This is a Dell 3531, 7 years old.

There are diagnostics available at startup, by pressing F12. These show
the 'battery health' at 87%, which I think means that the capacity is
87% of what it would have been new. It also shows the battery and
charger as healthy.

However, when plugged in, the charging system only charges the battery
up to 61%. Then, it switches the charger status from 'charging' to idle.
So, to be clear: I disconnect the charger and run some diagnostics.
Then I plug the charger in, and it shows charging until it reaches 61%,
then switches to idle.

Any idea what's going on?

I did think of running diagnostics with the charger disconnected until
the battery runs right down. Is that a good idea?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 13/08/2021 09:32, GB wrote:

This is a Dell 3531, 7 years old.

There are diagnostics available at startup, by pressing F12. These show
the 'battery health' at 87%, which I think means that the capacity is
87% of what it would have been new. It also shows the battery and
charger as healthy.

However, when plugged in, the charging system only charges the battery
up to 61%. Then, it switches the charger status from 'charging' to idle.
 So, to be clear: I disconnect the charger and run some diagnostics.
Then I plug the charger in, and it shows charging until it reaches 61%,
then switches to idle.

Any idea what's going on?

I did think of running diagnostics with the charger disconnected until
the battery runs right down. Is that a good idea?

I CBA'd to check on that model but any chance it has - and has enabled -
the "Desktop Mode" which stops the battery being charged to 100%?


--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 13/08/2021 10:27, Robin wrote:

On 13/08/2021 09:32, GB wrote:

This is a Dell 3531, 7 years old.

There are diagnostics available at startup, by pressing F12. These
show the 'battery health' at 87%, which I think means that the
capacity is 87% of what it would have been new. It also shows the
battery and charger as healthy.

However, when plugged in, the charging system only charges the battery
up to 61%. Then, it switches the charger status from 'charging' to
idle.   So, to be clear: I disconnect the charger and run some
diagnostics. Then I plug the charger in, and it shows charging until
it reaches 61%, then switches to idle.

Any idea what's going on?

I did think of running diagnostics with the charger disconnected until
the battery runs right down. Is that a good idea?

I CBA'd to check on that model but any chance it has - and has enabled -
the "Desktop Mode" which stops the battery being charged to 100%?

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion, but battery saver is not on. In any case,
the diagnostics don't run under windows.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 13/08/2021 12:09, GB wrote:

On 13/08/2021 10:27, Robin wrote:

On 13/08/2021 09:32, GB wrote:

This is a Dell 3531, 7 years old.

There are diagnostics available at startup, by pressing F12. These
show the 'battery health' at 87%, which I think means that the
capacity is 87% of what it would have been new. It also shows the
battery and charger as healthy.

However, when plugged in, the charging system only charges the
battery up to 61%. Then, it switches the charger status from
'charging' to idle.   So, to be clear: I disconnect the charger and
run some diagnostics. Then I plug the charger in, and it shows
charging until it reaches 61%, then switches to idle.

Any idea what's going on?

I did think of running diagnostics with the charger disconnected
until the battery runs right down. Is that a good idea?

I CBA'd to check on that model but any chance it has - and has enabled
- the "Desktop Mode" which stops the battery being charged to 100%?

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion, but battery saver is not on. In any case,
the diagnostics don't run under windows.

"Desktop mode" may well have been the wrong term as the setting I recall
was not in Windows but in the BIOS power management options where you
could set battery charging levels. But none of thems was a 3531.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 13/08/2021 13:27, Robin wrote:

On 13/08/2021 12:09, GB wrote:

On 13/08/2021 10:27, Robin wrote:

On 13/08/2021 09:32, GB wrote:

This is a Dell 3531, 7 years old.

There are diagnostics available at startup, by pressing F12. These
show the 'battery health' at 87%, which I think means that the
capacity is 87% of what it would have been new. It also shows the
battery and charger as healthy.

However, when plugged in, the charging system only charges the
battery up to 61%. Then, it switches the charger status from
'charging' to idle.   So, to be clear: I disconnect the charger and
run some diagnostics. Then I plug the charger in, and it shows
charging until it reaches 61%, then switches to idle.

Any idea what's going on?

I did think of running diagnostics with the charger disconnected
until the battery runs right down. Is that a good idea?

I CBA'd to check on that model but any chance it has - and has
enabled - the "Desktop Mode" which stops the battery being charged to
100%?

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion, but battery saver is not on. In any
case, the diagnostics don't run under windows.

"Desktop mode" may well have been the wrong term as the setting I recall
was not in Windows but in the BIOS power management options where you
could set battery charging levels.  But none of thems was a 3531.

I don't recall that in the BIOS, but I'll look now.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 13/08/2021 13:27, Robin wrote:

On 13/08/2021 12:09, GB wrote:

On 13/08/2021 10:27, Robin wrote:

On 13/08/2021 09:32, GB wrote:

This is a Dell 3531, 7 years old.

There are diagnostics available at startup, by pressing F12. These
show the 'battery health' at 87%, which I think means that the
capacity is 87% of what it would have been new. It also shows the
battery and charger as healthy.

However, when plugged in, the charging system only charges the
battery up to 61%. Then, it switches the charger status from
'charging' to idle.   So, to be clear: I disconnect the charger and
run some diagnostics. Then I plug the charger in, and it shows
charging until it reaches 61%, then switches to idle.

Any idea what's going on?

I did think of running diagnostics with the charger disconnected
until the battery runs right down. Is that a good idea?

I CBA'd to check on that model but any chance it has - and has
enabled - the "Desktop Mode" which stops the battery being charged to
100%?

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion, but battery saver is not on. In any
case, the diagnostics don't run under windows.

"Desktop mode" may well have been the wrong term as the setting I recall
was not in Windows but in the BIOS power management options where you
could set battery charging levels.  But none of thems was a 3531.

In the end, I disconnected the charger and ran the battery right down.
It then recharged to 87%. I do wonder whether this was just a
calibration issue, ie the computer can't directly measure the charge in
the battery?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)