How to calibrate a laptop battery - the best programs and standard system tools. HP battery calibration Hp pavilion what is battery calibration

If the battery charge is displayed incorrectly, calibrating the laptop battery will help you. Over time, the original battery capacity of your device is lost and the full charge may be displayed incorrectly (5% charge is displayed, although the real charge is 20-30%). Please note that physical wear cannot be eliminated, but controller reading errors and software errors will be eliminated.

How often should the battery be calibrated?

Some manufacturers recommend calibration every two to three months. This helps you read the battery more accurately.
In fact, you don't have to worry about such frequent manipulations if you don't care about the most accurate charge indicator. But when your laptop turns off without any warning or you notice a rapid battery drain in the last 10-15%, then it's time to calibrate the battery.

How to manually calibrate a laptop battery

At the moment, there are 2 main calibration methods used: Manual or Software. Both methods work on the same principle - completely discharging and fully charging the battery to restore the charge controller's performance. The only difference is that laptop battery calibration programs can display more information and perform additional software manipulations to obtain the best result. But from personal experience we can say that the differences between these two methods are minimal.

So let's get started. The whole point of calibration is to fully charge and fully discharge the battery. In this case, the charge controller readings will be reset, which will allow you to more accurately determine the charge readings in the future.

To begin, open the settings for your power plan: Control Panel – Power Options

Setting up the power plan

Change advanced settings

Expand Battery Settings and select options as shown in the image.

The main goal of these manipulations is so that when the charge is complete, the device does not go to sleep, but goes into hibernation, which in our case is more convenient. Set the full discharge level to 5% or less, the lower the better. Then set a ban on going to sleep or turning off the display when running on battery power so that the battery discharge process is not interrupted. After completing all the manipulations, you need to set these parameters to default or according to your preference.

Procedure:

  1. Charge your battery to 100%
  2. Disconnect the power cord and completely discharge the battery before turning it off (or going into hibernation)
  3. Connect your device to power and charge it to 100%

Laptop calibration programs

Software calibration is a rather complex process. A large number of battery and laptop models, differences in chipset drivers, ACPI drivers and many other reasons do not allow us to create a universal calibration application. But such applications still exist. Most of them were created by device manufacturers, which is not surprising, because supporting the software component is one of the manufacturer’s responsibilities.

BatteryCare

To check the charge and collect battery statistics, the free application BatteryCare is perfect. It does not have the ability to perform calibration, but the information that is displayed through this software can tell you whether there are any shortcomings in the operation of the laptop and its power supply.
BatteryCare can be downloaded from the developer’s official website. This utility shows the battery charge and the approximate time until the battery is discharged in the tray. The application can monitor the temperature of the processor and hard drive and will notify you if they are overheated.

Another program for calibrating a laptop battery is Smarter Battery (download). This utility is paid, but there is a free promotional period of use. The functionality of this application is richer, unlike the previous utility. Statistics collection, notifications, widgets, capacity, power settings - the main list of application functions. Registration is required in order to perform calibration.


If this software is not suitable for you, try paying attention to programs and advice from laptop manufacturers.
Almost every manufacturer has a utility for calibrating a laptop battery; it is usually included in the pre-installed software package.

In addition, it is possible to perform calibration through the laptop BIOS. There is a topic on the Samsung website that may also apply to other laptops (with Phoenix BIOS)
For other manufacturers (Asus, Acer, Dell and others), either there are no utilities or they are very outdated and are available for a limited number of models.

To maintain the correct operation of your device and its power supply, you should know several rules:

  • Always update your drivers: ACPI drivers and chipset drivers are the main components responsible for the power supply circuits and the interaction of the main software and hardware components of your device.
  • BIOS/UEFI update. Maintaining current firmware versions has a positive effect on the laptop's power supply.
  • Use of different power supply schemes depending on the load. Surfing the Internet and watching movies does not require High Performance Mode, and sometimes this negatively affects the charge performance.
  • In cases where the laptop only works on mains power or the battery is completely discharged in 10-15 minutes, you should think about purchasing a new power source or contacting the Service Center to diagnose the hardware component if the new battery does not help.

Let's hope that this article helped you in resolving your issue. If you have any additional questions or difficulties, write comments on this article, we will try to help.

Have a great day!

Often, due to improper charging, the laptop battery fails. At best, it will show the wrong percentage of charge; calibrating the battery will help here. In the worst case, the battery will completely fail, where only its replacement will help. Therefore, to improve its performance, today’s article will talk about how to calibrate a laptop battery.

I once talked about how to properly charge a laptop battery, be sure to read it, following the rules listed in that article will help your battery last longer.

When is it necessary to calibrate the battery?

Battery calibration should be done when your laptop begins to show an incorrect charging percentage, for example, it shows 90 percent, and turns off very quickly, like after 20%.

This happens due to the “memory effect” of the battery, it remembers the charge level and it appears as if the battery is fully charged, but in fact, the charging was turned off much earlier than its end, and the battery remembered this as a full charge. Nickel batteries (NiMh, NiCd) have always had problems with memory, but as practice shows, lithium-ion (Li-Ion) also suffer from this, although not so much. I remember that many claimed that lithium-ion batteries are not subject to the memory effect, apparently not true. Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Researchers from the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute, together with colleagues from Toyota Research in Japan, have discovered that a widely used type of lithium-ion battery is still susceptible to a negative “memory effect.”.

In general, calibration should be done approximately once every three months, for preventive purposes; this is quite enough for the normal operation of your laptop’s battery.

How to calibrate a laptop battery.
In principle, there is nothing complicated, the only thing is that the process itself can be very long.

Some laptops, such as Asus, have built-in utilities in the Bios to calibrate the battery. But in this article we will talk about another method that is suitable for any device. Now let's take a closer look at how to calibrate the battery.

Before starting the process, you will need to disable the automatic shutdown of the laptop and the transition to sleep mode (hibernation), which is carried out at a certain percentage of the remaining charge. Let's say this is 10%, then the battery will not be completely discharged, in our case we need a complete discharge, down to 0%. You can disable this by going to Start > Control Panel >
Hardware and Sound > Power Options and set it to “Never”.

The next step is to fully charge the battery, up to 100%.

After this, you need to disconnect the laptop from the network and discharge the battery. You can do this quickly, for example, by playing some computer game, you can also increase the brightness of the screen, which will help drain the battery faster.

And now, the battery is discharged, the laptop has turned off, now you need to fully charge it immediately, you should not leave the battery discharged for a long time, this can damage it. While charging, the laptop must be turned off.

Here it is, simple battery calibration process laptop. Everything should work out for you if you did everything exactly like this. But, if your battery has not been calibrated, then it may already have to be replaced.

A few more tips for using the battery:
Avoid direct sunlight. The optimal temperature for storing the battery is +10°C - +35°C.

I repeat once again that you should not store the battery completely discharged - this will lead to the death of your battery. Also, you should not leave it for storage outside the laptop when its charge is 100%; the optimal charging percentage for storing the battery is approximately 50%. So you can easily forget about it for several months.

Proper operation and timely calibration will prevent your battery from failing ahead of schedule.

That's all for now. If you still have questions, feel free to write to me at,

Calibrating a laptop battery is an important step for laptop users who monitor the condition of their devices.

Due to the operating characteristics of currently aging lithium-ion batteries, they require periodic adjustments before use so that the current charge is correctly detected

When is the setup done?

The procedure is required to be performed on new devices, which will give the user up-to-date information about the battery status.

Periodically, when glitches appear (indicators are determined incorrectly by the controller) or the laptop does not last long on battery power, it is also recommended to tune its battery.

The procedure will not eliminate physical wear and defects in the structure of batteries, but it may increase the battery life. At a certain charge level, usually 30%, the device goes into standby mode.

And if the controller shows that there is 30% of it left (and in reality this value is higher) and puts it into sleep mode, after that the current state of the capacity will be displayed.

In newer nickel-based cells, there is a so-called “memory effect” - it seems to remember the charge level when there is power from the network and does not discharge below this value, considering that this level corresponds to a full discharge.

Determining the battery capacity of a laptop computer

Before calibrating the battery, you should make sure that the operation is necessary, especially if there are no problems in determining the amount of charge. This is done via the command line.

  • We launch it with administrator privileges, for example, by entering “cmd” in the “Run” window (Win + R) or through search in Windows 10.
  • We execute the code “powercfg.exe -energy –output disk:\path\file_name.html” in it.
  • We are waiting for the operation to complete (indicated by the closing of the window).
  • We go to the specified directory and open the report created in html format.

To do this, you will need a browser, and the functionality of IE or the Edge built into the Top Ten is quite sufficient.

  • We look through the report and find the capacity calculated by the controller and its value after the last full charge.

Calibration is carried out when the peak capacity of the battery is tens or more percent higher than the actual capacity obtained as a result of its last charge.

Battery tuning techniques

There are two ways to make the controller work correctly:

  • manually - a more reliable and faster method;
  • in automatic mode - via BIOS or special programs.

Manual setting

It is completed in three simple steps and does not require any third-party software.

1. Charge We increase to the maximum value of 100%.

2. Disconnect the cable from the network and wait until its charge drops to zero.

3. Connect again (as soon as possible) and charge to maximum.

It seems simple, but there is one nuance: when it decreases to a certain level (about 30%), the laptop goes into sleep mode, and therefore it will not be possible to achieve the desired effect in this way.

The following chain of actions will help to avoid such a situation (relevant for any Windows):

  • Call up the “Power Options” applet.

This is done through a search in Windows 10 or the control panel when its elements are visualized in the form of large icons.

  • Click “Create a power plan” in the menu on the left.

Here you can edit the current plan or create a new one. Let's take the second route, so as not to distort the standard settings of standard plans.

  • We create a new power supply scheme, set its name and set high performance.

Entering a name and plan for the diagram

  • Open additional power options.
  • We prohibit turning off the display and sending the laptop to sleep mode.

Afterwards the scheme will be automatically activated.


If it suits you, after charging and disconnecting from the network, you can restart and wait for the device to turn off by entering the BIOS menu, but you will have to wait longer, because the processor load in this case is minimal.

Automatic setup

Many developers ship their laptops with power management utilities. Lenovo, for example, ships with an Energy Management utility.

Launch the software and click on the icon with the image of a gear to start the process.

Click “Start”, closing all third-party programs.

We connect the power cord to the network if it is not connected, and click “Continue”.

The battery will charge, discharge to zero and be charged again. There is no need to remove and connect the cable, and interrupting the process is strictly not recommended, nor is it recommended to use the device. Only in this case is success guaranteed.

BIOS

Those laptops that use the Phoenix BIOS I/O system have an integrated test and calibration function.

1. If such a BIOS is available, enter it using F2, Esc or Del when restarting the PC.

2. Go to the “Boot” tab.

3. Call the item “Smart Battery Calibration”

4. Confirm the launch of the process by clicking “Yes”.

5. At the end of the operation, exit the BIOS.


Advice! It is important that during the calibration process the battery is fully charged and the laptop is unplugged, otherwise an error will be displayed.

Third party software

If you don’t have the desire/opportunity to manipulate the BIOS/UEFI, download applications like Battery Care or Battery Eater or Battery Mark if there is no standard software to solve the problem.

The last program, after charging, loads the CPU with the task of calculating the infinite value of Pi.

The utility will additionally allow you to conduct comprehensive testing of the battery both during peak loads on the hardware and in case of idle time.

A special algorithm will allow you to perform a couple of discharge-charge cycles for about an hour (the time depends on the capacity and degree of wear).

Hewlett-Packard ships laptops with HP Support Assistant.

The “My Computer” subsection contains tools for testing and debugging a laptop PC.

