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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
 Posted - 08/28/2005 : 21:20:38
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Quick jump to the current version 0.99 post page
Some of you may remember my promise to release "BattStat", my little battery status monitoring app. (http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6971)Well, I apologize for the long delay, but the time has come for its first release. You can read about it at the link above, or go straight to it:
http://users.rcn.com/tmtalpey/BattStat
Here's a screenshot to get things started. It doesn't have a manual, but it does have popup tooltips on the configuration panel, and it's actually fairly self-explanatory. I hope it helps folks here to assess their machine's battery performance and runtime, and also give some useful information on system load and hard drive physical parameters. I am sure you'll find it very helpful. I'll try to explain some of the details and features as we go.
Please use this thread for feedback, and I hope you enjoy the app!
Tom.
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Edited by - tmt on 06/06/2010 23:09:21 |
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Frolic67
New Member
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2005 : 23:59:55
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Very Cool!
Way more information than I probably need. I'm looking forward to exploring it and my P7's behaviors over the next few days.
One piece of feedback -- as I interpret it, the color key on the left is not aligned with the colors of the running traces in the black area. So while "Power" is third from the top in the key, the matching magenta line appears in the bottom third of the black area. For one of limited brain, this is a little confusing.
But I quibble. You must have put a lot of hard work into this and it looks great.
Thanks 1x10 to the sixth power!
Peter S. |
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Frolic67
New Member
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 09:04:24
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Tom:
Now I think I got it -- multiple pieces of data are displayed in a common area in which the top represents that data's 100 percent in whatever scale it is. The bottom represents that data's lowest measure.
So my batteries are showing fully charged across the top, while my CPU speed show spikes whenever I call on it to do something major, like save my 15MB PowerPoint file.
Thanks again.
Peter S. |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 09:11:32
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Right - pull the plug and let it run on batteries and you'll see the individual lines
start to move and diverge. This also starts the battery learning process, so your time
estimates will start to become realistic.
Also, I'm very interested in which algorithm wrks best on the P7K. On my P5K, the "Smoothed"
setting is best. This uses the batteries' own estimates but smooths the result over a
time interval (so it doesn't jump around too much).
If you use "Battery" it shows the raw battery values, basically just what the Windows
battery icon shows you.
If you use "Measured" it reports the program's observed rate of change over time. This
is accurate, but tends to be a little non-linear. For example, my batteries discharge
very slowly at first, then at about 85% they become very linear until about 20%, then
they drop more rapidly. I have tried to overcome this but the charge data comes from the
battery circuitry and therefore isn't easy to interpret.
Finally, there's "Blended" which blends together the battery data with the observed
samples. It's pretty good, but not always as good as the batteries themselves. I think
it might be the best setting for new batteries.
Tom. |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2005 : 09:15:06
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One other note, you may notice that the Hard Drive APM, AAM and spindown sliders aren't
functional. The first two are reporting the drive's settings, but I don't have the code
to change them working fully. Changing the settings make a big difference in drive
power consumption on certain models, and I want to hook them up, but I have some issues
in the GUI and settings to address. Next release...
Tom. |
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Reichart
Starting Member
USA
44 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2005 : 11:11:42
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Tom, thank you for writing this tool.
I have not DLed it yet, but will. May I suggest right now that the way you make the Manual is as a Wiki, even on Wikipedia. Then as we all learn stuff about its usage, your users can improve the manual. |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2005 : 10:50:17
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Updated version 0.7 available.
Download here.
Fixes a multibyte powerscheme name issue, and also no longer requires libraries to be pre-installed.
Tom. |
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cybertron
Starting Member
43 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2005 : 11:23:23
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Awesome tool. Before you released this i was itching to get my hands on it and now its here and works GREAT!
Can i make one suggestion... "always on top" for the toolbar and maybe even the window with all the line graph info...
Thanks a bunch for the already great product. :-)
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2005 : 14:50:24
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Yeah, I can do that. In fact that used to be the default but it got kind of annoying
however. Another useful setting is "always behind" btw.
Tom. |
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Dale Soelter
Starting Member
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2005 : 14:58:16
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Maybe a dumb question...
Is this application brand and model specific?
I have a P2040, but also an old Sony which I upgraded to XP, and in the process, lost the battery monitoring app.
Wondering if the app could be used on the Sony?
Thanks
Dale |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 12/10/2005 : 14:36:40
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The app will work on pretty much any machine running WinXP or Win2K regardless of brand.
