Batteries are one of the major components of every electrical device when it comes to durability and performance. With the passage of time, all types of batteries get weak and lose their maximum charging capabilities. This has always been an important concern for people who use laptops, especially programmers and gamers. It is important to regularly check on the battery health so that you may know its condition and whether it needs to be changed or not. Read till the end to know how to check battery health of laptop and other usage statistics.
Why Laptop Battery Health Decreases
Laptops use li-ion (lithium ion) batteries which can have about 800 charge cycles in its lifetime. Higher quality li-ion batteries can even achieve 1000-1200 charge cycles in their lifetime
Although, lithium ion batteries are one of the best types of when it comes to the number of charge and discharge cycles, but they will still get weak over the passage of time just like other types of batteries. To understand it, we will need to absorb some chemistry behind these batteries. When charged, the lithium ions in the battery move from the negative terminal of the battery (called the cathode) to the positive terminal (called anode). Similarly, when discharged, these lithium ions move back to the negative terminal from the positive one. This current of charges is used in producing energy for the electrical device.
The problem is that these batteries also contain other chemicals to function properly. These chemicals trap the lithium ions which results in less number of charges available. The loss of these ions decreases the battery health.
How to Check Battery Health on Laptop:
Fortunately, we can check the battery and power statistics on our laptop by simple using a command. To check the battery health and statistics, do the following steps:
- Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
- Type the following command in it: powercfg /batteryreport
- Hit Enter and a report will be generated which will be having all the information related to your battery and its usage.
- This battery report will be automatically saved in the following directory C:\Users\[your username]\battery-report.html
About the Battery Report:
This generated report will be in .html format, so just double click it and it will open in the bowser. This report will be containing different types of information related to your battery. These information heading are briefly described below for your understanding:
Installed batteries:
This heading will be having general information of the batteries installed in your device like the name of the battery & manufacturer and how many charge cycles has the battery gone through so far.
Recent Usage:
This section will show you the recent battery usage changes like the power source, state and the capacity remaining. This can help you understand the battery usage history and how it charged and discharged recently. AC power source will mean it was charging at that time whereas the battery source means that your laptop was taking power from the battery.
Battery usage:
This section will also show you the battery drainage of your laptop’s battery and will display a graph showing how your battery percentages changed when it was active and not charging.
Usage history:
You can see the complete history of battery system usage here in the form weekly data and time your laptop spent charging (AC power) and using the battery power.
Battery Capacity History:
This is one of the most vital sections of this battery report. It will display complete history of your laptop’s full charging capacity and how it has reduced with the passage of time. You can use this data to predict how long a battery is going to last and thus plan for a battery change on time.
Battery Life Estimates:
This is the last portion of the battery-report.html file and will be having data showing the estimated time your laptop can remained powered with the available battery charge. These are just estimates made by your system based on your usage and type of actions you are performing. Thus, these figures might not be always correct.
This was how you can check the battery health of laptop and check other statistical data related to battery usage. It’s important to keep a check on battery life and get it replaced on time to avoid any problems later.
