Dell Optimizer Dual Battery Issue

The following three issues can be seen when using Dell Optimizer version 4.0.111.0 and dual batteries:

Dual Battery Example

1. "About My Battery" will be missing:
   
   Dell Optimizer, About My Battery
    

   Battery Placement	"About My Battery" Present
   Slot 1 + Slot 2	Yes - For the Slot 2 Battery
   Slot 1 Only	No - Feature Missing
   Slot 2 Only	Yes - For the slot 2 Battery

2. Power features "Advance Charge" and "Charging Mode - Adaptive, Primarily AC, and Custom" are missing (Only affects Latitude 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablet):
   
   Dell Optimizer Charging Modes Missing
    

   Battery and Slot	Advanced Charge Present	Charging Mode Present
   Battery 1 in Slot 1	Yes	All Modes Present
   Battery 2 in Slot 1	Yes	All Modes Present
   Battery 1 in Slot 2	No	Only Standard and Express Charge
   Battery 2 in Slot 2	No	Only Standard and Express Charge
   Both Batteries	No	Only Standard and Express Charge

3. "Dynamic Charge Policy" and "Charging Mode" options are unavailable. There are two scenarios for this behavior.
   1. Scenario 1 - Set the charging mode to "Custom" in the BIOS for Battery 1.
      Then "Dynamic Charge Policy" is disabled and unavailable without tooltip "Dynamic charge policy is not supported when a custom charge mode is enabled" but "Charging Mode" is shown as set to "Standard" (the selected charging mode for Battery 2).
      
      Dell Optimizer, Dynamic Policy Grayed Out without Tooltip
   2. Scenario 2 - Set Charging Mode to "Custom" in BIOS for Battery 2.
      Then "Dynamic Charge Policy" is ON and unavailable but still shows tooltip "Dynamic charge policy is not supported when a custom charge is enabled" and "Charging Mode" is unavailable and shows tooltip "Charging Mode is being managed by Dynamic Charge Policy."
      
      Dell Optimizer, Dynamic Policy Grayed Out with Tooltip

1. Missing "About My Battery" Issue - Dell Optimizer detects the first battery listed by enumerating the battery and slot 2 is the first one listed in Windows.
2. Missing "Advanced Charge" and "Charging Mode - Adaptive, Primarily AC, and Custom" Issue - BIOS returning incorrect values.
3. Grayed Out "Dynamic Charge Policy" and "Charging Mode" Issue - Dynamic Charge Policy checks the first battery on the SMBIOS, but charging modes check the first battery from the Windows API. The order from these two sources is different. From a Dell Optimizer aspect, we do not define the battery order for multiple batteries yet.

Dell Optimizer Update

Update to the newest version of Dell Optimizer to resolve this issue.

Back to Top