Laptop Battery Report Shows a Difference Between the "Battery Design" and "Full Charge" Capacity
Summary: This article explains why there is a disparity between the battery design capacity of the battery and the full charge on a Dell laptop.
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This article is not tied to any specific product.
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Symptoms
When looking at the Battery Report utility, you will see that there is a difference in the battery design capacity versus the full charge capacity shown.
(Figure.1 XPS Battery Report)
Cause
Cause information is not available.
Resolution
This disparity can lead people to falsely assume that there is a problem with their laptop battery.
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Full Charge Capacity: This is affected by several factors that are constantly changing. (For example, changes in the external temperature, ambient temperature, system heat soak temperature, along with things such as the number of discharges to 0% and the number of full charge cycles.)
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Design Capacity: Has a 10% buffer to allow for external changes during use. (For example, system heat can cause a cell to overvolt ever so slightly.) This prevents the battery from spiking and causing damage to the life of the battery cells.
This is standard industry design and practice and the battery is working as designed.
Affected Products
G Series, Alienware, Inspiron, Latitude, Vostro, XPS, Legacy Laptop Models, Mobile WorkstationsArticle Properties
Article Number: 000138286
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 17 Oct 2024
Version: 6
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