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x14 R1, keeps charging over charge limit set in BIOS
I've set a charging limit in the bios at 50% which the laptop respects while I'm not gaming. When Gaming however, the battery is being charged. It just ignores the BIOS set limit.
Today it was even worse. I started the laptop on battery and while booting up the game i plugged in the battery. After a bit of gaming the laptop suddenly turned off. i was wondering what happened, turned it back on again and it gave me a warning about the temperature of the battery? and that i should turn it back on when the battery temperature was normal again.
I waited a bit and turned it on again and it gave me a Real Time Clock error?? Eventually i got back into windows and saw that the battery was depleted (2%)
I've submitted an issue before about the laptop ignoring the battery limits (while my XPS 15 does respect these limits) and after a bit i got an answer that the XPS 15 is a laptop for a different use, the X14 is a game laptop and thus this behaves different. I told the guy that i was aware of this but just because this is a game laptop i would expect it to use every Watt available for gaming, and not for battery charging.
Can you guys please fix the battery handling with a BIOS update? It is a very nice laptop but these sort of things are really annoying. The fact that it doesn;t go to sleep like my XPS 15 is also something i really dont understand, but while this is a real problem to me on the XPS15 and probably something that will keep me away from Dell for my next work laptop, it is something i can live with on this machine.
Hi Crimsom,
I don't see how this matters, the charging behaviour should not be influenced by this? But no, I did not go to that website to check.
I wasn't aware of this website but at just having a look at it, it seems that it only gives you a prediction of your hardware is capable of running a game. I've checked it the usual way, by installing and running it, and i can tell you it runs very well.
Like I said, the processor and GPU are hovering at 50% while gaming (at my graphic settings). So no problems there.
I'm at work right now, so i can't actually check it with the X14 but again, i also don't see how this would matter?
Hi crimsom,
This doesn't sound very logical.. The powersupply isn't sufficient, so we use the energy (of which not enough is available) of the powersupply to charge the battery? Charging a battery isn't 100% efficient, so in the process you lose even more energy?
I don't think that this is the case, and if it would Dell should provide a more powerful powersupply.
Another thing is that the battery is ALWAYS charged while gaming, I first had the BIOS setting at 80% but even the behaviour is the same even if it's at 99% it will charge it to 100% while gaming. And it always charges the battery, the battery % is never lower after a game session.
Another thing is that while i play Battlefield 5, the processor hovers at about 50% and the GPU is even below 50% i think.. so I don't think it has need of use of battery energy even if the powersupply would be insufficient.
And also, besides all of this.. what is the function of the charge limits if they are being ignored?
The fact that the laptop shut down was because the laptop somehow didn't notice the powersupply was connected and used the battery until it was depleted. I think this was probably caused because i booted on battery and plugged in the powersupply later. This has never happened before, eventhough i normally first connect the powersupply and then boot up the laptop
Hi @Marc.nl did you check to see if your PC will run a specific game?
How do I check to see if my PC will run a specific game? - Dell Community
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crimsom
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Posted November 21st, 2022 10:00
Hi @Marc.nl welcome to this free user-to-user Alienware laptop discussion forum.
Alienware laptops are designed to provide maximum gaming power. When the Alienware x14 (R1) 130W USB-C ac adapter (charger) power is insufficient, the internal 80.5Wh battery power is also used.
Setting battery charging limit in the BIOS at 50% is not valid when gaming. Laptop has to automatically shut down to prevent internal damage to the unexpected, depleted battery. Charging will then try to recover battery function by charging to 100% power in about four hours, so it can provide additional ac adapter (charger) power for the power-hungry game.
The power-hungry game requirements should be reduced so that it can be played on the Alienware x14 (R1) laptop. Getting a more powerful USB-C ac adapter (charger) should be considered. Contact Dell Support to get their recommended more powerful charger specification.
How do I check to see if my PC will run a specific game? - Dell Community
[This user does not work for Dell and volunteers their free time. Please remember to say thank you by clicking on my thumb up icon.]