61Wh battery lifetime extender functionality and warranty

Framework Team
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With the high energy density on the 61Wh battery, leaving it at 100% state of charge for an extended period of time can shorten the lifetime of the battery. During the last few months we have seen a small number of users with 61Wh batteries that have experienced early battery swelling. After doing failure analysis with the battery manufacturer, we’ve determined that the issue can be caused by leaving the battery fixed at a high state of charge for an extended period of time. We’re releasing updated firmware to resolve this for each Framework Laptop 13 generation, starting with a beta release today for Intel Core Ultra Series 1. With this firmware, the system automatically allows the battery to slightly discharge from maximum voltage if it has been left plugged into power for over 5 days. While we work through the release process for other Framework Laptop 13 generations, you can also use the existing manual battery charge limit functionality to limit the charge level to 90% to reduce battery wear.

In addition, we’re extending the warranty period on the 61Wh battery by an additional year for all batteries included in systems shipped before the updated firmware is available. This also applies to 61Wh batteries purchased in the Framework Marketplace prior to the firmware update being available for all Framework Laptop 13 generations.

Battery Lifetime Extender firmware rollout

The automatic battery lifetime extender functionality is first being rolled out in our Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra Series 1) BIOS 3.04 beta release.

This new functionality will then be coming to Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040 Series), Framework Laptop 16 (note that this is a precaution, as we have not seen this issue occur on Framework Laptop 16), and finally to Framework Laptop 13 11th Gen, 12th Gen, and 13th Gen Intel Core.

If you leave your device plugged into power the majority of the time and want to limit battery wear while waiting for the BIOS update, you can do so by manually lowering the battery charge limit to 90% or lower in BIOS settings. You can follow this guide to find the setup menu option for each model of device.

With the high energy density on the 61Wh battery, leaving it at 100% state of charge for an extended period of time can shorten the lifetime of the battery. To prevent this, we have added a new feature that automatically limits the maximum state of charge if the system is left plugged into power for more than 5 days. The timer is reset after the system is disconnected from a power adapter for more than 30 minutes.

Battery Extender Duration Battery State of Charge
0-5< Days 99% → 100%
5-7 Days 90% → 95%
>7+ Days 85% → 87%

This functionality also reduces cycling of the battery by allowing the battery to discharge by several percent before charging again. Note that in addition to this automatic setting, you can still manually set a lower charge limit on your battery in BIOS to further preserve battery longevity.

Laptop 13 Intel Core Ultra Series 1 BIOS 3.04 Instructions

Please note that you need to update to BIOS release 3.04 before this option is available. This is currently in beta Framework Laptop 13 Intel Core Ultra Series 1 BIOS 3.04 Release

This feature can be disabled or enabled in the BIOS Advanced menu.

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Battery Extender: This option is enabled by default. If disabled, the system will always keep the battery fully charged.

Battery Extender Trigger: This option sets the number of days that must pass before the battery state of charge is reduced automatically to extend the battery life.

Battery Extender Reset: This option sets the number of minutes that the system is running on battery before the extender is reset, causing the system to charge to 100% when attached to power again.

FAQ:

I’m based in the EU/UK, is my battery warranty extended?

Yes, for those in regions with 2 year warranties with systems shipped prior to the firmware update, the 61Wh battery will have an additional year of warranty added, making it have a total of 3 years of warranty coverage. For regions with 1 year warranties, the battery will have 2 years of total warranty coverage.

I got my computer in 2021 but my 61Wh battery module in 2023, is it going to be covered?

Yes, if you purchased the 61Wh battery prior to firmware updates being available for all platforms, your 61Wh battery warranty will also be extended by one year.

Does this impact the 85Wh battery?

We have not seen this issue occur, but as a precaution, we will be updating Framework Laptop 16 firmware to include the same automatic battery lifetime extension functionality.

I have a 55Wh battery, is the warranty extended?

No, based on the battery chemistry on the 55Wh battery, we have not seen this issue occur.

