• Automatic Battery Management
    0 replies, posted
This is something I've always wondered about. I know that all batteries' lifetimes are affected by how you use them, so if you use a device like a cell phone or laptop you you can extend your battery's life by using it a certain way. For example nickel batteries last longer if you fully discharge them before charging them again, whereas lithium batteries lose the ability to hold a charge the longer they remain fully drained. And most (if not all) rechargeable batteries degrade if always kept at full charge. Since Windows can tell (sort of accurately) how much charge your battery has left, why doesn't it automatically manage it in a way that prolongs its lifetime? Most people don't go around switching out spare batteries for their laptop, they only use one. So it seems like it would be pretty straightforward to write software that can tell if you haven't discharged your battery in a while or if you haven't been charging it enough. What would be really nice is if laptops had some internal way of cutting off power from an external power supply and switching to battery. Then software could control your power use entirely in the background - switching back and forth between external power and battery power - in a way that maximizes your battery life. If you need your battery fully charged for some travelling or something, you could just temporarily disable the software so that it keeps your battery fully charged.
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