analogy than you would with a flowing river. The people stay put.
This is what makes it very difficult to measure the remaining charge in a battery.

Charge is measured with a series of algorithms that examine the voltage of the battery in relation to lithium ion chemistry, impedance and Coulomb count.
I said this on the forum before: When you know how it works, you are amazed that it works at all.

If you read the above summary, then you have an idea of how measurement works in order to determine the charge of a battery.
In order to achieve accuracy, you need to have Known Set Values, such as what chemical state the battery shows at very-near Zero Voltage. And what it looks like at max capacity.
Repeating this refines accuracy.
Calibrating allows the software to get these set values in order to reliably "predict" how much charge remains.

1 Like

Speaking about battery, mine looks dead, since I used Windows 8.1 till Zorin OS the battery is always at 0%, endless Charging... or not detected, surely I have to replace it :ghost::low_battery:

In these times, batteries can come with a sensor supplied by the battery manufacturer that relies information to your system to use for determine charge.
If either that sensor is not working or it is not being properly read by the driver, you can end up with wildly inaccurate information or no information.

1 Like

I think my battery is dead, all there is at 0,0 Wh, and probably hasn't a sensor, this laptop is old.

If it does not complete a charging cycle and does not show a charge when unplugged or immediately dies on being unplugged - that is a bad battery.

What makes a bad battery is iffy - when you know the science of how batteries work.
Because batteries can "always" take a charge. Always.
But taking a charge can be dangerous at times, so battery manufacturers can Limit when a battery will accept a charge.
Batteries commonly come with a BMS device, that disconnects that cells in the battery from the terminals if a minimum voltage is not detected.
So, should the battery be drained completely... Such as a case with an older battery that was drained, then stored for a long time - then the BMS may prevent charging later.
In some older batteries, the BMS can be activated by "charging" the battery with a very low voltage. I usually use an old wall-wart to do this, but you can also buy chargers for this purpose.
In our modern disposable society, people usually just replace the battery.

There are Physical Damage causes for a battery failing to properly take a charge. If a battery feels Warm or Hot to the touch when trying to charge it - STOP
This can indicate a short and some batteries can burst or catch fire. If in doubt, replace the battery.

2 Likes

Yes, I'll have to replace it one day, thanks.

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.