Why does Windows give inaccurate estimates of laptop batteries?

 

When you check your phone or laptop after charging it, you will find a note informing you that the battery will last for a number of hours, let it be 4 hours, for example, that is, during this period you can use the device without charging, but after one hour you will be surprised by a pop-up message informing you that there is less than 15 minutes left for the battery. The device until you prepare to bring the charger, is this expectation that I read, correct? Or is there a problem?

 

Thinking that there is a problem with the battery may lead you to start searching for alternatives to replace it, and before you do that, read the following article to find out why the estimation of working hours without charging varies permanently by the operating system, and here we mean laptops, but the problem can be generalized to include smart phones as well.

 

How does Windows estimate battery life expectancy?

 

Various electronic devices, whether a laptop, tablets, or smartphones, give an expectation the user of the number of working hours for the device without charging, and it can be said that the devices do not accurately know the real number of working hours, that is, there is no sensor inside the battery to produce these estimates, it may tell you That there are 7 hours left or 5 hours, and at some point, you may be shocked that the charging ends immediately and without warning.

 

The reason for this is due to the fact that these devices build this expectation depending on your current use of the device, as your device’s battery consumes its energy faster when you increase your use of the device, and in the meantime, the laptop, for example, monitors the speed of decreasing the battery charge and gives you an expectation of the number of remaining hours, if it is charging Your battery is at 100% You will see a different number of hours left each time depending on how you use the device each time.

 

For example, the laptop may expect to last 10 hours without charging if you reduce the screen brightness level to a minimum and surf the Internet only, and if you raise the lighting intensity and run a game, you will find that number has changed from 10 hours to two hours only.

 

 

Hidden tasks (those that run in the background) also play a role in determining these estimates. For example, you may find that Windows installs some updates in the background, and therefore it will use more resources and there will be a greater burden on the device’s resources, especially the processor, and therefore it will need more energy to accomplish this. , which leads to faster battery consumption, and eventually you will find that the number is starting to decrease.

 

It is not limited to the many tasks or those that run in the background, everything you see or do requires resources, for example, while browsing a site, you may encounter a certain advertisement that is a video, and running this advertisement consumes more resources than others, and therefore energy consumption will differ if you You just read an article.

 

In the end, it is just an expectation and not a prediction of the future, as that expectation depends on the current battery consumption rate and the nature of your use of the device at that moment. If you only have two hours, you can reduce the use of the device, and if you see that you can use the device for another 8 hours, do not immediately start heavy work because you will find the number decreases as soon as you use the device and depending on the number of tasks you assign to it. Similar to the progress bars you see when uploading a file, the ratings are never accurate because the rating is just a "guess" based on current conditions.

 

Windows sometimes do not realize how much power is available in the battery

 

In the context of predicting the number of working hours, your device may stop working suddenly because the battery is dead dead, and the reason is not necessarily your use of it, but rather the result of an error that makes the operating system unable to know the current amount of energy in the battery. This is normal, as the performance of the battery at the first use is different from that after months of use, as as you use it, its life will begin to decrease, especially after a certain number of charging cycles.

 

Taking the previous idea into account, the hardware that monitors the battery capacity will not know exactly how much time is left before it is completely discharged, as it may end up charging and your device will stop even though 20% or 10% appears on the screen in front of you. Here it must be noted that some devices are better than others in determining the life of the battery and how many working hours remain for it. There are sensors in the battery itself that inform the operating system periodically about the capacity and condition of the battery, and therefore in the event that the situation of its charging is repeated with you despite giving The indicator is 10% or 20%. You should first calibrate the laptop battery, as we explained in a previous topic, or think about replacing it because it is at the end of its capacity.

 

Some wrong facts about batteries

 

You have to take good care of your device’s battery in order for it to work for a longer period of time and not fully consume its capacity quickly, and if you do a simple search on how to deal with the battery, you will find hundreds or even thousands of tips spread about that, and I regret to tell you that half or more than half of that information and tips are what Except wrong information that cannot be applied to all batteries and you will not benefit from it in anything, and the source of that information really stems from the old technologies that the batteries used to work with, and in fact, the application of some of them may lead to serious harm to the battery of your device, and I will review from it very important information about Complete discharge and recharge.

 

Full Discharge: You've probably come across an article or someone talking about the importance of fully discharging a battery, but is this true for all batteries? In fact, no, it is not true, and the reason for this is due to the different structures of these batteries. The old generation, specifically the nickel NiMH and NiCd batteries, have what is called the memory effect, and therefore they must be completely discharged from 100% to 0% to maintain their capacity. As for the lithium-ion generation of batteries, It does not have the previous effect, so periodic full emptying will be harmful to her.

 

In modern lithium batteries, discharging to 50% and then recharging and then discharging to 50% again can be called a charge cycle, and therefore you should not worry about the idea of ​​periodic discharge or charging once you reach 20%, and in fact, this behavior has an effect on the expectation Battery life, when you do it periodically, the device will not be able to correctly predict the number of remaining hours, and many companies recommend that you discharge the battery to 0% once a month and recharge it in order to get a relatively correct prediction of the number of working hours.

 

Battery saving tips:

 

As we know, the most common type of battery used in smart devices is lithium-ion batteries, and these batteries need attention while using them, as they are known to charge quickly and also allow the use of small cells, and to know how to save on them, you must know some of the characteristics of these batteries:

 

The capacity of the cells forming these batteries decreases over time and after a certain number of charge cycles.

When the battery capacity decreases, it becomes non-rechargeable by the same amount it was when it was first used, and therefore its life will begin to decrease and you will need to charge it more than before.

 

Thus, by following some steps, you will preserve the battery life, and will not deteriorate quickly, such as:

 

● Try not to use or charge your device in hot temperatures, as high temperatures can degrade the battery at a faster rate and thus reduce battery capacity.

● Do not store your device with a full battery, as its capacity will also decrease quickly, and if you want to store your device, it is advised that you make sure that the battery charge is 50% or less to a certain extent without reaching 0%, and therefore do not store the device with a 100% or 0% battery.

● Try not to use a device for a short period and then charge it and then go back to using it and recharging it. It is best to keep the charge level between 20 and 80%, and if your device supports the smart charging feature, it is better to activate it and charge the battery to the recommended limit.

 

Thus, with some care and moderate use, you will preserve your device’s battery, and as we have explained, estimating the number of working hours is only an expectation based on how you use the device and the nature of the tasks it performs, and the more the battery life of your device deteriorates, the farther this number is from health and accuracy, and it may reach a state of sudden death anytime.