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Different Icon functions for battery in system tray

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by psaulm119, 2008/03/14.

  1. 2008/03/14
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    You can put this in the "If this is your biggest problem, you got it made" category... regardless, I would like to work this out if I can.

    In XP, on my laptop (Dell Inspiron 1501), when I recharge my battery, I see the battery icon change to that of a plug, in my system tray. It stays like that until I unplug the laptop, at which point the icon changes to a battery--but the key here is that as long as the laptop is plugged in, the icon is a plug--whether the battery is down to 10% or up to 100%.

    I could have sworn that in VIsta, once the battery is at 100%, and plugged in, the icon changes. I would like something like this in XP.

    The reason being, that when I see the plug icon, I think that it is fully charged, and then I unplug the computer, only to see that it is not fully charged.

    Is there any way I can change when the icons in teh system tray change, in XP? If not, perhaps there is a utility I can d/l that will do this, but I'd like to try Windows' own settings first.
     
  2. 2008/03/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    The behaviour you see in XP is standard, but the behaviour when you mouse over the plug icon may depend on your laptop.

    On my old HP mousing over the icon when connected to the mains showed a tool tip along the lines of '55% - charging', but on my current HP all I see is 'On AC Power', but double clicking in the tray icon brings up the Windows Power meter showing the battery state. See what happens on yours.

    I cannot comment on Vista as I do not have Vista on a laptop.

    There are utilities available - not looked at them ....

    http://www.google.com/search?source...z=1T4GGLG_en___GB227&q=Laptop+battery+monitor
     

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  4. 2008/03/15
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    OK. Thanks. I'll search for a utility.
     
  5. 2008/03/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Why not just double click on the icon to show the Windows Power Meter? You already have the utility :)
     
  6. 2008/03/15
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Well, either from an IBM laptop, or from this Inspiron with Vista, I could see without any clicking or hovering, that the laptop was charging, OR that it was now at 100%. I would then pull the plug based on the icon, and I'm doing this now often enough, even though the battery is less than 100%, so that I think I'd rather give up a few megs of RAM for a utility that can help make sure that I run the charge up to 100% before I pull the plug.

    Some have told me that charging at close to zero, and charging all the way up to 100%, will help preserve the life of the battery (rather than plugging it in and pulling the plug whenever). I've managed to keep the battery life at roughly 90 minutes for some 9 months (that I've owned this laptop), and I'd like to keep this going as long as possible.

    Does this answer really start a new thread--about whether 0 to 100% charging will preserve teh battery life? I've read both yea and nay, but it sure has worked on this laptop--pretty much it has retained its "OEM" battery life, and the IBM I had, I noticed a definite drop, as I was constantly plugging it and unplugging it at work.
     
  7. 2008/03/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    At the risk of repeating myself there is a utility buit in - what's the problem with a double click on the icon before pulling the AC?

    Battery life and capacity - I think a lot depends on the type of battery - Li Ion, etc. I was amazed to find that my old laptop battery had maintained a near 100% charge - battery stored removed from laptop - after a year of disuse.

    I can't comment on battery life - the laptop is invariably plugged into AC and when used away from home - basically only for Photoshop demos it is also powered from AC.
     
  8. 2008/03/15
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    What's the problem? You mean, actually having to click instead of taking a quick look-see at the system tray? Call me lazy, but again, I'm used to just being able to see instead of point and click, and I'd like to replicate that.

    I know, I said at the start, it wasn't exactly the biggest problem around...:cool:
     
  9. 2008/03/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    No problem - it's your call :)
     
  10. 2008/03/15
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    For what it's worth, I found what I was looking for--a utility known as Battery Info. It gives me what the IBM ThinkPad had--a battery icon in the task bar that gave me a percentage that was very easy to see, and a second battery icon (when on battery), which changed to a plug when charging. And no clicking!:D
     

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