Hello,

I just found out about TLP - a module to download with apt, which is a good utility for maintaining the laptop battery. You can set a minimum charge value, and a maximum charge value. But it is not sufficient for my use case. My question is - is there any utility I can use to discharge the battery WHILE connected to AC?

The reason behind this is: I want to use the solar power during the day to charge up the battery to 80 or 90% and then discharge the battery in the evening to 15-20%. Afterwards use AC power again. The solar energy during mid-day is cheaper and available in abundance.

On a big level with many computers this could make a good impact on the energy network, or am I wrong?

  • IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org
    1·
    2 hours ago

    Well, you will have excess solar power during the day, so just keep it plugged in to the solar while solar is available. Then, just unplug the laptop in the evening until you get to 15-20%.

    Trying to force the laptop to discharge while plugged in is colossally more trouble than it’s worth.

  • Intheflsun@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    4 hours ago

    I’ve got a 2021 Dell laptop. In uefi, you can set charge times and type of charge, 50%,80%, full, and smart. I think it’s in like 1/2 hour blocks by day. By that I mean on (day of week) from 9:30am to 6:00pm charge full, different day may have different settings. .

  • mlfh@lemmy.sdf.org
    9·
    6 hours ago

    Some laptop battery firmware allows you to force discharge even when connected to AC, and if your laptop can use the tlp recalibrate or tlp discharge commands then yours is supported.

    I use this to power my thinkpad servers off of their own batteries during a power outage, to reduce load on my UPS. Great feature.