Lenovo Power Management Software on Non-Lenovo Computers

One of my favorite programs on my laptop is Lenovo's power management software, as this allows me to plug in my computer without charging the battery, and therefore extend my battery's life. I recently purchased a netbook, and was wondering if I could install Lenovo's power manager on my new netbook. Does anyone know if this is possible, or if there is another program out there that allows you to be on AC power without charging your battery?

Thanks!

 

I'm not 100% sure, but my guess is that you can't.

The battery, internally has a controller that "reads" the instructions of charging from the LPM

 

Nope, it is not possible, unfortunately. The Power Manager software controls a special chip in the battery.

Check the tools your laptop's OEM provides, though, I know some Dells have software that stops recharging until the next boot, and I believe Dell Latitudes can set charge thresholds (?).

 

I only saw the charge threshold setting on Lenovo notebooks. No other manufacturer seems to provide such fine grained control over the battery charging settings. I can understand why you would want to use the same tool on another computer. I would like that too

Unfortunately these things - like battery thresholds - are not behind some universal interface that is the same for all notebook manufacturers. The instructions and operations that the Power Manager program does in order to achieve these effects are specific to Lenovo notebooks, and as such, it is (virtually) impossible to use it with another brand.

 

It is even more specialized than Lenovo, Ideapad's do not and can not use Thinkvantage software and abilities as the Thinkpad's.

 

Actually I have yet to find another notebook manufacturer that has an in-house utlity/app for just the battery even. You may want to try BatteryCare. It's a free app and it seems to work fine with Windows 7. For all it does, it's amazing the author doesn't charge for it.
However, the extent Thinkpad provides, unfortunately no, especially not for netbooks.

Now, is it a chip in the battery, within Thinkpads, or both? Just about every battery has a chip of some sort. It's in there because charging multiple banks of Lithium-ion batteries that are both in series and parallel needs smart charging so it won't blow up. But it seems Lenovos have an additional chip in there, or some other sort of fine-tuned ACPI control for charging..

 

that information is classified.

since power management requires a driver, it's reasonable to assume there might be a separate component for this subsystem.   and, since no other manufacturer gives such finite control over notebook battery management, it's reasonable to assume that IBM might hold a patent on the technology.

of course, i'm simply speculating here.   i wouldn't want to give away any secrets.

but, seriously, as others have said above, thinkpad power management features won't work outside of a thinkpad.

 

You totally sound like you are implying yourself as fact 'cause you work for Lenovo. Either way, I think you are definitely on to something and have truth that they hold a patent.

Finally: Despite the government of The People's Republic of China holding a majority share in ownership of Lenovo, it's still a trade secret instead of being classified information

 

Some notebooks will start to charge as the battery falls to 99% (charging it to 100%). Some will only start when it goes to 96% or 97%. Some you can unplug, move to the other room and plug in again without them starting to charge right away. Some, on the other hand, will start charging as soon as you disconnect and reconnect the power cable.

So I would say there is clearly some form of control built into the systems or batteries, that regulates how they behave. It is probably up to the manufacturer to determine the exact behavior.

ThinkPads seem to have brought this control up right into the user interface level of the operating system, by allowing the settings to be changed from the Power Management software. But I hardly believe this to be a patented behavior (although a big number of software/hardware patents look really stupid, at least observed from here in Europe )

I would believe that not many manufacturers care about the computers they make so much as to provide such fine control over the battery and the loading thresholds. Everyone knows batteries wear our. If it wears out, buy a new one (more money for them).

Also I believe it is little things like this that when added together, account for why ThinkPads cost more than other notebooks - and why they have a reputation for being very good machines. It is not just because of the name.

 

It's small things like this that make you feel that the Txx(x) that you just bought is a luxurious machine. Every aspect of it is built to last.