M1330 charging times

I looked through the manual, but either I missed it, or it's not there. How do you know when the battery is fully charged? The only indications I have are the blue light on the charger, and the blue light on the front of the M1330. Both remain on at all times even when left overnight.

I take it the charging times are much shorter than a whole night. Is there any way to determine when charging is complete other than booting up and checking the battery meter in the taskbar? I know you can press the little meter on the battery itself, but I'd like something a little more concrete, like a charging light turning off.

 

You hover over the battery icon in the task bar...or you can press the button on the bottom of the battery...but that only gives a rough value.

 

That's what I'm doing now. But the reason I dislike these methods is that one requires you to boot up. The other is inaccurate (if I'm short on time, I might disconnect the charger after seeing a full bar on the battery when in fact it's probably around 85-90%).

Every single battery powered device I've ever owned had some way to distinguish when a battery is fully charged without resorting to powering the device on. Either the charging light turns off, or changes color, or flashes, or SOMETHING. I find it hard to believe a laptop lacks such a functionality.

 

Just leave it plugged in when you're not using it, and unplug it when you go on the road. Nothing to worry about.

 

That's one option.

I only ask since I have 2 batteries. When one runs out, I plug in the other. Then when the time comes to charge them both, I can only plug in one before going to bed. Waking up in the middle of the night to swap batteries isn't such a good idea.

So what I was hoping is to charge one before bed time, and when it's full, plug in the other overnight. Simple, no?

It's not such a big deal, I know. I guess I can live with booting up just to check battery level before plugging in the other. Just wanted to see if I can determine the bettery level without having to start it up.

 

I am pretty sure the charging light on the front of my 1330 turns off when the battery is fully charged...

I will have to confirm.

 

On mine, if the computer is off, the light is on steady while charging, turns off when nearly fully charged, and then will flash occasionally while trickle charging. When finished trickle charging, the light will turn completely off.

Now I have noticed that if in Sleep mode, it will flash even when fully charged.

 

And what if the charge light on the front blinks 4 times red and 1 time blue, and repeats this forever? My 1330 won't fully charge anymore and is slowly losing it's charge even while plugged in.