Power Overwhelmed

Not too long ago, my battery kicked the bucket. It's still there but it's not working anymore. Battery aside I'm impressed with Lenovo's build quality. I expected the hinges to give up first. But the hinges are still alright.

Old Faithful. This one's outliving its battery.

I managed to get me a new one for PHP3000. I was initially freaked out when I plugged in the new battery. I thought it was a dud. It didn't behave any differently from the old one. I poked around and learned some new commands. Here they are along with their output:

acpi

The acpi command returns a simple output as seen below (output in bold font):

swagger@LostWanderingDrifter ~ $ acpi
Battery 0: Charging, 64%, 00:30:05 until charged
swagger@LostWanderingDrifter ~ $ acpi -i
Battery 0: Charging, 65%, 00:29:56 until charged
Battery 0: design capacity 4116 mAh, last full capacity 3910 mAh = 94% 

 

upower

The upower command is a bit more comprehensive. This gave me enough information to conclude the battery is working.

swagger@LostWanderingDrifter ~ $ upower -e
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_ADP1
 
The same effect is achieved with this command:

swagger@LostWanderingDrifter ~ $ upower --enumerate
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
/org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_ADP1 

Adding -i and indicating the power source gives a comprehensive output:


swagger@LostWanderingDrifter ~ $ upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_ADP1
  native-path:          ADP1
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Fri 17 Apr 2015 01:57:10 PM PHT (3034 seconds ago)
  has history:          no
  has statistics:       no
  line-power
    online:             yes
swagger@LostWanderingDrifter ~ $ upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
  native-path:          BAT0
  vendor:               SMP
  model:                L09M6Y02
  serial:               1838
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Fri 17 Apr 2015 02:47:47 PM PHT (18 seconds ago)
  has history:          yes
  has statistics:       yes
  battery
    present:             yes
    rechargeable:        yes
    state:               charging
    energy:              33.09 Wh
    energy-empty:        0 Wh
    energy-full:         46.4 Wh
    energy-full-design:  48.84 Wh
    energy-rate:         33.462 W
    voltage:             12.063 V
    time to full:        23.9 minutes
    percentage:          71%
    capacity:            95.0041%
    technology:          lithium-ion
  History (charge):
    1429253267    71.000    charging
    1429253207    70.000    charging
  History (rate):
    1429253267    33.462    charging
    1429253237    33.349    charging
    1429253207    32.972    charging
    1429253177    32.949    charging


It turns out that these replacement batteries are empty when you get them. Silly ol' me was expecting them to be factory charged. That had me a bit concerned for nothing. Well I hope this information helps you too.

My thanks to these sources:

• http://askubuntu.com/questions/69556/how-to-check-battery-status-using-terminal
• https://docs.oseems.com/general/operatingsystem/linux/view-battery-information

That's it for now. Until then, happy computing!