Inspiron 15R SE 7520 (Option to stop battery charging?)

Hi K.peter123,

You can turn off battery charging using Dell Quickset.
Right click on the battery icon -> choose ‘Battery Health Meter’-> choose, ‘Turn off battery charging.

You can download and install Dell Quickset’ through the following steps:

• Click on the link http://dell.to/S7nltq
• Click on ‘Download File’
• Check on the radio box ‘Single-file download’
• Click on ‘Continue’
• Choose the location as desktop,
• Click on ‘Save’, save the file on the desktop
• Double click on the file; choose ‘Continue’
• Click 'OK' on ‘Select the folder’ where you want to unzip the files (make a note of the folder location)
• Click ‘Yes’
• Click ‘Ok’, follow the on screen instructions and install the file
• Restart the computer

In case you do not get prompts on the screen for instructions, then

• Browse to the folder where the files were unzipped and locate the setup file
• Double click on the file; follow the onscreen instructions to complete the installation

I would recommend you to allow the battery to drain once in a while to improve the battery life.

Please reply if you have any questions.

Hi Appu S,

Thanks for the fast reply. I did as you told, but this software was already installed on my laptop, so I reinstalled it and checked the battery meter again after reboot. The option is still missing somehow, but I'm sure I saw it on a screenshot as well. There should be a battery icon at the bottom of this menu, which indicates stopped charging, am I right ?

I've uploaded some screenshots of my Battery Health Meter, so you can check it. Sorry for the hungarian language, I hope you can compare it with the english one.

I guess there should be the option, but there isn't. I've checked everything in this menu, and tryed ticking all checkboxes but the battery won't stop charging. But this dialog doesn't even mention the option.

http://altair.uw.hu/battery1.jpg

This is the settings (Beállítások) menu

http://altair.uw.hu/battery1-settings.jpg

And there are the other tabs

http://altair.uw.hu/battery2.jpg

http://altair.uw.hu/battery3.jpg

I'm looking forward for further instructions.

Hi K.peter123,

Thank you for your response. Since the screenshots provided are in language other than English, I am providing the steps to disable the battery:

You can disable it from device manager:
Note: You will have to enable the battery manually as restaring the system will not enable it.

• Click on ‘Start’
• Right click on ‘Computer’ -> click on ‘Properties’
• Click on ‘Device Manager’
• Expand ‘Batteries’
• Right click, choose ‘Disable’

However, I would like to inform you that when the AC adapter is connected to the system, the battery will automatically stop discharging and system will be using power from the AC adapter. Once the battery is fully (100%) charged, the power supply to the battery will automatically be disconnected and the battery won’t overcharge.

As mentioned earlier, allow the battery to drain once in a while to improve the battery life.
Please refer to the link ‘Laptop Battery FAQ’ http://dell.to/w0gepP

Please reply if you have any further questions.

Hi Appu S,

Thank you for your reply. Well, I thought about disabling the battery in device manager, but it will only disable the battery meter on the taskbar and the battery will still get charged. I've tested it multiple times to be sure. (I did reboot too)

I think the Quickset made to this laptop is simply missing that feature. I'm a bit disappointed, but it's okay, I'll always take out the battery when I plan to use it from desktop for longer period of time.
However I'd gladly see this feature in a later driver.

I knew about everything you mentioned below. I'm well aware of these things.

Problem NOT solved, thanks anyway.

Hi K.peter123,

Thank you for your response. I understand this could be upsetting. I have checked in my system and this feature is available on the first page itself. It seems to be a software issue. May I know if any kind of software or hardware changes were made to the computer. Are you using the same operating system that as shipped from Dell?

Please reply if you have any questions.

It's a brand new laptop, no hardware changes. The operating system is a Windows 7 x64, but it came with ubuntu installed. I know the screenshots can be confusing, it's just a basic msstyles theme what makes it look like this :)

I'm sure it's the software. I've tryed to extract some other dell laptop's quickset driver and ran the battery.exe from it. One of them had this option on the first page, but it was grayed out for me. Maybe because that version of quickset was not made to my laptop, or the function is limited by hardware.

But, as you can see on the screenshots, the third page is "Desktop mode charging"(=Asztali üzemmód), which theoretically randomly discharges the battery after resting on 100% charge for long time. So it makes me think if a software can control it, why can't I ? Really its a stupid thing that a software discharges my battery by itself... What If I plan to use it from battery in the moment when the software discharged it ? With a "stop battery charging" option, I could make sure the battery is only used when it's needed. This could fairly increase it's lifetime.

Can I make a request somewhere to include this option in the new quickset ?

Hi K.peter123,

Thank you for your response. I am looking into this issue. In the mean time, I would recommend you to install the latest Quickset driver. Please ensure that you uninstall Quickset from control panel before installing the latest one. Here is the link http://dell.to/SSGLWG

Please reply with the findings.

Yes of course. It has some new option that protects the battery from frequent charge-discharge cycles, and that's all the difference. Still no option to stop battery charging.

Hi K.peter123,

Thank you for your response. I would recommend you to re-install the operating system back on the computer. Then install all the drivers in the recommended order. Please follow the link http://dell.to/vQAp1f 

Note: I would also recommend you to take a complete backup of your data (pictures, music, videos, and documents) as this step leads to complete data loss.

Glad to assist.

Hi k.peter123,

I have the same problem as you. Have you already been able to resolve the issue?

I am running Windows 8 on an inspiron 17R SE with the latest QuickSet driver installed (version 11.1.31, dated 02/01/2013). However, the "Turn off battery charging" option is still not there.

Taking out the battery is not really a satisfactory solution. Have you come across a different workaround? Or have you created some kind of feature request that I could join?

Any hints would be welcome!

nope, I haven't found any solution. Deal with it... Just take out the battery when you run the laptop all day.

Reinstalling the operating system, disabling battery in device manager, reinstalling any stuff won't solve this problem.

They'd have to release a fix, but they won't just because of 2 people's request.

Hi k.peter123,

this 3 people's request now ; as I have the same issue with inspiron 15r SE windows 8 .

Actually there are many more users out there missing an reliable option to prevent the battery from charging. Some results randomly picked from forum search which are all related to this issue, just as a demonstration:

- http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19488949/20287943.aspx#20287943

- http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19482972.aspx?PageIndex=2

- http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19403380/19939391.aspx#19939391

- http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19403328/19939231.aspx#19939231

- http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19337993/19718084.aspx#19718084

- http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19473380/20216330.aspx#20216330

- http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19488949/20287943.aspx#20287943 (in german)

As you already would have guessed, none of the requests is marked as answered.

So could please someone from Dell explain us how the "Desktop mode" option in Battery meter is supposed to work?

The description says the battery would only be "charged between 50% and 100%". Unfortunately, this formulation is not really clear: Does it mean that the battery is only charged when it is currently loaded to between 50% and 100% of its total capacity? Or should it stop charging when 50% are reached? Actually none of the possibilites are true for my Laptop: If the battery is level is at 40%, say, even with this option enabled it will be charged as soon as the power cable is plugged in, not stopping at 50%, but always going straight through to 100%. So, enabling this option doesn't seem to have any effect.

Desktop mode doesn't work for me either. It simply does nothing...