Acer Care - Battery charge control

pepTra
pepTra Member Posts: 2 New User

Hi, I always keep enabled the 80% charge limit on my laptpo via the CareCenter app. Sometimes tho it will automatically disable it, and I need to set it again. Is it normal, a bug on the app or something, or is there something wrong on the way i use it?

Anyway, can you confirm that keeping the 80% limit on is safe for the battery and for the whole system? I am sure that it will stress more the power supply, but better stress it rather than the battery right?

Best Answer

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,664 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    That is not a calibration just to register at least one full charge cycle in Windows. Calibration has more to do with the old non-Smart, Nickel-Cadmium batteries that suffered from charge memory effects, degrading the performance. Yes, completely uninstall ACC.

    Like I wrote, use your laptop without the adapter plugged-in, starting in the morning and when the laptop goes in hibernation (you won't lose any data, don't worry) plug in the power adapter in the DC jack and let it charge till the LED turns blue, wait a few minutes and resume from hibernation by pressing the power button just like you normally boot. All your apps and files will appear the same as when the laptop turned itself off. Thats it.

Answers

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,664 Trailblazer

    That theory on extending lifespan of a Lithium Ion battery is purely anecdotal, a story never been tested. Unfortunately, it has been embraced by bloatware vendors and ACC also has that 80% charge limit option. I recommend that you disable ACC or even better uninstall the app as it does not run well in W11 (hangs), driver updates are conflicting with WAU (W11 update app) and the 80% battery charge limiting is interfering with BIOS stats and Microsoft ACPI battery control protocol. It is perfectly safe to charge your battery to 100%, Smart logic of the battery will block any overcharging by the adapter and you can leave the power adapter/charger plugged-in 24/7. A new battery must be discharged first till the laptop turns off (5% limit), then plug-in the adapter and charge till the orange LED turns blue. This full charge cycle is required by BIOS and Windows (only once) otherwise Battery meter/report data are inaccurate.

  • pepTra
    pepTra Member Posts: 2 New User

    Thank you, i was not aware of the sw incompatibility and issues with w11. Since I used my laptop for one year in this way, do you suggest just uninstalling the app and as you said just use it, or a battery calibration is needed? If so, is there a prefered way to perform it?

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,664 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    That is not a calibration just to register at least one full charge cycle in Windows. Calibration has more to do with the old non-Smart, Nickel-Cadmium batteries that suffered from charge memory effects, degrading the performance. Yes, completely uninstall ACC.

    Like I wrote, use your laptop without the adapter plugged-in, starting in the morning and when the laptop goes in hibernation (you won't lose any data, don't worry) plug in the power adapter in the DC jack and let it charge till the LED turns blue, wait a few minutes and resume from hibernation by pressing the power button just like you normally boot. All your apps and files will appear the same as when the laptop turned itself off. Thats it.

  • eGomes
    eGomes Member Posts: 4,419 Guru

    I see constantly Acer Care Center (ACCStd) causing errors in Windows:

    I think Acer should solve this issue this urgently!

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,664 Trailblazer

    You should uninstall ACC, nothing but trouble, you don't need it.

  • eGomes
    eGomes Member Posts: 4,419 Guru

    Hi @Puraw,

    I agree with you regarding battery life, due to its chemical composition as you explained earlier.

    However, I think the feature to limit battery charge to 70 ~ 80 % is still interesting. Due to the volatility of their cells. When we limit reloading, we are avoiding your stress and overheating caused by constant 100% recharging cycles.

    Now, this note regarding the Acer Care Center that you mentioned is extremely fruitful and coherent. The less interference in the Power Management of the system, it is better.

    Well, I would like to understand why Acer didn't implement this feature directly in the firmware/BIOS (with option to set this), like other manufacturers did? It is quite clear that ACC is buggy software, just as ACCStd causes startup slowdowns.

    Regards.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,664 Trailblazer
    edited June 2023

    Regarding "However, I think the feature to limit battery charge to 70 ~ 80 % is still interesting. Due to the volatility of their cells. When we limit reloading, we are avoiding your stress and overheating caused by constant 100% recharging cycles": You forget to mention the Smart chips inside LIBs that block charging over 100% (if people don't interfere with their "charge limiter" bloatware), all this needs to be studied and tested first, not half-as*** forced onto the community (like those Covid-19 "vaccination" mandates): Is it coincidental that many (brand-new) laptops recently reported on different forums, fail to boot because of power issues? Laptop vendors (including Acer) are now frantically releasing firmware to "fix" power charging issues, purely based on (anecdotal) speculation. I always charge my 3-cell 50+Wh LIBs to100% and leave adapters plugged in after that, but unplug at night, I use/drain my laptop batteries to 10% and get easily 4-5 years battery life that way, not anecdotal but tested.

    I am also not a big fan of the new fast-charging of Lithium-Ion batteries, they get hot, it has been suggested on this forum to use lower capacity power adapters instead of higher ones for large gaming systems to mitigate the overheating and I think that should be tested as well. Experienced car mechanics will tell you that dead lead acid batteries taken out of the car will hold a fresh charge much longer with 24 hrs. low voltage charges.😉


  • eGomes
    eGomes Member Posts: 4,419 Guru

    Makes a lot of sense, @Puraw! Perhaps, this re-charging limit has been implemented to prevent possible battery explosion and fire hazard. Since, the market is being supplied with generic and low quality LIBs, forcing the Industry to find a way to remedy the problem.

    Another app that I suspect may be bloatware is StorPSCTL. That when monitoring the SSD, it can cause performance bottlenecks.