Monitoring the CMOS battery Voltage without opening the Box

All (inc Framework Support ! )
There are a number of posts on the CMOS battery (CMOSB) , the need to charge the PC for 24 hours to ensure it is fully charged and the PC will switch on without the power supply attached for at least 30 days.

Support have also confirmed that there isn’t any monitoring of the CMOSB possible with any utility program. This means as some people have done, opening the box and checking that way.

So making the assumption that once the main battery is charged after say an hour (with the supplied Framework charger) that the only current supplied is that needed to charge the CMOSB?

If so and depending on what the connected USB-C wire connects to it MAY! be possible to check voltage / current on the wires between the charger and the socket?

OK totally TOTALLY wishful thinking :slight_smile: but hell if you don’t ask you don’t get !

I strongly suspect that…
A. The current will be greater than the actual charging current of the battery
B. That measuring microamps is difficult (I remember a system/circuit somewhere on this)
C. That there is circuitry in the way before the wires through the charging lead get to the battery itself
and
The main battery may not be totally disconnected from all this even if fully charged to whatever level is set in the BIOS.
D. Even charging from left or rhs may be different.

Answers on a postcard please, ok maybe not but educated informed info just the same, some speculation accepted.

Regards…

A/ what current will be greater? The adapter will use a minimum of say 150mW at mains level. The ML 1220 requires around 0.001mA at 3V which is 3mW so there will be 98% ‘waste’

Current has no meaning with voltage. Watts is the product of the two.

B/ As the current charging the ML 1220 is in the range of 1000 micro amps it should not be difficult to measure it in terms of ‘size’ but measuring current is more technical than measuring voltage.

Any user can attach wires to the ML 1220 and have them go to an extension card for monitoring, that’s relatively easy.

Knowing the voltage is about 2.8V would be comforting, at 2.5V charging would be wise.

C/ Clearly there is. But what do you mean by charging lead

  • The one from the adapter
  • The one from the motherboard ~ in this case I doubt there is any wiring it will just be pcb lines, which ideally would be left alone.

By the way all of that you refer to is in my ‘un-posted letter’ to Framework

Still gathering info from users to tidy it up :slight_smile:

As stated I’m referring to the lead connecting the supplied power supply (" with the supplied Framework charger" )

and "MAY! be possible to check voltage / current on the wires between the charger and the socket? ok maybe “the socket” is confusing ?
OK the USB socket used for charging?

“The adapter will use a minimum of say 150mW at mains level.”
as mentioned I’m using the Framework supplied charger, from the Framework web page on this efficient charger (their words not mine :slight_smile:

“With it, the power adapter reaches >89% average efficiency at 20V and <75mW idle power draw, both of which are much better than typical notebook power supplies. With PPS, the adapter can also be used as a programmable power supply in increments of 20mV and 50mA to further improve efficiency on devices that support it.”

“Current has no meaning with voltage. Watts is the product of the two.”
Wow my six years at college studying electrical engineering and electronics before I became an electronics design engineer was totally wasted, I’m going to ask for my money back Sob Sob…

“Any user can attach wires to the ML 1220 and have them go to an extension card for monitoring, that’s relatively easy.”
Well not a bad idea, maybe limited by the “ANY” ?

Maybe Framework can supply an empty adapter?

Not seen your unposted letter, am I missing something here, but good luck !

Regards…

Definitely :slight_smile: I didn’t say may, most or every :sweat:

On the letter I have posted a link but the letter is out of date and I want to rewrite. However, slowly, over these posts things are looking more reasonable. Take your example. If all someone has to do it plug in for 30 min every 5 days it’s manageable for most, (not any or every :slight_smile: )

Thanks for the first para: 75mW to supply 3mW (3v x 1mA) to the CMOS.

Although I am not one to worry about the ‘waste’ at this level, it does make sense to use the adapter when the laptop is ON to charge both batteries and reduce the waste ratio.