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    Help! Need good battery management software for Inspiron 1520 w/ non-factory Vista 32.

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by xdrive, Jul 5, 2008.

  1. xdrive

    xdrive Notebook Guru

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    My wife got this laptop a few months ago, and shortly after we got it I formatted and installed Vista 32bit Ultimate (it came with Basic, I had an OEM, you know). I thought I installed the Dell drivers disk properly, maybe I did, but I'm now noticing that there's no battery charge-level management software. Maybe there never was.

    On my R61 Lenovo I have a program where I can set charge thresholds to begin charging at X percent and stop charging at Y percent. Can I not do this for the Inspiron?

    I'm trying to stretch the battery life by keeping it charged to only 40% or so, not 100%. I really appreciate your time and help with this. Thanks in advance!
     
    xdrive, Jul 5, 2008
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  2. jeopardy2k8

    jeopardy2k8 Notebook Consultant

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    ...i don't see how charging it to 40% gives you more battery life than 100%??

    oh well anyway.
    if there is software to do this, it certainly ain't Dell software.
     
    jeopardy2k8, Jul 5, 2008
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  3. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Why would you want that? That sounds crazy! Just leave it charging to 100%...
     
    nizzy1115, Jul 5, 2008
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  4. xdrive

    xdrive Notebook Guru

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    Laptop batteries last far longer when you only have less than half the charge sustained over time (and in cooler environments, etc). This has been well understood and documented. You can look it up on any battery resource site.

    Even so I would normally say "so what" but she doesn't need to use the battery that often right now, but she will later on.

    So are you guys sure that there's no software from Dell for setting a charge threshold?
     
    xdrive, Jul 5, 2008
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  5. Bauer418

    Bauer418 Notebook Evangelist

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    Definitely not from dell. You might be able to find a 3rd party program =\. Maybe.
     
    Bauer418, Jul 5, 2008
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