The program does not show the CPU temperature
BatteryCare needs Administrator
previleges to read CPU temperature. As any temperature
reading software, it's necessary to access low level
areas of the Operating System.
The Cause:
In Windows Vista or Seven, the User Account Control
(UAC) when activated, blocks the access to any program
that tries to access this information. The Services
suspend feature is also limited by this.
The Solution:
1 - You may run the program as Administrator,
through the executable properties panel. However,
every time the system starts, the program is blocked
by UAC and you need to unblock it manually. To solve
this situation follow
this tutorial to allow you to run a program
with elevated permissions and with UAC activated.
2 - You can disable UAC, and the program will
run always without limitations. However, this action
is not recommend to less experienced users, because
it can compromise the system security.
It's impossible to install the program
In case you cannot install the program through
the installer, contact me and I'll supply a non-installer
version.
In Windows Seven the application icon does not
show in the tray
Windows Seven hides the application tray icons
by default. To make it always show the BatteryCare
icon, you must go to the taskbar properties and
configure the application icons you want to be always
showed.
The icon disappears in battery mode
The icon does not disappears, it is converted
to text, indicating the percentage and remaining
time when the computer runs on batteries. It may
not be visible when the taskbar is the same
color
as the icon (white by default). In that case, you
must go change the icon colour in the options panel.
The battery is new but BatteryCare reports a
high wear level
Laptop batteries are made by energy cells. In
general they are 6 cells, but larger capacity batteries
have 8 or 12 cells (or even more). A 6 cell battery
has an average of 60000mWh of capacity when it's
manufactured, the larger ones have an higher value
obviously. The problem is that there are batteries
that come factory programmed as being 8 or 12 cells,
but in fact they just have 6 cells. So in the designed
capacity, these batteries report a value corresponding
to the larger batteries, for example 88000mWh, but
since the battery only has 6 cells, the current
capacity value is 60000mWh, which gives us a wear
level of 31.8%. So if the battery is new, there's
no reason to worry about. It's just a badly programmed
battery.
How does the statistical remaining time calculation
works?
If a laptop does not report the remaining time,
BatteryCare automatically calculates it. It does
it like this:
The time that took to discharge the last 5% is
registered, then it's calculated the average of
each percentage of those 5% and finally we can find
out the remaining time by doing simple math. This
is a good thing because it estimates the remaining
time based on the recent computer behaviour.
Some values in the detailed information page
do not show and/or are incorrect
Since there are no standards that oblige all
manufacturers to follow the same battery programming
rules, each one does what it wants. So we have batteries
that can hide some data and even report incorrect
values. Most of times it's not a BatteryCare reading
bug, it's just a battery with limited information.
Is it possible to lower the wear level?
No. Generally only in new batteries that are
not calibrated yet, the wear level can be slightly
lower. On the other cases, the tendency is that
the battery degrades over time and usage, as it's
natural of it's chemical nature. What we can do
is minimise that wear, using BatteryCare, whose
main purpose is that.
The auto update failed, now what?
Since the program is in constant evolution, there
may be modifications that make it impossible to
update automatically. In that case, the user should
uninstall the program (the configurations and database
are kept safe) and install the most recent version
available in the website.
Over what CPU temperature should I be worried?
It depends of many factors, but my experience
as an aceftpOverclocker tells me that CPU temperature
values over 60ºC are not recommended. If the laptop
is constantly at these kind of temperatures, it's
convenient to do something to minimise it. In case
these temperatures are only achieved when using
the laptop intensively (games, etc.) then, there's
no reason to worry.
BatteryCare has any kind of cost?
No! It's Free, everyone can
use it! For now, only I have costs with the hosting
server and with caffeíne.
If you want to help or buy me a coffee, you
can
make a donation. I'll appreciate it. :-)
Who's behind the BatteryCare project?
Well, just me, Filipe Lourenço. It all started
when I felt I had to learn more about my laptop
battery maintenance, since that in the beginning,
because I was ignorant about the subject, I damaged
two batteries in less than a year. So then I started
making an application that could help me control
the battery discharge cycles. The program has been
growing and now it's with great pleasure that I
share it with the rest of the world. :-)
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