It uses only standard facilities (no add-on dll's) and doesn't have any model-specific
tweaks. Of course, it's most interesting on a laptop, where there are batteries installed!
But even that is optional.
Tom. |
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cybertron
Starting Member
43 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2005 : 10:32:36
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quote:
Originally posted by tmt
Yeah, I can do that. In fact that used to be the default but it got kind of annoying
however. Another useful setting is "always behind" btw.
Tom.
maybe I'm having a dumb moment, but i dont see the setting. i'm using bete .7 |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2005 : 15:52:12
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That's because it's not there.  But I'm working on it.
Tom. |
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MrMisanthrope
Junior Member
USA
216 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2006 : 22:16:01
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Does it have a "Total working Drain" meter and a "Max Drain" function? I'd like to see how different HDDs change things (OEM=.7a, Hitachi 7200rpm=1a, WD 5600rpm=.5a: what is the realistic battery life difference...)
------------------
Small Talk is just Verbal SPAM. |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2006 : 07:28:24
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The runtime and power drain numbers reported are averaged over a wide sampling period in
all the sampling methods except for "Battery" (which is an immediate battery reading).
I have done this by visually observing the graphs in the display window and using them
to approximate a mean power drain. It's very difficult to automate this, due to the
rapidly fluctuating power demand, and the highly variable workload. I once considered
adding a csv-type logging facility, but I felt the visual method was more useful. You
can only get this kind of estimate so close, and it works for me.
I think you'll find the power drain of different hard drives is actually rather small.
Less than a watt for sure. The big drain is the screen's backlight brightness. Hit the
"screen off" hotkey and leave it for a little while, then reawaken it and look at the
dip in the power curve. On my P, turning the screen down to 30% brightness increases
runtime by a couple of hours, or several watts.
Instantaneous power drain isn't particularly useful. There are many sampling anomalies
and it's just not reliable. In the "measured" mode, you'll find the power will oscillate
quite a bit, because it's watching the batteries directly and the first few changes
wil have a large effect. For example, a fully charged new battery reads 100% but actually
may be holding (say) 110% charge relative to its factory calibration. It takes forever
to drop to 99%. The program sees 15 minutes of runtime and only 1% consumption and has
very little data to conclude otherwise. Or, if you have two batteries and they both
decide at the same instant to drop by 2%, it can look like a huge drain all at once.
For this reason, the data is best when smoothed over longer intervals, not instants.
Tom. |
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KlausS98
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 16:35:51
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Great tool Tom, thank you very much !
One sidenote - I´m running Battstat on a FSC S7020 and the installed SATA Fujitsu drive cannot be "tuned" via the APM/AAM settings, not
sure if SATA drives are a different beast of if you can adapt things.
Now only if one **finally** could work around the ACPI bugs which seem to plaque all those Fujitsu machines and get the temperature readings out of the system ....
Thanks
Klaus |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 20:43:55
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quote:
Originally posted by KlausS98
installed SATA Fujitsu drive cannot be "tuned" via the APM/AAM settings
Actually, that code is not enabled. The values shown in the display are the current
settings, but they aren't changeable in this version. Sorry, I really need to get
that stuff working...
As for ACPI temperature, it's not bugs it's simply that the Fujitsu BIOS doesn't
provide it. I have no idea why, they really should.
Glad you like the app!
Tom. |
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KlausS98
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 04:15:34
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Tom,
please, don´t feel sorry for the lack of the SATA implementation - how can one complain about the possibility of future enhancements ;)
If you ever find some spare time to work on this I´m gladly be the guinea pig to check if its working ...
On the ACPI - IMO Fujitsu decided to implement things differently than specified in the ACPI specs - so no apps can find the temperature zones entries where they SHOULD be - (now I call that a bug) - I think Fujitsu does must have a temp reading somewhere and uses this for their fan control but in some proprietary fashion, unfortunately ...
Having a tweaked BIOS or programm for being able to set the treshold for fan ON / OFF (inside some safe boundaries, of course) would help to solve most complaints I believe - for people worried about fan noise they could set the treshold somewhat higher, for people concerned about a too hot Notebook bottom they could set it somewhat higher - /rant off/
Just my 3 € cents of course
Klaus
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dnnb
Starting Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2006 : 14:18:46
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Hi Tom,
I got my P2120 as a hand me down and it's pretty noisy. It seems that the fan is always on with a lot of noise dissipating to the back of the laptop. Running Win XP Pro and without a PCMCIA card, even at idle, it's still noisy.
