Laptop battery meter

[Strategia]

I checked the MTR and used the forum search before posting, so I don't think this has been asked before. If it has been, I haven't been able to find it.

I play Spring on a laptop (e.g. I don't use a PC anymore, my laptop serves as everything), and I'd appreciate it (and others might too) if Spring could somehow implement a way, perhaps as an option or via a Lua widget, to show battery power/time remaining, or even just give a warning when battery power gets too low.

World in Conflict and HAWX both have in-game GUI battery indicators, and Steam pops up a warning in the lower-right corner when battery power is about to run out, so it is possible - somehow.

You see, the thing is, I kept my previous laptop hooked up to the power supply 24/7, and in the end the battery was completely shot to hell, if you yanked out the power cord it would shut down immediately. So I'm a little more careful with this laptop, letting its battery run out before hooking it up to the power IV again. However, since Spring games (especially large ones) tend to take anywhere up to an hour and a half or maybe two, my battery sometimes runs out during a game (luckily this has only happened in singleplayer a few times, not multiplayer), which is enormously annoying.

So I would like to ask if there's any probability of a laptop battery indicator/warning system being added to Spring. Thank you.

[Pxtl]

Yeahhh, that's probably never going to happen. Lua stuff needs to have an engine feature, or at least a DLL, and the engine is bloated with difficulty-to-maintain features already.

Probably a better approach would be to get yourself a utility that gives an audible alarm to your laptop battery warnings.

[SinbadEV]

Probably a better approach would be to get yourself a utility that gives an audible alarm to your laptop battery warnings.

I'm pretty sure windows XP has this feature built in.

[Neddie]

Probably a better approach would be to get yourself a utility that gives an audible alarm to your laptop battery warnings.

I'm pretty sure windows XP has this feature built in.

Yeah, but it never ever ever works.

[lurker]

You see, the thing is, I kept my previous laptop hooked up to the power supply 24/7, and in the end the battery was completely shot to hell, if you yanked out the power cord it would shut down immediately. So I'm a little more careful with this laptop, letting its battery run out before hooking it up to the power IV again.

Isn't the issue more keeping it plugged in and the battery hot? Why don't you just pop the battery out when you're not going anywhere?

[Neddie]

Some older designs won't turn on without a battery but I doubt that is a problem these days.

[lurker]

Turn it on, wait 3 seconds, remove the battery.

[KDR_11k]

The problem was probably that the battery takes trace losses and if they drain the battery to 0% it takes damage. A battery that is charged to 100% while plugged in won't recharge its trace losses until it's unplugged and re-plugged. Of course this is LiIon, NiMH has to be drained regularly AFAIK.

[momfreeek]

Fully drain and recharge overnight *with the computer off* once a month is the maintenance procedure for my battery so thats what I try to do. In my experience doing the same thing but charging with comp on.. or not charging fully will just make it worse.

Battery will eventually get shot to hell whatever you do, its just a matter of time (even if you don't use it). There's no point putting yourself through constant inconvenience for the rare convenience of a battery thats in slightly better condition. Just use it, follow basic maintenance and buy a new battery when its shot.

[Strategia]

@Sinbad: I'm on Vista, and I have no idea where that feature is (if it's present at all), Power Options only contains power plans and stuff like what to do when the lid closes.

@lurker: Because I'm too afraid I'll mess up and break something, it's too much hassle, and when I do take it somewhere, I can guarantee you I'll forget the battery about half the time.

@neddie: This laptop is brand new, so that isn't a problem. However, I have no idea whether or not it needs its battery present to function. And like I said, when I need it, I'll probably forget it.

@KDR: It's (probably) got a LiIon, but so did the last one and it eventually died completely after I'd left it plugged in all the time. In the end, it went from about 30min battery life to zero in a few weeks, tops.

@momfreeek: I'll see about trying that, but I'm not sure I won't just forget it after a month or two. And about the new battery, I searched around a bit for a replacement for my old laptop, but they were ridiculously expensive (at least, for me).

[MelTraX]

So I'm a little more careful with this laptop, letting its battery run out before hooking it up to the power IV again.

See http://is.gd/RGK3.. :D

Personally I just disconnect the battery when it's full to prevent heating.

[Strategia]

Ahh, thank you :D If it wasn't for Wikipedia, the world would fall back into the stone age.

Well, this discussion has gone way offtopic as it is, and while I greatly appreciate the advice, the initial feature request is off the table. The thread might serve some purpose if moved to another forum, but if it isn't, I guess the best thing would be to let it die. Thank you.

[REVENGE]

Some older designs won't turn on without a battery but I doubt that is a problem these days.

It's more insidious than that. Some laptop manufacturers only provide extremely shitty power adapters by default with your laptop, so your CPU actually downscales when it's connected to the AC outlet but doesn't have the battery in.

[zerver]

The reason the battery will be damaged if continuously plugged in is that it self-discharges slowly and when it has dropped below a certain level the charging kicks in. This leads to a cycle like 100% --> 99% --> 100% --> 99% which is very bad indeed for Lithium batteries. Not all laptops have this problem though. You should discharge at least to 50% before charging it.

Edit: Oh, forgot about your feature request. I suggest you download some third party app that beeps when the battery is low...

[AF]

Many new laptops/netbooks have non removable batteries

[manolo_]

Many new laptops/netbooks have non removable batteries

w00t? didnt noticed that, thought all have removable akkus (maybe coz my old one has that too)

[Elkvis]

@neddie: This laptop is brand new, so that isn't a problem. However, I have no idea whether or not it needs its battery present to function. And like I said, when I need it, I'll probably forget it.

If it is a brand new laptop than it should have battery saving system. Basically, it does not start charging the battery until the level drops below 98% (on my case on my Lenovo).

Lion batteries die if they are charged constantly when 100%, which is what older laptops will do. They also suffer if get hot. I do what meattracks does, I unplug the battery when its on power.


Check with your manufacturer. You may have nothing to worry about.

Unless you use linux, I killed a battery by using ubuntu for 6 months. It disabled the battery saving hardware (or whatever). Luckily work has all lenovo's, i just did a sneaky swap.