Acer Aspire 5 A515-56G battery slowly discharging while AC adapter plug in

During intensive tasks that activate the discrete MX450 GPU (e.g., gaming), the laptop battery slowly discharges, even while connected to the AC adapter.

Observations:

This issue occurs regardless of whether the 80% charge limit feature is enabled or if the battery is fully charged to 100%.
I purchased a new, 90W AC adapter (instead of 65W), but this did not solve the problem. The battery continues to discharge under load.
Using a watt meter, I have confirmed that the laptop's maximum power draw from the mains does not exceed 66W, despite the 90W capacity of the new adapter.
Component temperatures (especially the GPU) remain well within normal operating ranges (around 74°C)

Questions:

Is this power consumption limit from the AC adapter (around 65W) a design feature of this specific laptop model?
Is there any way (e.g., through a BIOS update or a specific setting) to remove or increase this power limit, allowing the laptop to utilize the full capacity of a more powerful adapter without discharging the battery?
For diagnostic purposes, would it be safe and advisable to conduct a test by physically disconnecting the internal battery from the motherboard and attempting to run the laptop under load directly from the 90W AC adapter? Would this risk damage or an emergency shutdown?

Thank you for your expert assistance.

Accepted answers

All comments

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/727928/acer-aspire-5-a515-56g-battery-slowly-discharging-while-ac-adapter-plug-in

Subject: Aspire A515-56G — BIOS, Battery, and Windows 11 24H2 Upgrade Tips

Hi denah,

Thanks for the detailed post — you're absolutely right to investigate the power draw behavior. A few suggestions that may help:

🔧 BIOS Update

Check if your BIOS is updated to the latest version:

Version: 1.36
Release Date: April 18, 2024
📥 Download from Acer Support

This version includes improved power management and system stability. Updating may help optimize how the system balances AC and battery power under load.

🔋 Battery Consideration

If your battery is still original (5 years old), it’s likely degraded. Even if it holds charge, its ability to buffer peak loads may be reduced. Replacing it could improve performance during GPU-intensive tasks.

🪟 Windows 11 24H2 Upgrade

Once BIOS is updated, consider upgrading to Windows 11 24H2, which includes:

Smarter Energy Saver Mode
Better Intel CPU/GPU power handling
Enhanced thermal and battery management

This version may reduce reliance on battery power during high-load scenarios.
Also, could you please generate and attach your battery report? It’ll help us assess the battery’s wear level and how it’s contributing to the discharge behavior.

📋 Steps to Generate and Share

powercfg /batteryreport
This creates a file at:`C:\Users

\[YourName]\battery-report.html`

Open the report with your Edge browser, then:
- Press Ctrl + P or right-click → Print to Microsoft PDF
- Attach the PDF to your reply

When replying, please type @Puraw or use the “Quote” feature so I get an alert and can follow up.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/727928/acer-aspire-5-a515-56g-battery-slowly-discharging-while-ac-adapter-plug-in

Hey denah, some additional information for you, as your Aspire A515-56 is a 2020 released laptop from Acer, if your laptop is 3-4 years old or older, I suggest that you changed the main battery and see if the new battery charges while the adapter is plugged in properly, as that is where the problem could be and if that is not the problem, then its either the adapter or the BQ chip that is faulty or an EC chip that could be faulty also, which both need an experienced technician to analyse and pinpoint the exact problem and replace the chip, but with the EC chip, this chip needs to be reprogrammed like a bios chip and needs a special tool to do so, which not every tech has. Good luck and hope this helps you out further.

Below is the Acer oem list for the Aspire A515-56 adapters and batteries. Replace the battery first with an oem Acer listed battery for the A515-56 and always use the oem listed adapters, a larger wattage adapter will do nothing if the battery doesn't charge or loses charge, as a 3-4 years or older battery could be past its use by date and need replacing, so be aware of all this also.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

denah

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1350975#Comment_1350975

Hello,

Thank you for your reply and suggestions. I would like to provide some additional information and clarify a few points:

My laptop is already updated to the latest BIOS version, 1.36, dated April 18, 2024. Unfortunately, this did not change the system's behavior.

Battery Condition: The laptop was purchased new in October 2023, so it is not even two years old, rather than five. According to monitoring software (HWiNFO, AIDA64), the battery wear level is less than 4%, and it has a minimal number of charge cycles. It is practically new.

