[RESPONDED] (REQUEST) Add battery charging limit START

[fw13amd]

@Loell_Framework

I though this is addressed with upower gnome extension?

I dunno about gnome, but on KDE the settings are already there:

However they only appear if some specific resources are exposed by the kernel, e.g. these have to exist:

$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/charge_control_end_threshold
$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/charge_control_start_threshold

Which is not currently the case, but seems to be feasible according to:

[RESPONDED] Controlling the keyboard backlight through /sys

Hi, I was looking into setting the keyboard backlight brightness automatically with brightnessctl but it doesn’t look like the LED is recognized by Linux. The arch wiki page on the subject says the LED should be available under /sys/class/leds, but I can only see the *lock keys LEDs, this is what I get: /sys/class/leds/input1::capslock /sys/class/leds/input1::numlock /sys/class/leds/input1::scrolllock /sys/class/leds/phy0-led I’m not sure what phy0-led is, but I tried setting it on and off and…

At least for the end value. For the start one I guess that FW has to update the Embedded Controller.

So if you are reading this and want this feature, please put a <3 on my initial comment to show your support

[Michael_Schmid]

Also you can set the charging limit in the bios

[fw13amd]

Hi @Michael_Schmid ,

that’s literally the first thing I wrote in my OP

Hello,
would it be possible to improve the current battery charging limit that can be set in the BIOS?

But if you read carefully, the point of this feature request is to allow us to set a START charging threshold, which is currently not possible (BIOS or otherwise)

[fw13amd]

@anon81945988

A different option would be to have a low point where charging does occur so as not to stress the battery by having to charge so much. i.e. Charge between 50% and 80% only.

I am literally requesting that “low point” you talk about, I thought my OP was clear enough.

Also I don’t understand why you assert point a), but then make an argument for avoiding charging so much at the end. It’s a bit contradictory to me.

I agree with the need to avoid charging so much, hence disagree with your point a).

Or at least, let’s say that with a START AND STOP values configurable, my Dell XPS with a 50-something mAh battery was still at 99.something % battery health after 1.5 years. And this was with a START - STOP of 40% - 80%.

So I have proof that START + STOP limits, together, do wonders. Not so sure that STOP alone is as effective as having both.

[Michael_Schmid]

Yes that would be nice BIOS feature, on my work laptop I set up a systemd-unit so that my preferences get applied at boot time, so I do not have to set it manually. But then again neither can I set the charging limit. So that was the only solution anyways.
But also we should be grateful that our framework laptop allows us to change the battery and we don’t have to sell our kidneys for the repair.
Yes E-Waste is horrible and there is ways too much of it. We should take care of our batteries, but it is a part that wears, like breaks on a car.

[fw13amd]

@Michael_Schmid

But also we should be grateful that our framework laptop allows us to change the battery and we don’t have to sell our kidneys for the repair.

And I am, trust me. I was furious at Dell because my honestly otherwise perfect and still in top form XPS only came with 16GB of soldered RAM. Clear example of planned obsolence, except that in this case I was partly responsible since I knew what I was buying (but then again, at the time of purchase there weren’t really many options without soldered RAM…and today it’s probably even worse, thanks Apple!).

What I want to say is that I appreciate FW for what they’re doing and I clearly wanted to VOTE WITH MY WALLET this time around.

But that shouldn’t be an excuse to not keep improving.

And since the STOP limit is already implemented, I really don’t think it takes much to implement to STOP as well.

[jwp]

Some of these things should be possible with a bit better set of tooling around the EC controller. There is a very similar project for the lenovo_legion laptops which use an EC similar to the one in the FW - i’ve pointed @DHowett at it in the hopes some of the bits might be able to be re-used.

GitHub - johnfanv2/LenovoLegionLinux: Driver and tools for controlling Lenovo...

[DHowett]

To be fair, however, a start limit will require changes to the embedded controller firmware before we can even consider publishing it to userland

[Ravi_Jain]

I’d be all for additional functionality like this.

[jwp]

Given that the EC bios generation is relatively trivial and see some folks with the intel FW’s doing some fun things with theirs ; would it make sense to have Release and ‘Experimental’ set of EC images?

The current Release looks pretty minimal ; and unlike the BIOS I think the EC is pretty much open core base right?

[Brandon_Walker]

I would rather it just have passthrough, so if I am connected to the charger, and battery is above the charging limit, it just runs off the cord, and not try and charge, unless that is already what it does, but thats not been my experience with any laptop, or what it sounds like framework does from others comments.

[fw13amd]

That’s an interesting extra feature request, but please open a separate topic for that.

It still won’t solve the issue of the many micro charges if you disconnect often at 80%, use for just half an hour on battery and then plug it back in. Rinse and repeat and over a day you got yourself 10 micro charges of 5% instead of a single one from 30 back up to 80.

It’s legitimate to request both gestures, but please don’t derail my feature request.

The start + stop limits have proven their value with my previous laptop, resulting in less than 1% battery wear over more than one year of usage. I know what I’m saying

[fw13amd]

@fw13amd

let’s say that with a START AND STOP values configurable, my Dell XPS with a 50-something mAh battery was still at 99.something % battery health after 1.5 years. And this was with a START - STOP of 40% - 80%.

So I have proof that START + STOP limits, together, do wonders. Not so sure that STOP alone is as effective as having both.

I’m just gonna leave this here.

[fw13amd]

@Loell_Framework

That seems a nice feature to have, fingers crossed if enough users wish a limit start feature on charging, who knows this might be included in the roadmap

Hi Loell, what are framework’s criteria to determine if enough users want this? Maybe I can create a poll or something to collect more feedback/interest?

I really really want to see this implemented and since you added a stop limit I don’t think that implementing a start one is so much extra work.

Our batteries are starting to collect useless mini-charging cycles that add wear and reduce their life spans. Could you please somehow prioritize this and add this to the roadmap already?

Thanks

[Alan_Pearce]

@fw13amd

I really really want to see this implemented and since you added a stop limit I don’t think that implementing a start one is so much extra work.

+1 …

[Soukyuu]

wasn’t there another thread where this was requested and someone from framework team responded they were working on it?..

edit: here

[fw13amd]

@Soukyuu

wasn’t there another thread where this was requested and someone from framework team responded they were working on it?..

Thanks, but that’s only for exposing to the OS the currently available STOP limit.

Not to add support for the START limit

[DHowett]

@Soukyuu

someone from framework team responded

I appreciate it, but I am just an enthusiastic community member and not Framework Computer staff.

[fw13amd]

Hello @Loell_Framework ,
do you know if there’s any chance of this feature request making it into the roadmap?

Thanks

[fw13amd]

Hello, any updates on this, by any chance?

I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed with the slow/missing developments on behalf of the FW team.

For a company that makes upgradability their main motto, 4 months later this laptop hasn’t evolved one bit in terms of firmware.

Also no possibility to control battery charge limit and keyboard backlight from user space.

I’m disappointed.