How can I extend the life of my battery? - TUXEDO Computers

With this contribution to battery life, we just want to give a rough recommendation and an example. In principle, the aim is to avoid small, frequent charging intervals as far as possible, although the device should still be as convenient to use as possible in battery operation. The ideal values can be very different for each individual!

For example, if you move quickly to another room and take the notebook with you, but after a few minutes return to the actual place of the device and plug it in again, the device would now fully charge the battery again. Such a “small” charging cycle over a few percent of the battery can have a negative effect on the lifetime in the long run.

FlexiCharger: Integrated into the BIOS/UEFI

With the FlexiCharger (see example picture below) you can prevent the battery from being constantly charged from 95 to 100 percent, for example, if you “only once quickly” disconnect your notebook from the power supply.

• Start charge: As long as your notebook is connected to the mains, but the value for Start Charge is not reached, the device runs from the mains power and does not charge the battery or, of course, does not draw power from the battery. A value of 80 percent, for example, would be a good middle course. For a maximum lifetime of the battery, the lowest possible value is better, but the battery then has less charge if you might need more. If you set the value to 60 percent, for example, you could end up in a situation in which you would only have to take your notebook with, for example, 65 percent battery, which may be too low for mobile use. Depending on how often you operate your device without mains power and how long the battery has to last, a higher/lower value is therefore more suitable for you.

• Stop charge: This option means that the battery is only charged up to the set value. For example, you can set that the battery is only charged up to 95 percent at a time. The frequent charging “to the limit” and the frequent charging cycles are both points that have the greatest impact on the life of a battery.

More tips and help

Furthermore, the display becomes a bit less accurate if the FlexiCharger is activated in the BIOS! So there could be slightly different values in the operating system (especially the calculation for the remaining battery life). This effect becomes stronger the lower the Start Charge value is. Unfortunately, this influence on the battery estimation of the operating system could not yet be avoided. The maximum capacity value can sometimes increase again by occasionally charging 2-3 full charge cycles (from 5 or 10 percent to maximum). If possible, leave the device off during charging (e.g., let it charge overnight).
 

Charging profiles in TUXEDO Control Center

Since version 1.2.3, the TUXEDO Control Center allows you to control the charging profiles directly from the operating system. This gives you the possibility to save the battery of your TUXEDO laptop in stationary operation and to charge the battery completely before a trip away from your desk without having to restart the computer. TUXEDO Control Center is pre-installed on all of our TUXEDO OS, Ubuntu, or other Ubuntu-based distributions. The program automatically detects if your device supports the charging profiles.