[RESPONDED] 7840U, Fedora 39. Set charging limit to 80%, but it switches between "charging" and "discharging"

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
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I have set my batteries charging limit to 80% in the BIOS and am charging with a 98 watt charger trough the USB 4 ports at the top of my laptop. While the battery stays at a constant 80%, the logo in my Fedora tray switches between 🔋 and 🔋⚡ every ~20 minutes, indicating that the battery is charging and discharging. I don’t run any heavy workloads, just web browsing with a CPU load below 7%.

Is this detrimental to my batteries lifetime?

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No it will not cause harm as the cycle count is minimal. It is only when you have high cycle count, for example discharging from 80% to 20% frequently will cause degradation to battery. Most manufacturer when threshold is set use a small range (2-10%) between start charging threshold and end charging threshold so even if it is charging and discharging repeatadly it is considered fraction of cycle count. For example, in Asus when charging threshold is set to 80%, it will charge and discharge battery from 78% to 80%.

If the icon bothers you, you can install a Gnome extension called Battery Health Charging. This will also give you abiltiy to change charging limit from Gnome Quick Toggle
But for the extension to get working, it will require you to install the kernel module below

Installing this kernel module will you can change the charging limit using command line, hence not requiring you to reboot to Bios everytime you want to change the module.
Also you will be able to control keyboard backlight from quick settings after installing this kernel module.
Also another think to note is for AMD you might need addition pathces, which is explained in the above link.

Since I am restricted to post only 2 link, I will post a link to the readme for Gnome extension Battery Health Charging instead if you are interested.

  • Device compatibitly > Framework Dependencies/setting/commandline description for Framework laptop
  • How to use > Extension Preferences: Change Battery Indicator Icon Behavior Explaination about Gnome battery Indicator Icon Behavior
  • Installation > section contains the link to Gnome extension website or you can just search the extension by name on Gnome extension

Edit: Note that if charging using USB port, the Battery Indicator Icon Behavior may not work. If it doesnt, you can raise an issue on Battery Health Charging Github to see if it can be supported.

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Just re-echoing @maniacx’s explanation, it’s something that you should not be worrying. the frequent charge/discharge is expected behavior. :slight_smile: