more questions about the MacBook Pro, Core i5, 2.8 GHz (I5-4308U), model A1502 (EMC 2875), a model where I cannot disconnect the battery, because the whole case is closed, a model Im going to use to experiment with mac and create a partition to install a linux distro alongside the mac os.
My favorite notebook is a one that lets me take the battery off if I don’t need it. This way I’ve been able to need just one battery in the last 8 years. Regarding the mac, I’m going to need a new battery (it lasts 5 hours the most) and don’t want to waste charging cycles.
My question is twofold:
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Is there any linux program that lets me manage the battery so I can choose to rely solely on outlet power, even if I cannot physically remove the battery?
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the same question for mac.
When connected to the outlet it will be running solely on outlet power just by default, you don’t need to do anything specific.
Edit: Now that I re-read this OP, it sounds more like you want to stop the battery from charging when connected to AC.
That’s… not true.
It will still run through the converters and boards inside the laptop since it runs on DC and the power from the outlet is AC. Depending on how it’s setup, the current very well could go through the battery instead of bypassing it before it reaches the laptop from the converters.
Basically you don’t know unless you try. Some laptops work when you remove the battery and some don’t. Just like phones or any other electronic.
Current can’t go through a battery, only in or out.
When connected to AC it will be running off AC, and also charging the battery.
That’s not entirely true. A battery can definitely be part of a running circuit and current definitely goes through it, otherwise it wouldn’t be usable.
It can be part of a circuit, but charge either goes in or comes out, it can’t do both at the same time.
I’m sorry but you’re mixing concepts. Electrical charge: measured in Coulombs, physicaly either electrons or gaps. Current: movement of electrical charge. Battery charge: chemical capacity to generate a voltage differential. Voltage differential: the potential energy difference that pushes charges through a circuit.
Electrical charges need to move through a battery for it to do useful work. If the battery is causing the movement (current), it is depleting its chemical charge. If the battery is not pushing the electrons, it’s likely being chemically charged (the complexities of which are beyond a lemmy comment). In both cases, the battery is part of the circuit that is conducting electrical charge. If there are no parallel paths and you remove the battery, the circuit ceases to exist and so does the current.
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The current will simply bypass the battery assuming it’s charged, it can’t flow in and then back out when both the charger and load are connected.
Yes it can, you’ve clearly never used an underpowered charger where the battery both charges and drains at the same time. Happens with any modern phone and can happen you laptops and plenty of other electronics.
Why you’re claiming this can’t happen is beyond me.
If the charger is underpowered the laptop draws from both the battery and the charger at the same time, since the charger cannot provide enough current on its own.
The current does not go through the battery on its way.
Just because it changes from current to chemistry and back doesn’t change age the fact that the laptop is powered from the battery while it’s being charged…. The charger is supplying no power to the laptop, just through the battery. So if current can’t go through the battery… how could it be receiving power…?
Think of it like a water tank connected to a “T” in a hose, when the tank is partially empty some of the water from the hose will go into it, but once the tank is full the water just continues through the hose bypassing the tank entirely.
Once the battery is charged current goes directly from the DC power supply to the laptop electronics, like the example with the hose and tank it just bypasses the battery entirely because the battery is at the same potential as the power supply.
Batteries don’t have an ‘input’ and ‘output’, they just have a single connection.
It’s also going to charge the battery.
Some laptops allow for controlling level kf charge. For example I keep my battery at 65% to prolong its life. If its supported, you should be able to set it through /sys/class/power_supply/bat0/charge_level
i dont rember file name and path exactly but shouldnlook like thisEdit: Correct filename is /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold
I do the same. My laptop had a weird bug where it would reset that value to 100 every reboot, so I made a systemd service to write it at every boot.
my laptop does reset it every reboot.
If you are using KDE, you can just use KDE’s battery manager to set it there.
otherwise, your solution is good too.
Even in KDEs battery manager, I was having the same issue.
Correct, but the laptop will be running off AC.
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But the concern is about the battery, so that’s kinda moot.
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Sure, any that you plug into the wall are running from an AC source, it gets converted to DC but the source is AC.
So every phone is AC powered because it can be plugged into a wall….? You understand how stupid that argument is yeah?
I mean, while plugged into the wall yes it’s being powered by AC.
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Framework laptops have it as a BIOS setting. I keep mine at 60%, and before a trip I bump it back to 100%.