Correct operation

Following these tips will help you extend your battery life:

  • Complete unnecessary tasks and processes, each of which consumes charge.
  • Reduce the display brightness level to the lowest possible without affecting the operation of the device.
  • Follow the list of software that runs along with Windows.
  • Do not overheat it above the specified temperature limit.
  • Remove the battery when not using it for a long time.
  • Try not to use in the cold.
  • Bring the battery to full discharge as rarely as possible.
  • Perform a complete discharge and charge cycle a couple of times a year.

Simple rules will also extend the service life.

Calibrating the laptop battery corrects errors in the operation of the controllers and allows you to keep the battery charged longer. Almost every model of a modern laptop is equipped with lithium-ion batteries of different capacities, depending on the specific equipment. This approach makes it possible to ensure long-term operation of the device in one charging cycle, which is why portable equipment is valuable. One way or another, any battery gradually loses its capacity over time and discharges faster, especially under heavy loads on the central processor, video card and hard drive. However, if you use the laptop correctly, then the threshold for reducing the efficiency of offline operation will occur very slowly.

Calibrating a laptop battery is the most important step in the initial setup of a new device, which is also relevant for other equipment that runs on Li-ion batteries, such as smartphones and tablets. This procedure is recommended to be carried out both immediately after purchasing a laptop and during its use. Calibration involves deliberately carrying out charge-discharge cycles, and is done so that the chip controller can display the real percentage without glitches. In addition, this procedure sometimes helps to “extend the life” of the battery when, for example, there is a sharp drop in charge or battery life lasts no more than 20-30 minutes in normal load mode.

Today this operation can be done in several ways, and one of them is manual calibration using standard Windows tools. The method works on any version of the OS and is practically the same; all you need is care and strict adherence to the instructions. First you need to check the current battery capacity and its level at one hundred percent charge. Surface information can be obtained as follows:

  • Insert the charger and wait until charging finishes;
  • Disconnect the laptop from the network;
  • Check the battery level in the power settings.

If immediately after disconnecting the charging unit from the socket the percentage is less than 100, then you need to calibrate the battery.


The Windows OS tools also provide the ability to obtain more detailed information. The command line will help you find it out, which opens by entering the “CMD” command in the search; you need to run it as an administrator by right-clicking and selecting this option. Then enter the value powercfg.exe -energy -output d:\report.html, where D is the name of the local disk, which in your case may be different (C, E, and so on). This is where the report file will be saved with the name report and the extension .HTML. Open it using any browser and scroll to the “Battery Information” tab, then compare the indicators of the last full charge and the estimated capacity. If the first is much smaller than the second, then be sure to calibrate the battery.

Windows operating tools provide only information about the state of the battery, and the calibration procedure must be carried out manually or using specially designed software. First, it’s better to try to do everything yourself and if there is no result, resort to software. Manual calibration is carried out in several steps:

  • Battery fully charged;
  • Turn off the power supply and discharge to 0;
  • Network connection.

Here it is very important to set the power mode correctly, because by default the system selects “Balanced”. In the above procedure, it is recommended to set “High Performance” in the settings, since this turns off various energy-saving technologies and increases the likelihood of successful calibration. In addition, when the charge level is low, the laptop will go into sleep or hibernation mode and will not allow the battery to drain to zero.

A laptop battery calibration program can play a very important role and help you cope with this task as efficiently as possible. In addition, when using the software, the entire process is carried out automatically and the user does not need to change any configuration. However, it must be taken into account that various programs are used for each laptop model.

In most cases, ASUS laptop battery calibration is carried out in the BIOS, since this manufacturer often integrates the necessary application in the form of a motherboard technological tool. Most often, this feature is present in the Phoenix BIOS, but you can check it yourself:

  1. Disconnect the power adapter from the laptop;
  2. Reboot or turn on the device, and then press F2 (sometimes another F);
  3. Go to the BOOT tab and find the Smart Battery Calibration menu, start the process.

Note: It is recommended to look for this item in all sections of the BIOS, and its name may also differ, but it must contain the word Battery. If there is no item, then it is better to calibrate manually according to the scheme described in the previous section of the article.


For laptops from manufacturers such as Samsung and Acer, there is an excellent calibration program on the Internet called. Its peculiarity lies in the possibility of faster discharge-charge cycles, due to the fact that it automatically starts the process of searching for the Number Pi, while putting the maximum load on the central processor. In general, its main purpose is to test and diagnose the condition of the battery both in idle mode and during peak loads. With its help, you can perform several cycles in one hour, choosing an accelerated method and high performance in the laptop settings.

The well-known manufacturer Lenovo has released a profile utility called . It is quite multifunctional regarding battery calibration, providing the user with comprehensive information and tools for correctly setting up the battery. Before starting the procedure, connect the power supply, close running applications and background processes, and do not use the gadget during the operation.

- very useful official software for Hewlett-Packard laptops. A large arsenal of tools makes it possible not only to calibrate the battery, but also provides a variety of functionality for diagnosing the general condition of the device. In the “My Computer” section you will find a battery check item and after the test, the program will notify you of the most preferable actions.

Every experienced user of portable gadgets already knows and adheres to generally accepted advice on how to avoid or at least delay the death of the battery as much as possible. First of all, don't use it. This is by no means a joke, because when you are working on a device and there is a power outlet nearby, you need to remove the battery and plug the power adapter into the connector, so when you really need battery life, you will have much more time. This is due to the fact that any battery has a given number of cycles and energy capacity, which in any case is lost during natural operation.

Further, if you do not use the battery, then it is best to leave it at 60-70 percent. You probably never paid attention, but a new gadget, be it a smartphone or a laptop, always shows exactly this charge level when you first turn it on. Lithium-ion batteries do not like to be overcharged or completely depleted. And lastly, always try to comply with the recommended operating conditions, that is, do not allow the gadget to overheat, do not use the laptop in rooms with high humidity levels or at low temperatures. In general, the instructions present all these tips in clear and accessible language.

Modern laptops are equipped with Li ion batteries of different capacities. Thanks to this, for each specific device the required battery volume is calculated to maintain long-term battery life. Autonomous operation is one of the reasons why users prefer laptops.

During the operation of the device, the battery loses its original capacity, charge/discharge cycles decrease, this is especially noticeable in demanding programs and games. If you follow all the requirements for proper operation of the device, then such a problem may not arise. To preserve the capacity and restore the functionality of the laptop battery, calibration will come to the rescue.

When is it necessary to calibrate a laptop battery?

Battery calibration is primarily necessary when problems are observed fast battery consumption in undemanding applications: browser, text editors, etc. In such situations, the charge may drop to 0 in a few minutes. It will also be useful when the system shows incorrect charge percentage or its level remains within one value, i.e. When connecting a charger, the percentage does not increase.

We also recommend that you perform calibration immediately after purchasing your laptop. This is necessary for the initial setup of the power controller, otherwise after a while failures may occur: The charge display is incorrect or the charging process starts after a while. Calibration will also help increase the battery life.

How to determine battery capacity

To determine the battery capacity we will use standard means Windows operating system. For this method you will need to use the command line:


powercfg.exe -energy -output c:\report.html

Manual calibration

You can perform calibration and boost the battery manually, without resorting to additional software. In this case, we will use standard operating system tools.

Before you begin, you need to configure your energy saving settings:


The manual calibration process is as follows:

  • First, put the laptop on charge and charge it to 100%;
  • Further discharge to 0% by disconnecting it from the power supply;

Important! When the laptop is discharged to 0%, you should not use it or run any programs, otherwise you will not be able to reset the controller.

  • After the charge level reaches the minimum value, put the computer on charge again and charge it to 100%. At the same time, it is not recommended to use a PC during the process; this will disrupt the battery reanimation process.

Important! Calibration cannot increase the battery capacity; it does not eliminate physical wear of the battery. Thanks to this operation, the controller begins to work correctly: failures are eliminated, the charge level is displayed correctly, charging proceeds without delay.

Calibration programs

Next, we’ll look at specialized utilities that will help you calibrate your laptop battery. It is best to use the software offered by the device manufacturer, because... they have a specification that allows you to work correctly with the battery.

For Lenovo laptops there is a special utility that allows you to find out the status, restore the battery and perform calibration. The utility is equipped with all Lenovo IdeaPad series laptops.

