dell power manager primarily AC use questions

Junda15,

Please find the below link where you can see the complete information about Dell Power Manager.

Guide to Dell Power Manager

Checked the link and it only says "Primarily AC Use - Extends battery life by lowering the charge threshold, so that the battery never charges to 100 percent capacity. Recommended for users who primarily operate the system while plugged into an external power source."

It does not specifically states how many % it charges the battery.

I am on this battery setting and it always charges to 100%

I agree that Dell explanation does not tell you much.

1. Have you run the computer on the battery for any length of time so it dropped below 100%? It then charged back to 100%?

2. You can set custom settings such as stop charging at 80% and start charging at 50%. This will reduce the number of charge cycles which will extend the battery life. If you have an instance where you might be running the computer on the battery for an extended period and you might need more than 80%, you can do a one time full charge and then drop it back down afterwards.

JohnD

Hi. 

1. i have tried to run the computer until it is 30% and i plugged it back in and it then charge back to 100% based on battery setting of "primarily ac use"

2.the one time full charge you are referring to is to change the battery setting to standard and afterwards change it back to custom setting of 50% - 80% ?

I have my system on AC almost all the time and just set a max charge of 80% and a minimum charge of 50%. The former is a pretty commonly used figure when trying to optimize for longevity. Tesla vehicles default to 80% charging, for example. And 50% is a recommended charge level for storing batteries long-term, and it was also the lowest value I could set on my XPS 15 9530. The battery can literally take weeks to self-discharge from 80% down to 50%, so the battery spends the overwhelming majority of its time doing nothing at all, not being charged, being kept topped up, or being actively drained.

Hi,

I'm following to check if you need any further assistance with your system?

I will go ahead and archive this case for now. Feel free to reach out if you have any concerns.

Here is the reference number 41597871 for our conversation.

Regards,

Dell-GopalD

Just a quick one. My question has not been answered.

1. What is the battery limit charged to when it is set to Primarily AC use ?

2. I set it to Primarily AC use and it is always charged to 100%. Is this normal ?

Hi,
Thanks for writing in. The battery will be charged to 100 percent when it's set to primarily AC use and that's normal.

Regards,
Mausam

@DELL-Cares  when I check Dell Power Manager, the description of Primarily AC Use says "This setting may extend your battery's lifespan by lowering the charge threshold."  By that description, it does not sound normal for the battery to charge all the way to 100%.

@Junda15  unfortunately I can't find any details about the exact settings that Primarily AC Use implements, so if you're concerned about it, I would recommend just using the Custom mode to specify your own maximum charge level and optionally a minimum charge level.  Better to implement settings that you know will actually work (and HOW they work) rather than wondering about how/whether it will work.  If you ever need to charge your battery to 100%, I thought there was a button that said "Charge to 100% this one time", but apparently not, so I would temporarily change the charge mode to Adaptive (the default) in that situation and then change it back later.

@jphughan thank you for really looking into this. I totally understand that I can use custom node to specify my own charge. I am just curious what Primary AC mode does since it mention it may extend battery lifespand by lowering charge threshold. That is why I post the question here. Since nobody got the answer to this. I will just leave it to custom mode then. Thank u again. 

Like what u said, there is no sense and no difference as standard battery mode since both charge battery to 100%.

Hi,

Primarily AC — Extends battery life by lowering the charge threshold, so that the battery never charges to 100 percent capacity.
Recommended for users who primarily operate the system while plugged into an external power source.

You may refer to the below link for more details on the Dell power manager application.

https://dell.to/2s24kXh

Regards,

Dell-GopalD

i was previously on this setting and my battery charges to 100%. is there something wrong with my software or battery ?

Thank you for bringing this to our notice. 
That should not be the situation with Primarily AC settings. 
However, I'd request you to test the system and let me know if you come across this again. 

I can understand your concern about the battery. 
We can check the battery status from Dell ePSA diagnostics and BIOS. In this way, we can make sure the battery health is good. 

How to run ePSA: https://dell.to/2D2o678
Also, to check the battery health in BIOS. Restart the system and keep tapping F2 key at the Dell logo. 
Locate battery health and let me know the status. 

Thank you. 

Dell - Khalander