Laptop Battery Clock - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

godzilla23 · 09-11-2004, 09:04 AM

So, I get home yesterday, and my new battery came for my laptop. I've got a Dell Inspiron 9100, and while it's quite the power hog and I should be running the thing on power supply most of the time anyways, I needed a second battery because my classes got scrunched together and there's no time to recharge. Should the need arise to have my laptop on for the duration of the classes, I would have been SOL with my to-be-feared 1:53 of battery life.

However, this lead me to my first problem. The two batteries are of different sizes; the standard one came with an integrated subwoofer, and thus made the battery charge smaller. The new one's a little bigger of a charge, and no subwoofer. That's all fine and great, since I don't really need a subwoofer in class anyways... but the switching of the two batteries is somewhat confusing to my poor computer. It probably can't understand why it isn't just plugged in, the poor thing. The small battery icon in the taskbar is never right. It is currently listing nearly 3 hours of battery life, and I have the smaller battery inside. This, is impossible.

I'm really just wondering if there is a program out there that will display (preferably just above the taskbar) the remaining % charge of my battery, and the time left on it, whenever my computer is running on batteries. Even if it displays all the time, even when it's plugged in, I wouldn't mind. That way I could probably better plan out my trips to class.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

rubicon · 09-13-2004, 05:27 PM

Hmm, can't help you out there. Are you actually getting the time out of the battery that you expect, even if the display is wrong?

godzilla23 · 09-14-2004, 04:47 AM

Yeah, the time is correct for the battery that I'm using. I guess I'll just have to live with it

The only thing that will somewhat accurately tell me how much charge I have is this little illuminated 5 light display *on my battery*. So, I have to flip the computer upside down, jump up and down, do a handstand, shake it like an etch-a-sketch, and it'll tell me the relative % of charge, rounded to the nearest multiple of 20.

Bah.

09-11-2004, 09:04 AM	#1 (permalink)
godzilla23 Tilted Location: Ontario, Canada	Laptop Battery Clock So, I get home yesterday, and my new battery came for my laptop. I've got a Dell Inspiron 9100, and while it's quite the power hog and I should be running the thing on power supply most of the time anyways, I needed a second battery because my classes got scrunched together and there's no time to recharge. Should the need arise to have my laptop on for the duration of the classes, I would have been SOL with my to-be-feared 1:53 of battery life. However, this lead me to my first problem. The two batteries are of different sizes; the standard one came with an integrated subwoofer, and thus made the battery charge smaller. The new one's a little bigger of a charge, and no subwoofer. That's all fine and great, since I don't really need a subwoofer in class anyways... but the switching of the two batteries is somewhat confusing to my poor computer. It probably can't understand why it isn't just plugged in, the poor thing. The small battery icon in the taskbar is never right. It is currently listing nearly 3 hours of battery life, and I have the smaller battery inside. This, is impossible. I'm really just wondering if there is a program out there that will display (preferably just above the taskbar) the remaining % charge of my battery, and the time left on it, whenever my computer is running on batteries. Even if it displays all the time, even when it's plugged in, I wouldn't mind. That way I could probably better plan out my trips to class. Any help is greatly appreciated!

09-13-2004, 05:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
rubicon Stop. Think. Question. Location: Redondo Beach, CA	Hmm, can't help you out there. Are you actually getting the time out of the battery that you expect, even if the display is wrong? __________________ How you do anything is how you do everything.

09-14-2004, 04:47 AM	#3 (permalink)
godzilla23 Tilted Location: Ontario, Canada	Yeah, the time is correct for the battery that I'm using. I guess I'll just have to live with it The only thing that will somewhat accurately tell me how much charge I have is this little illuminated 5 light display on my battery. So, I have to flip the computer upside down, jump up and down, do a handstand, shake it like an etch-a-sketch, and it'll tell me the relative % of charge, rounded to the nearest multiple of 20. Bah.