I have a 55Wh or 85Wh battery, can I leave it fully charged for an extended period of time?

The new automatic battery lifetime extension functionality applies to all Framework Laptop batteries. We recommend utilizing it to maximize lifetime, but it can be disabled in BIOS settings if you prefer.

I have a Laptop 13 Ryzen 7040/ Laptop 16 Ryzen 7040/ Framework Laptop 13 11th, 12th or 13th Gen Intel Core, BIOS does not have the Battery Extender functionality yet. How do I protect my battery?

If you use your device plugged in the majority of the time, you can reduce your maximum charge level to around 90% by entering the BIOS setup menu as described in this guide.

19 Likes
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There is good news in the post. However, I have the following worries.

  1. Various fixes at the BIOS level have been pending for months and months. So: 1a) When will the BIOSes at issue - those with the battery fix - actually appear?; and 1b) will those BIOSes contain the other fixes?

  2. Will the proposed fix remedy or worsen the other battery problem, namely, that when on mains power and with a battery that reports as fully charged - or mostly reports as fully charged - intermittently the battery state switches to discharging?

EDITED to fix a minor grammatical flaw.

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Thank you for your attention to this. This is great news!

My use case is leaving my laptop plugged in most of the time, into one of several docks I have around my house. I daily move it between docks, meaning it is unplugged for a few minutes at a time. I believe the algorithm you describe would not help in use cases like this.

(I have used the battery charge limit feature now, but something more built-in and less harmful to battery life would be better)

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It’s very cool to see you addressing this issue early and in a very customer-friendly way! Thank you!

If you’re touching the firmwares for this, could I request the battery histeresis functionality in BIOS where you specify min and max battery charge states instead of a single battery state?

I seem to have heard that charging/discharging cycles of only a couple percentages are harder on the battery than, say, letting the battery discharge to 50% before it can start charging back to 75%. When mostly plugged in this would mean the battery doesn’t receive either much discharge nor charge and is in effect in storage mode most of the time.

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My Framework 13 is plugged in 95% of the time, but I’ve set the charge limit to 80% in the BIOS during setup. How would the Battery Extender work if I enabled the option and set the trigger to 1 day? And if I set the reset to 30%, would it still only fully charge to 80%?

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I’m going to take a stab at it and guess that’s not the full story. There’s likely(?) an additional compounding issue with the FL13 having a battery charge / discharge flip-flopping behaviour when the laptop (processor, more specifically) is under repeated high load.

e.g. [TRACKING] Battery flipping between charging and discharging / Draws from battery even on AC

That’s been a requested feature since 2021…and has been ignored we have yet to see anything reagarding it since then.

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Hi, you forgot this text in your post :wink:

This feature can be disabled or enabled in the BIOS Advanced menu. [add instructions here to show people how to reach this menu?]

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good catch, fixed that :slight_smile:

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Adding on:

I had purchased a second 61Wh battery to replace the one that swelled prematurely since it was out of warranty at the time. After seeing this post, I contacted Framework support who (after escalating) agreed to refund the first 61Wh rather than replace when I submitted a ticket under the new warranty once I provided a photo of the battery’s serial number (under the big QR code). (And the second battery is subject to the extended warranty, too!)

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I have the same question, except I have the BIOS limit set to 60%. It’s not clear to me how the two options interact.

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The flip-flopping behaviour occurs at <1W when not under high load with a 60W supply.

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When gaming in performance mode, the battery is going to be repeatedly charged, as shown.

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Switching to a 100W supply solves the problem mostly.
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I set the battery charge limit to 75%, a different % might have different result.

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Hi there,

I am using a Laptop 16 Ryzen 7040 and the limiting works fine. However, the reset does not seem to work. No matter how long I disconnect the laptop, it will only charge up to the limit provided in the settings. Can anyone confirm this behavior?

Thanks
Samy

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Your question isn’t relevant to the topic of this discussion (unless a mod moves the thread), but how did you set the limit? BIOS or ectool?