Thinkpads Forum

Can somebody with a T410 say if the battery charging thresholds can be set in Power Manager?

I've seen some reports that it's not there. I really hope this isn't true as I use this feature in my T60 all the time.

I hope they just couldn't find the option. So here it goes. You have to open the Power Manager, change to Advanced view using the button in upper right corner of the window, go to the Battery tab and click the Battery Maintenance button. Here's a picture:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachm ... 1251329414

Thanks in advance,
yak

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=453424

Well, it seems this feature is gone. What a shame, no lid roll-cage, no switchable graphics, no battery thresholds, is this still a ThinkPad?

Most Thinkpads did not have lid roll cage and did not have switchable graphics...

The thresholds thing, however, is strange to me. I was under the impression that this feature is entirely dependent on the software (namely the Power Manager). If the old Power Manager runs on T410, the thresholds should be there...

dr_st wrote:Most Thinkpads did not have lid roll cage and did not have switchable graphics...

Yes, I'm aware of that. I'm writing this on a T60 after all. I guess I expressed my grief the wrong way.

I don't think it's entirely software-based. The underlying charging circuits have to provide some interface so the software can control it. Most probably through the embedded controller.

The first T-series ThinkPad supporting this was the T42. The same Power Manager used on my T41 didn't have these options... just like T410. Hey, look at the symbols - T41, T410 - coincidence?

It may have something to do with the fact, that T410 uses batteries from the SL series and AFAIK the SL never had that feature.

I don't have a T410, but I do know there has recently been a new public release of Power Manager (3.12), so until someone who nows what they are doing gets hold of a T410 and ensures that the current driver load is on it, the NBR report needs to be taken with a grain of salt!

<3.12>
-(Fix) Fixed an issue where a switchable graphics menu was displayed wrongly.
-(Fix) Fixed an issue where Power Manager uninstallation process might stop.

<3.11a>
-(New) Added support for Dual Mode Battery.

<3.10>
-(New) Added support for ThinkPad T410,T510,W510,X100e,Edge 13",Edge E30
-(New) Added the new function "Intel Graphics Power Plan" and
"Intel Turbo Boost Technology".
-(New) Enhanced the "Always On USB" function to automatically detect
USB device.
-(New) Enhanced the "Instant Resume" function to reduce power consumption.
-(New) Change Battery Health criteria.
-(Fix) Fixed an issue where "Effect to settings" shows wrong Power usage level.

Cheers,

Bill

yak wrote:The first T-series ThinkPad supporting this was the T42. The same Power Manager used on my T41 didn't have these options...

Interesting. And the T41/T42 use the same batteries too. That's weird. Was the Power Management driver version the same as well?

yak wrote:It may have something to do with the fact, that T410 uses batteries from the SL series and AFAIK the SL never had that feature.

Nah, I don't think so. The older SL series used the same batteries that are in your T60 (also used by older R/T/W/Z series). And yet the non-SL Thinkpads with these batteries have the charging thresholds.

My guess it's either a driver thing, or a combination of driver-hardware interaction.

dr_st wrote:Interesting. And the T41/T42 use the same batteries too. That's weird. Was the Power Management driver version the same as well?

Don't remember now but I've found a thread where a number of people confirm this:
http://www.thinkpads.com/forum/viewtopi ... 86&start=0

There is definitely some hardware aspect to the charge thresholds because they take effect whether or not the Power Manager software is running. I can set the thresholds in Windows on my T400, and when I reboot into Linux the thresholds continue to apply.

Afty wrote:There is definitely some hardware aspect to the charge thresholds because they take effect whether or not the Power Manager software is running. I can set the thresholds in Windows on my T400, and when I reboot into Linux the thresholds continue to apply.

Ah, interesting.

It does make sense that it is this way, but strangely, my T60 seems to ignore the thresholds when the software isn't running (i.e. when the machine is off).

Is it normal?

dr_st wrote:strangely, my T60 seems to ignore the thresholds when the software isn't running (i.e. when the machine is off).

Is it normal?

Thread hijack alert

But seriously, my T60 seems to remember the thresholds, even if I turn it off and leave plugged in. I haven't investigated this much but I think the only case when it looses the values is when I pull out the battery.

I have to agree with yak. My experience with T60/T61/T400 seems to indicate that the battery "knows" the threshold even after the laptop is shutdown. For example, if I have set the threshold to 60% to stop charging, and my battery is at 80% now. After I shutdown the laptop, then unplug the power, then re-plug power, it would not start charging.

Not only that, my experience with my T400 is it remember different battery that has different threshold setup in the laptop.

Sorry for the continued hijack.

yak wrote:I think the only case when it looses the values is when I pull out the battery.

Ah, good call. I think maybe I did pull out the battery (having several batteries around, I do interchange them more often than normal).

However, the strange thing is that the software still shows the thresholds as being set, but the laptop ignores them. I guess it may be a software bug that it doesn't check that the battery has been changed to reset the displayed thresholds. Perhaps I just need to reset the thresholds once every time I change the battery.

But then again Tony says that it remembers different thresholds for different batteries. Might try that as well.