I am running the latest available version of Windows 11 (24H2) with all current updates installed.

As requested, I have attached the battery report to this email.

Battery report.pdf

denah

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1350986#Comment_1350986

Hello,

Thank you for your response.

As I mentioned in my previous email, my laptop was purchased new in October 2023, making it less than two years old. It has its original Panasonic battery.

I do not have a problem with the battery charging process itself. It charges to 100% without any issues. The problem occurs exclusively under maximum load while the AC adapter is plugged in (and wattmeter on it shows ~65W) — the battery begins to discharge very slowly.

Regarding EC/BQ Chips: You mentioned that the issue might be with the power management chips (BQ/EC) and that they might require analysis and potential reprogramming.

Does it make sense for me to bring the laptop to service center for this issue? I would like to understand if a visit to the service center would be worthwhile, or if I should simply accept this behavior as an unchangeable characteristic of my laptop model.

Thank you for your clarification.

Some information from HWiNFO:

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1351321#Comment_1351321

Hi denah, even with the most careful use — adapter always plugged in, minimal cycles — lithium‑ion chemistry still ages. After ~2 years, you’d expect at least 10–15 % wear, and with an 80 % limiter it is not possible to see a genuine 5½ hours mixed‑use runtime. At best, a healthy pack at 80 % will give around 1½ hours under light workloads.

Your current battery report and wear reading are likely skewed by firmware/driver calibration rather than reflecting real‑world capacity. To clear that up:

1. Remove Acer Care Center (ACC) and disable its services   Win + R → services.msc → disable any “Acer”/“Care Center” entries, then uninstall ACC in Settings → Apps. Reboot.

2. Reset BIOS/UEFI to defaults   Enter BIOS → F9 (Load Defaults) → F10 (Save & Exit).

3. Disable Windows Fast Startup   Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do → uncheck “Turn on fast startup.” Reboot.

4. Refresh ACPI battery drivers   Device Manager → Batteries → uninstall:    • Microsoft AC Adapter    • Microsoft ACPI‑Compliant Control Method Battery  Action → Scan for hardware changes. Reboot.

5. Confirm you’re on Windows 11 24H2 with all updates   If not, upgrade now — or run an in‑place repair install of 24H2 to refresh the power subsystem.

Manual full charge cycle

Discharge till the laptop turns off on its own and close the lid (don't worry you won't lose data or damage the battery).
Charge to 100 % with device off; till the amber battery LED turns blue, leave plugged in an extra 10 minutes.
Boot, work in Windows a few hours then run:

powercfg /batteryreport

Open the generated HTML, Print to PDF, and attach only that new report back here. This will give us an accurate wear %, cycle count, and realistic runtime once telemetry is reset.

If the fresh report still shows implausible numbers, we’ll know it’s a model‑level power design choice — in which case the “slow discharge under load” is expected behavior, not a fault.
BTW, I did not get an alert, either type @Puraw (if the link is active it will be in green) or just click on "Quote" to reply so I will get an alert.

denah

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1351335#Comment_1351335

@Puraw, btw, acer care services I removed (disabled), but after reboot these services have been activated again. How to delete them - idk.

Battery report.pdf

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1351776#Comment_1351776

Hi denah

Battery wear & runtime At ~2 years, normal lithium‑ion chemistry will show around 15–20 % wear, even with minimal cycles. Your reported 3 % wear and 5 h runtime at 80 % limit are not realistic — telemetry is likely skewed. A healthy pack limited to 80 % will typically give ~2 h light use before empty.

Acer Care Center (ACC) disable With the current Acer firmware, ACC can’t be fully disabled — you can only avoid using Optimizing, Calibration, or 80 % charge limit in ACC/AcerSense.

Battery telemetry reset procedure:

Reset BIOS/UEFI → F9 (Load Defaults) → F10 (Save & Exit).
Disable Fast Startup in Windows: Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do → uncheck “Turn on fast startup”.
In Device Manager → Batteries: uninstall • Microsoft AC Adapter • Microsoft ACPI‑Compliant Control Method Battery Reboot — Windows will reload drivers.
Charge to 100 %, wait 10 min.
Disconnect AC and drain battery in Windows until auto‑shutdown.
With lid closed, connect AC until amber LED turns blue, wait 10 min more.
Boot to Windows, run this command in the Command prompt: powercfg /batteryreport and Post the new report here, tagging @Puraw or using “Quote” so the alert is sent.

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