Battery - conservation mode?

My Lenovo laptop comes with Energy Manager software which enables me to put the battery in conservation mode - will charge to 60%, then stop charging. This is supposed to extend the life of the battery when it's kept on external power most of the time. Is this software exclusive to Lenovo, or is it available for other laptop brands?

 

Are you referring to Power Manager? You can set custom charging thresholds. Power Manager is proprietary to Think branded products, and IMO, one of the most powerful power management software (sorry for the terrible pun) there is, it can show your idle wattage, do a battery push, show you the wear level, etc. One of the most useful Think branded software out there.

 

Yeah, Lenovo's power manager is about as versatile as it gets. Some other laptops will allow you to set custom charging thresholds either through BIOS or their own software utility. It should be noted however that you need a BIOS and a battery controller that will allow this. For example, the Precision M6700 which I own will have more customization options for battery management with the larger battery than the lower capacity one simply because the battery controller allows for it on the larger battery.

 

Not sure, the program is called Energy Manager > Settings > Conservation Mode

 

Sounds like this is proprietary to Lenovo? With other brands, battery will be kept at 100% plugged in, possibly reducing its lifespan?

 

Lenovo's software and most BIOS on most other manufacturers laptops will prevent overcharging of the battery.

 

Yup, Asus laptops for example will avoid charging until the battery reaches 95% once it's fully charged and it will take a healthy battery a long time ( a couple of days) to reach 95% if it remains plugged in.

 

i also have the exact same software that came with my U530 and i use that feature heavily.. i AM a student so i'm always using my computer in and outside of classrooms. most days i would charge my computer to 100% so that i can use it without charge the next day. but on weekends when im home i would have the laptop plugged in, but have the settings charge to no more than 60% (default settings in software). and sometimes in the summer i would do this for days

would this reduce my battery life? or extend it just by a little bit

 

This feature is not to prevent accidental overcharge.

This feature is intended to extend the life of the battery, if you are the type of user that primarily keeps the laptop plugged in all the time.

The ideal storage scenario for a Li-Ion battery is to keep it stored at about 40% when not in use to extend its lifespan as long as possible. Keeping a laptop battery plugged in at 100% all the time, sitting in a hot laptop, will eventually begin to show decreased capacity after about 18-24 months.

This Lenovo Energy Management feature to keep an always a plugged-in battery at 60% is intended to delay this battery degradation from happening. Not to prevent overcharge.

 

It doesnt really matter in your case.

This feature is only helpful if you are the type of user plugged in all of the time. In your case, you are cycling battery power several days a week, so this feature won't really help you.

But you are actually in a situation where you USE your battery, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'd a battery begins to deteriorate after 2 years of heavy use, that is normal.