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blehmann
Average Member
549 Posts |
 Posted - 02/21/2006 : 00:17:28
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I have a question that is a little off topic that occurred to me (again) after I installed Tom's utility. My understanding is that lion batteries do not have the memory problems that nicad batteries have but that their lifetimes depend on the number of times that they are recharged. My question concerns recharged batteries: do their lifetimes diminish if you leave the ac adapter plugged in while working on the computer after the batteries have been fully charged? I have always assumed that the answer is no because I think that the computer stops charging the battery when it is sufficiently close to 100% but I thought I would ask.
bnl |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2006 : 07:27:14
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I say no, but you will hear many opinions, some of them informed some not. Especially
in the Fujitsu line, this is not an issue. Fujitsu batteries have two very important
features which many laptop brands do not:
- they do not initiate a charge cycle until they fall below 90%
- they use a constant-current charge strategy below 90% and a constant-voltage charge
strategy from 90% to 100%. This is very good for the cells.
You can use my program to see this charge behavior very easily. When charging, watch
how the curves rise steadily to 90%, then "taper off" to 100% over almost exactly 1/2
hour. There is very little risk of overcharging, nor cell damage.
I have left mine plugged in when at my desk every day for ~2.5 years with zero issues.
Tom. |
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cnick79
Starting Member
USA
13 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2006 : 21:55:15
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| What program language are you using? Is this app still being worked on? |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 03/02/2006 : 01:51:50
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It's written in C++ and C, compiled with Visual Studio 2003. Yes, I'm still working
on it, though it hasn't had any significant stability issues warranting a fix. I am
working on enabling the AAM/APM functions primarily, and some enhancements.
Tom. |
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Madana
Junior Member
138 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2006 : 11:03:25
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Thomas,
Thank you for such a useful and elegant utility. I have checked it out and liked it, especially its ability to deliver all the essential power parameters in a visual, dynamic and compact way.
I have one bug to report to you, however. I have discovered that the BattStat 0.7 Beta, when running, disables my PowerQuest DriveImage 2002. However, PQDI resumes its functionality when BattStat is stopped.
Not that I am overly disturbed by this issue, but perhaps you may want to look into this in future releases.
Thank you again.
Regards,
Madana
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2006 : 14:31:32
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Yipes - that's a surprise. Do you have any idea what in particular DI2002 is having a
problem with? Error message, for example?
I'll make one guess though - the drive temperature monitoring opens the raw device in
Windows, which might cause problems for another app which wants exclusive access. Try
clearing the "HD Temp" checkbox and see if that clears things up?
Thanks for the report!
Tom. |
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Madana
Junior Member
138 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 03:57:29
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Tom,
Switching HD temperature off did not help. The error message is:
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Init failed
Error 1.
This operation is not supported. This may be becuase this operation does not currently work with the current file system or partition type.
-------------------------------------------------
It appears at my attempt to start up PQDI2002 when battStat is running.
I hope that helps you identify the root cause.
Regards,
Max
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2006 : 11:53:32
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I have released an updated version 0.8, which addresses the DI2002 issue, and enables the
other features of the program I've been planning.
Beta 0.8 includes:
- enable drive APM/AAM/spindown control
- improve CPU speed reporting high/mid/low
- fix capacity estimate problem when swapping secondary battery
- correct conflict with Drive Image 2002 (hopefully)
Download on this page: http://users.rcn.com/tmtalpey/BattStat
Please give it a try, I especially would like to hear feedback on whether the drive
APM settings improve the power consumption of people's machines. On my T90D with the
Hitachi 7K60, it's worth a lot of runtime (maybe half an hour or more), depending on
what the settings are, and how much I'm using the disk.
Enjoy!
Tom. |
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Madana
Junior Member
138 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2006 : 10:25:41
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Tom,
Thank you for the upgrade. You seem to put a lot of yourself into the software. The new features are good.
However, sorry to tell you that the DI2002 issue does not seem to have been solved by 0.8 beta version, at least on my computer. But maybe I am just being too fastidious about it. :)
Regards,
Max |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2006 : 11:25:34
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Aha - okay, try version 0.8a! 
Tom. |
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Madana
Junior Member
138 Posts |
Posted - 04/24/2006 : 05:25:07
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Nope...
Never mind, Tom, I can live without having BattStat and DI2002 running simultaneously. I guess, I should just accept it as my karma :-)
Thank you for your efforts to put it straight anyway.
Regards,
Max |
Edited by - Madana on 04/24/2006 06:37:09 |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2006 : 21:54:01
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Just a little heads-up that I am working on an update to my little app. It will have
some useful new features and a bugfix or two.
