Battery Charge Options

Framework Laptop 13
1

Will there be an option in the bios that allows to set the charge level of the battery?
Options like: Full Charge, Balanced and preserve Battery life would be great. Charging Li-Ion/Polymer batteries to only 80% and discharging them to ~10-20% greatly expands their lifetime.

48 Likes
2

Good idea. I think some linux distro might have this feature.

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3

We have this exposed in the EC, but need to work on exposing this to the bios/user applications to make it usable.

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4

Agree with this, the Samsung I’m using now has an 85% limit option, which gives me a large amount of the battery while reducing decay significantly.

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5

Can one activate in the bios the option to charge the battery only up tu 80%?
This can increase the battery lifetime dramatically and is a must have for any sustainable laptop concept, imho.

1 Like
6

I agree that this would be a good feature to have (I would have liked my Spectre x360 14t to have it), but I really don’t see myself using it with Framework since I can easily replace the battery if it ever does degrade enough that it bothers me. So, nice to have, but shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.

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7

Why does it have to be in the Bios , could you also make this in a Windows app so i dont have to reboot?

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8

My notebook will be on a desktop and plugged in most of the time, so limiting the charge to 50-60% is desirable to conserve battery longevity.

Is this feature supported?

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9

The Embedded Controller supports it, but the BIOS needs updated to configure it: Battery Charge Options

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10

So is there an update now for the bios or is it actively being worked on?

I would like to purchase, but no threshold charging will prevent me from doing so.

Thanks.

11

It’s apparently on the todo list but the currently available firmware does not have it.

12

I would like this option as well. Where do we find the latest firmware?

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13

Add a vote for this feature. At least in the BIOS setup. Opening the EC firmware will also enable us in the community to build a userspace control app.

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14

Honestly, anything to prolong battery life is something that will make this laptop more appealing compared to competitors. Hope it gets added in the future.

I wish it would have similar battery to the new Macbook M1 but that laptop is in it’s own class.

1 Like
15

If its exposed in EC, TLP might easily configure that :slight_smile:

Follow up BIOS guide - #28 by Animesh_Sahu for that if you use linux

3 Likes
16

Would you mind sharing the EC address, so that we could set it ourselves with RWEverything?
Also, thank you for not locking down access to the EC! My previous laptop (a Dell) had this completely blocked off…

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17

It appears that TLP requires an update with the correct EC address for the Framework laptop. As far as I know, TLP doesn’t use an ACPI Method - case in point most ASUS devices.

1 Like
18

+1 to this feature: carefully maintained LiPo batteries can last years longer than those kept at 99% charge. This seems like a feature well aligned with Framework’s “devices shouldn’t be disposable” ethos. Glad to hear it’s a TODO - I’m looking forward to this BIOS feature!

2 Likes
19

+1 for this available in Windows. My 6 yr old Surface Pro lets you cap charging, but it’s fixed at 50% and only available in the BIOS…not very user-friendly.

Chargie’s are a bit better. I can default the max charge for my Note 9 and override it with a few taps in the app. Limiting charging is great at keeping devices running in longer than intended.

2 Likes
20

Right now, I imagine standby battery use is the top priority, but I just wanted to chime in on this for Windows. It would be great to limit battery charging to 80% there as well. Although I wonder if I configure it in Linux on the dual boot if those changes will stick in Windows?

2 Likes