Revision as of 00:24, 18 November 2010

>== Status Popup Window ==

BatteryBar status popup window

The status popup window displays real-time information about the status of your battery.

(For definitions of the terms used here, see Glossary)

>=== Percent === This field shows the percentage of battery power currently available. This value is calculated as Current Capacity / Full Capacity.

In BatteryBar Pro, it's possible to change the precision of the percentage value from 0 to 4 digits in the Preferences window.

Capacity

This field shows the battery's Current Capacity and Full Capacity in the format: <br /> <code>[Current] mWh of [Full] mWh</code>.

Charge / Discharge Rate

This field shows the rate in mW at which the battery's capacity is changing.

When the battery is in a discharge state, the rate is negative because the battery is losing capacity. When the battery is a charging state, the rate is positive.

This value can be used to determine the power savings you get from reducing your screen brightness or turning of your wireless connection. It does not affect how BatteryBar calculates the time remaining on your battery.

Note: Not all batteries report this value. Some batteries will report only the discharge rate and not the charge rate and some batteries won't report either value.

Battery

This field shows the current power state of your battery.

If the power state is Discharging, the field shows the time remaining to discharge: <br /> <code>H:MM (Discharging)</code>

If the power state is Charging, the field shows the time to finish charging: <br /> <code>H:MM (Charging)</code>

If the power state is Charged, the field only shows the term Charged. Your battery may report that it's Charged even though the current capacity is less than 100%. The charging of the battery is controlled by the laptop's BIOS. Most BIOS only charge the battery if the current capacity is below a certain threshold, usually between 90 and 95 %.

Full Lifetime

This field shows the normal or average amount of time that your battery will last when disconnected from the A/C at 100% capacity.

This value is calculated by BatteryBar and reflects your normal usage pattern. Your full lifetime will change over time as BatteryBar's estimation becomes more accurate and as your battery wear increases.

A/C

This field simply indicates whether or not an external power source is connected. It will show Connected or Disconnected.

Battery Wear

Battery Wear is the percentage of battery's original designed capacity that the battery is no longer capable of storing. It can be used as a measure of how old, or worn out, the battery is. As your battery wear increases, BatteryBar will adjust the Full Lifetime estimate to compensate, though it may take a few discharge cycles.

Incorrect Wear Values

Not all batteries correctly report this value, especially generic or off-brand batteries. Batteries are known to report Designed Capacity values that are for larger batteries than is physically printed on the battery (e.g., a 65 Wh battery shows a designed capacity of 86 Wh). If you are suspicious about this wear value, please pay closer attention to the Full Lifetime value; it will drop as the battery wears out.

Battery Wear Calculation

Battery wear is calculated as: <br /> <code>1 - (Full Capacity / Designed Capacity)</code>

In the screenshot above, the Designed Capacity is 86,580 mWh and the Full Capacity is 59,174 mWh. The calculation is: <br /> <code>1 - (59,174 / 86,580) = 0.3165 = 31.7%</code>.