I was sent by NigelS b/c he recommended me to use your Battery Status program...and this is what I got:
The HD Temp gauge is disabled for some reason. What can I do? |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 16:07:28
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The HD Temp setting is grayed out when the drive does not support thermal monitoring.
Sorry but the only solution is to replace the drive with a model that does.
Tom. |
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NigelS
Senior Member Member
Canada
1339 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 17:23:06
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A -haaaaa! Hmmm, what hard drives do not support thermal monitoring?
[ie: classified by "type" versus say "age"]
Could it possibly just be broken? [I have absolutely no knowledge of this as is apparent...:]
Our friend dnnb has a very noisy machine. It is my contention
that the hard drive may be the cause, [and not the P2120 itself]
but that is just a theory.... |
Edited by - NigelS on 02/08/2006 17:24:17 |
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dnnb
Starting Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 19:44:00
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| thanks you guys for the help. I'll see what I can do. |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 20:52:46
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quote:
Originally posted by NigelS
Could it possibly just be broken?
Nope. The program queries the drive's capabilities and looks for thermal monitoring.
Bad values would be a different problem.
It's probably just an old drive, a Toshiba I'm guessing? Excellent excuse for an upgrade!
Tom. |
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NigelS
Senior Member Member
Canada
1339 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2006 : 01:20:09
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| dnnb - I don't presume to know what you intend to do, but keep in mind that we have not proven anything for certain about your notebook. It might take some kind of service technician to detect definitely where the symptoms come from. Service techs cost money, so some weighing of options are in order. There is a chance you could purchase a new hard drive and still may not solve the issue. [Perhaps borrow a healthy hard drive, if available, and temporarily install it...?] In any case remember that 5400RPM & 7200RPM drives improve P performance considerably. Just my FYI. |
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jemaliahz
Starting Member
1 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2006 : 14:02:35
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Hello and thank you for a excellent software!
I'm currently running it on Hewlett Packard NX9105 (AMD XP3000 Mobile based) and I have few questions.
a) I bought new battery to replace original HP battery. Old battery was 4400mAh and replacing battery is 6000mAh. When I installed battery and loaded it I saw: 97680mWh (of 97680) and Lion, 0 cycles, 0% wear. I found out that my laptop battery monitor (and Batt Stat) didn't show correct reading to my battery and meter suddenly droppd from 23% to 2%. I calibrated my battery as told in Hewlett Packard's battery info. I loaded battery full and drained it until computer shutdown completely. I loaded battery again now Batt Stat shows: 77212mWh (of 97680) and Lion, 0 cycles, 20% wear. Battery is 100% loaded.
What this means? Is my battery somehow damaged or why it won't take full capacity 97680mWh? It stops to 77212mHw even when computer shows it's full loaded. What that "20% wear" means? This new battery is now 3 days old.
b) Why I ain't capable of seeing Runtime or Power? Ain't my computer compliant for this software? Also HD Temp is out of use.
Thanks for you replies =)
Greets,
Jere Malila, Finland.
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tmt
Advanced Member
2766 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2006 : 17:15:36
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That's an interesting mWh rating. To convert it to mAh, you need to divide by the pack
voltage. If 97680mWh is correct, that might indicate a 16V pack, 5 cells in series. In
any case, the 97680 value is provided by the battery pack itself, i.e. the manufacturer
puts it there.
The 77212 reading is undoubtedly the value after the calibration, and is computed by
the computer's BIOS. The wear percentage is basically the percentage of the design
voltage. This can happen if the pack is very old, or has been recharged/overcharged
a lot. If you purchased the pack as new, I would complain!
You will see "Power" readings only when the machine is running on batteries or charging.
So if it's fully charged, pull the plug and see if it appears. If discharged, plug it in.
The "Runtime" estimate is the same, but this can take even longer since the program needs
to see the runtime versus the battery consumption for a while before making a report.
If you select the "Battery" method in the settings pane however, it will report exactly
what the battery is reading. This is basically the same information as the Windows battery
meter shows. In "Measured" mode, the reading can be more accurate, but also can take
longer to report. Try the other settings and see which is most accurate for your machine.
I recommend you look into that battery though, it sounds weak.
Tom. |
Edited by - tmt on 02/20/2006 17:16:10 |
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Topic |
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First release of my Battery Status/Monitoring app