- CPU temperature monitor, if supported by motherboard ACPI (unfortunately this rules
out the P5K and P7K )
- CPU speed more accurate on "max battery" windows power mode
- CPU speed report fix on Core 2 Duo
- On certain machines (some Dells, etc), battery runtime estimate is more accurate
and fully-charged cells don't display as "not present" (oops).
- Battery power reported accurately even when cells don't provide it
- Drive AAM setting enabled, all drive functions tested on PATA and SATA
The new version is quite accurate on the Portable 1 UX, for example.
I'll try to release the updated beta soon. Any enhancement requests?
Tom. |
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blehmann
Average Member
549 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2007 : 00:10:18
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My apologies for bumping this thread if I should have been able to find it myself. Tom, where is the most recent version of your battery utility?
bnl |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2007 : 06:33:45
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It's still the one on my site. But I do have an update. I'll put the release together
shortly if you want it!
Tom. |
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blehmann
Average Member
549 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2007 : 13:20:04
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Thanks Tom. I will wait patiently.
bnl |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
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tlaskey
Starting Member
Canada
1 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2007 : 21:19:25
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i dont know if you are willing to... but i have been looking around on the net for quite a while now and i have not been able to find any information on how to access battery information from c++. would you mind letting me know where i can find information on how to access any information on this?
thx |
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markd89
New Member
62 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2007 : 16:10:09
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Suggestions:
Hi Tom,
It would be cool if there was:
1. Command to Run on switching to AC power.
2. Command to Run on switching to Battery power.
If you captured those events, I'd be able to turn my background defragger on when I'm on AC, and turn it off when I'm on batteries.
Thanks!
Mark
Panasonic R3 512mb/160GB |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2007 : 20:29:27
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That's a cool idea. In fact I'm just about done with the update for supporting Vista,
which has turned out to be something of a pain, even though the basics worked ok.
How about using the exiting resume command, passing it an option that indicates whether
the event is a resume, ac or battery? That makes it easier to integrate with the existing
support, although maybe it overloads things a little it somehow doesn't seem sensible
to have three similar options.
Tom. |
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markd89
New Member
62 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2007 : 20:40:21
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quote:
Originally posted by tmt
That's a cool idea. In fact I'm just about done with the update for supporting Vista,
which has turned out to be something of a pain, even though the basics worked ok.
How about using the exiting resume command, passing it an option that indicates whether
the event is a resume, ac or battery? That makes it easier to integrate with the existing
support, although maybe it overloads things a little it somehow doesn't seem sensible
to have three similar options.
Tom.
Sure, that would be great :-D
Also, FWIW I'm using XP not Vista. I know Vista adds some new power management API's, but my R3 is just jamming with XP and its new 160 gb drive, so won't be messing with the OS.
Thanks again,
Mark |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2007 : 21:21:29
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Yep, I'm making sure that the existing XP/2000 support continues to work, I'm just adding
support for Vista, for example the power plans and admin rights. I've also fixed some
miscellaneous bugs, but not things you're likely to have seen. Almost ready...
Tom. |
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Oliver
New Member
92 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2007 : 13:13:27
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Looking forward to the update!
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2007 : 21:23:56
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The update is ready! I've released version 0.95 in the usual place:
http://users.rcn.com/tmtalpey/BattStat
It's working well so far, please let me know of any issues using this thread, or PM me
via the forum. I have tested it on Vista, XP (SP2) and 2000 (SP4), and it works on all
three.
Here are the new features/fixes:
Beta 0.95 (August 25, 2007)
- Windows Vista full support:
- - power plans
- - admin privs (needed for certain settings)
- - display more accurate cpu speed
- Intel Core/Core2 on-chip CPU temperature supported
- Run a program on resume, AC and DC power status change
- Bugfixes and settings/display window cleanup
- Streamlined install, with uninstall support
Enjoy!
Tom. |
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markd89
New Member
62 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2007 : 21:48:41
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>> Run a program on resume, AC and DC power status change
Hi Tom,
Can you tell me how I know whether we changed from AC to DC or DC to AC?
Thanks!
Mark |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2758 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2007 : 23:04:25
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If you use the context help in the settings screen, it gives a summary.
Basically, it exec's the configured program with one of three options:
"DC" - switched to internal battery power
"AC" - switched to external power
"Resume" - system has resumed from sleep or hibernate
Without the quotes, of course. Let me know how it works for you.
Tom. |
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Topic |
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First release of my Battery Status/Monitoring app
