Switch 10: Battery life unimpressive

FerryAnoid
FerryAnoid Member Posts: 43

Tinkerer
in 2015 Archives

Yesterday, it was plugged in most of the day and I turned it off around 5:00pm at, I assume 100% battery. I have disabled Hibernate (powercgf -h off) so off means OFF. I ran it again last night for 10-minutes to look for some data and then off again.

 

This morning it has been running for just over an hour on battery and it shows 36%. I didn't notice what it was when I turned it on, but it has obviously used or lost charge overnight even when off. I have been web browsing including two very short news videos, maybe 5-minutes total.

 

I saw this post a few days back and did the test back then and got 97%

http://community.acer.com/t5/Windows-Tablets/Acer-Switch-10-4-hoursbattery/m-p/263432#M11081

 

Sooo, either something is fudging that test and/or results, or my battery is not as good as it should be. Remeber the recent AMD test fudging, the Samsung one? It happens. Smiley Happy

 

It's on charge now and as soon as it hits 100% I will take it off and start the clock running and see where it shuts down with general daily use.


Anyone having similar short life between charges?

 

Anyone have a good battery run-down test software link?

 

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Answers

  • keith111
    keith111 Member Posts: 79 Troubleshooter

    Try adjusting your power usage settings in CONTROL PANEL, DISPLAY. A bright screen can be a beautiful thing but eats quickly at a balanced efficiency.

  • FerryAnoid
    FerryAnoid Member Posts: 43

    Tinkerer

    Been there done the the day I got the thing, in fact, dropped it to 30% brightness from the standard 40% for on-battery.

     

    Begging for Kudos? Seriously? Smiley Happy

     

  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    I too have not been overly impressed with the Switch 10's battery life; I tried the powercfg report, & couldn't find a section on 'Battery inforation', then realised that this was probably because of another problem I have, which is that every now & again, I get the message 'No battery is detected' in the system tray, despite the fact that it will then carry on working when unplugged.  Plug it in again, & everything's fine (& the battery figures are 24795 / 23803).  Any suggestions?

     

    However, it takes 6 hours to charge fully - possibly because there is no option for it to hibernate rather than sleep.  Is this normal?  My laptop takes less than half that, & that's only sleeping too.

     

    Cheers

    Pete

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer

    Sure sounds as if your charger isn't putting it's all into the effort. Is it fully pluggead in?When I was testing a Switch 10 a few weeks ago the plug could be inserted ony part way pretty easily. There is an indent on the connector that should be pushed past the point where the plug first hits the spring. I believe it's supposed to click into place, but I could never get it quite that deep.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • ilDeste
    ilDeste Member Posts: 10 New User

    I've a similar problem. I suspect something drains the battery when off. I've tried almost everything: disabling BT, Airplane mode, removing SD, disabling tiles, disabling everything could wake up the tablet, but it still drains 1% per hour when off (not suspended standby).

     

    Some people tried to install Windows 10 or Linux and found the same draining, so afaik it must be something at hardware level, like a faulty battery. 

  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    Thanks for the responses; as regards the charger not being plugged in - you're right, it does need a firm push for the last mm or two, but it definitely is in.  We've had a chequered history with charging; our original Switch 10 bricked two days outside the 28-day return period for Staples, spent 3 frustrating weeks with Acer, came back without its charger, which arrived a week later, & then didn't charge properly.  Acer wanted it all back, we refused, & Staples eventually came to the rescue with a complete replacement.  So I had assumed that all was now well with the charging, but now will try to measure the amps output with an ammeter - according to the plug, it should be 1.5A at 12V. I've watched one youtube video about it so far . . .

    Cheers

    Pete

    PS any way to get it to hibernate, rather than sleep, after eg 60 mins idle? I've done powercfg -h on, but half the power config settings seem to be missing

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer

    In Control Panel; Power Options; System Settings ('Choose What the Buttons do' from Power Options) if you scroll down to the bottom there is a checkbox that turns on Hibernate. Supposedly the new hybrid sleep is supposed to remove the need for hibernate since the tablet is supposed to migrate from sleep to hibernate automatically as needed, but there have been issues with it's effectiveness with current drivers.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    That's what I'd like to do (except I want it to hibernate after idle time, not when I press the power button etc), but there is no hibernate option available:

    Power options.jpg

    The only place I can find any mention of hiibernate now I've turned it on is in the critical battery action.

     

    Going back to the charging time - to test the amps coming out of the charger I'd have to take the cable apart, which I don't particularly want to do!

     

    Thanks

    Pete

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer

    That is the correct page, you should be able to scroll down below the 'Require a password' section to get the checkbox you are looking for.

     

    There was also a link to a nifty utility (BatteryInfoView) posted recently that displays charging rates.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    Thanks Billsey - I had installed Battery info (thank you Nir Sofer!) to check the battery efficiency, but hadn't thought to measure the charge time with it.  I got:

    Battery info.jpg

     

    6 hours - does seem like  long time; just run the utility on our older Fujistu AH532 & it returned 1hr 17mins total charge time.