Battery operation process:

  • After launch, click on the “ gears» located at the bottom of the utility window;
  • then a reset warning will appear in a new window, click “ Start» to start calibration. You must first close all running programs and connect the computer to the power supply;
  • then click " Continue»;
  • The battery optimization process will begin. It is worth saying that it will take quite a long time. The battery will be charged first and then discharged. The process cannot be interrupted; it is not advisable to use a laptop.

Smart Battery Calibration in Phoenix BIOS

This utility is built into the Phoenix BIOS on HP laptops and devices from other companies. The Smart Battery Calibration utility allows you to check the battery status, run diagnostics and calibrate it.

  • First, turn off the computer;
  • then we start the laptop and on the start screen press the key combination to enter the BIOS. The most common combinations are “Delete”, “Esc” and “F2”. The required command to enter is usually displayed on the start screen;
  • when entering the BIOS, use the arrow keys and the “Enter” key to navigate to open the desired section;
  • move the pointer using the arrow keys to the " tab Boot»;
  • Next in the list, look for the “Smart Battery Calibration” utility and click “ Enter»;
  • in the window that appears, click “ Yes” and wait for completion, which may take quite some time.

Functional utility for HP laptops. With her help you can check the status all hardware and software elements of a computer. It also carries out a battery diagnostic process and calibrates it if malfunctions in the controller are detected.

  • launch the program from the desktop;
  • After starting the utility, in the main window, select the section “ My Computer»;
  • then we start testing the battery " BatteryTest»;
  • After this, a window with test results will be displayed. The results may be as follows:
    • « Passed» — battery replacement is not required.
    • « Perform calibration"—automatic battery optimization starts.

Important! Battery calibration using HP Support Assistant may take several hours and is recommended during periods when the computer will not be used for an extended period of time.

A small program that will allow you to effectively diagnose the battery on any laptop, including Asus, Acer or Samsung. With its help, it is possible to optimize charge consumption, obtain detailed information about the state of the battery, quickly switch between power management schemes, set charge/discharge cycles, and find out the battery life. After installation, the utility is located in the system tray. BatteryCare can successfully replace the Battery Doctor or Battery Calibration utility for a laptop on Windows 7/8/10.

Instructions for working with:

  • go to “Settings” and to the “ Notifications»;
  • in the block " Miscellaneous Event» check the “Recommend battery calibration after” checkbox and set the required charging cycle, in our case 25 cycles;
  • After the recommended cycle has been exhausted, the application will offer to perform automatic calibration.

This utility will allow you to track the battery charge level, assess battery wear, find out the voltage, restore the battery and conduct tests. It will also allow you to find out the equipment manufacturer. During operation, the utility automatically generates a schedule of battery operation and charge/discharge cycles, saving it in a special folder on the hard drive.

Important! The utility is paid, the trial version is available for 14 days. Calibration can only be performed if the program has been purchased.

Instructions:

  • launch the program and in the main window click on the battery icon;
  • then several blocks will appear in a new window “ Battery", which displays information about the current state of the battery and "Calibration";
  • in this section you need to activate the parameter “ PerformCalibration" and "Battery Calibration" to start the process. The operation will be performed automatically.

How to save your battery

  • for proper battery calibration it is best use special utilities, which are designed for specific device models;
  • if autonomous operation is not expected, then it is best remove the battery from the device and work from the network. In this case, the battery must be charged at least half to prevent it from entering a deep discharge state. But you shouldn’t constantly use the power supply; you need to use the battery at least once every 5 days;
  • to extend battery life, it is recommended to connect to the network when the charge level reaches 15-20%;
  • frequent calibration may cause harm The battery has simply used up extra charge/discharge cycles. It is important to know that cycles are limited and cannot be restored;
  • If the battery wear is more than 65%, then optimization is recommended to be carried out once a month. This will help extend the service life a little;
  • In order to save the laptop battery, you need to control the temperature value. The optimal temperature is from +5 to +45, values ​​higher may adversely affect the device.