    Hibernate options still don't seem to be there, unfortunately:

    Power options 2.jpg

     

    Thanks again for everyone's suggestions

    Pete

  • FerryAnoid
    FerryAnoid Member Posts: 43

    Tinkerer

    >> if you scroll down to the bottom there is a checkbox that turns on Hibernate.

     

    That is the same thing as using the direct PowerCFG command in the Command Prompt. It is just a visual display of the Hibernate state for non-techy users. If you change the hibernate state with PowerCFG then that option will come and go with it.

     

    There is a manual method for shutting down even with the Hibernate on. Using the charms, click the Power button at the bottom and then hold down th shift key and click "Shut down" that will override all presets and really shut it down.

     

    Stare here.

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/how-shut-down-turn-off-pc

     

  • FerryAnoid
    FerryAnoid Member Posts: 43

    Tinkerer

    >> I'd have to take the cable apart, which I don't particularly want to do!

     

     

    You could always measure the current going to the power supply, the PS will be about 90% efficient but you could even calculate that given the wattage/volltage figures for input and output.

     

    I use a 6' extension cord that I cut away the **outside** insulation for about 3". I then use a clip-on meter on one wire to measure current. Ohms Law makes it easy. Volts x Amps = Watts. use Algebraic shuffling to get unknowns on the desired side of the "=".

  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    Excellent idea about the extension cable; now all I've got to do is find out if our engineer friend up the road has a suitable meter & clip-on probes . . .

     

    Hibernation resolutely refuses to appear anywhere in the power plan settings except under critical battery action.  tbh, it's more of an annoyance than anything else; I wanted it to be available not as a shutdown option but to automatically take over from sleep after a set period of non-use - the idea being that it might help with charging time.  If sleep is as good as it's supposed to be, then it probably wouldn't make much difference, so I won't bother about it.  It's just I don't like it when things aren't right!

     

    Could someone else kindly check their charging time with Battery info?  Then at least I'd know if we have a problem that no-one else has; as I say, 6 hrs does seem a teensy bit excessive . . .

     

    Thanks again

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer

    I see a charge voltage of 3.9V there. that doesn't sound right. What does the power supply stae the voltage and amperage to be?

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • FerryAnoid
    FerryAnoid Member Posts: 43

    Tinkerer

    Hibernation is the Fast Start in the Power Plan section. If you do the powercfg -h thing that option disappears.

     

    Msoft got a zillion tech support calls on what's the difference between hibernate and sleep, so they euphemistically called  it Fast Start in win8. When in sleep, hibernate automatically takes over at 7% remaining battery.

     

    Hibernate is actually a full shut down, but it stores the entire memory block of the OS to the eMMC. Then on the next start up, it pushes that big chunk of memory back to internal RAM. This allows windows to start up where it last was. It takes time to reinstate that chunk of memory, but not as long as a cold boot.

     

    But, powercfg -h is the first thing I do with any new PC. I Iike a fresh boot each day, and it is only a few seconds extra.

     

  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    And of course with SSDs, the difference between coming back from hibernation & sleep would be a lot less than it used to be.

     

    As far as the voltage is concerned, I think that's the battery voltage rather than the charger voltage; the Fujitsu shows 3.5V, when its charger runs at 19V, and, more tellingly, the voltage reading is still there when th charger is unplugged.  The Switch charger says 12V, & that is what I measured with a multimeter, so that side of it's OK; haven't managed the amps yet.  What I would be really interested to see, as I said, is someone else's readings from Battery info on their Switch.

     

    Thanks again

    Pete

  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    Hi again - any chance of one of you Switch owners running Nirsoft's Battery Info & pasting the results?

     

    Cheers

    Pete

  • oldsaltyone
    oldsaltyone Member Posts: 13 New User

    I was also having p-poor standby battery, so I started digging and went into device manager and checked every device for the ability to wake the pc when it feels like it, and disabled that option if it existed. (takes a while to get thru every device, you need to expand most headers).I did not disable ability to turn off a device to save battery. But a great result, now 10 hours standby (over night) = 5% max, battery drain. That is way better than I was getting. Also, when using any APP, I now always check its permisions in settings, for the same reason. Your PC is never " OFF " Havent noticed any kick back from my actions at all, and am now real happy with this device. Keyboard also seems happier, no where as much "missed first key-stroke", syndrome. Mind you, I am on my second unit, as the first was replaced under warranty. But thats another story. Cheers.

  • PeteB
    PeteB Member Posts: 14 New User

    OK - the Switch 10 is booked into Acer for attention.  I'm going to leave despatching it until after Christmas to avoid delays etc, so can I just make one last plea for someone to install BatteryInfoView & share their findings, especially with regard to charging time?  It would be much appreciated!

     

    Cheers

    Pete

  • xyzaid
    xyzaid Member Posts: 42 Troubleshooter

    hello

     

    i think you're wrong with utilities giving reports while the unit is on. i think the problem come from sleep mode and the only tool i found (here in this forum) is to launch :

     

    powercfg /sleepstudy

     

    after the sleep.

     

    it gives you what happen during sleep when the unit loose all its power... i opened another thread talking about this terrible switch 10 problem.

    i'm not good at explaining the study but it seems the problem comes from I2C which does not go on sleep...

     

    can you try it and report please ?

     

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