Dell Laptops Information About the Battery LEDs

Information About the Battery LEDs on a Dell™ Portable System Table of Contents Portable Battery Pack Charge Status Indicators Battery degradation status indication. System Battery/Charge LED Troubleshooting Battery Codes » Portable Battery Pack Charge Status Indicators The charge state of the battery pack is monitored and stored within registers internal to the battery pack electronics. This may be referred to as a fuel gauge. The charge status LEDs on the battery pack indicate the remaining charge in the following manner: Note: Not all Dell™ portable system models have the LED bar graph on the battery pack. Check the system documentation for availability. - 81% - 100% charge capacity remaining - 61% - 80% charge capacity remaining - 41% - 60% charge capacity remaining - 21% - 40% charge capacity remaining - 5% - 20% charge capacity remaining - 0% - 4% charge capacity remaining - The battery pack has failed or is damaged. Back to Top » Battery degradation status indication. Portable system batteries as with all other rechargeable batteries degrade over time. The amount of time the battery will operate the device on a full charge will reduce as the battery ages. This performance loss is also based on the number of times the battery is discharged and charged. Dell portable system batteries provide a way to monitor the degradation. The degradation status will display after holding the battery check button, located on the battery pack, down for more than 3 seconds. The battery pack LEDs will then show overall battery degradation after the charge gauge reports the battery's current charge capacity. The degradation LEDs display the following: - 100% – 80% charge performance is remaining - 79 – 75% charge performance is remaining - 74 – 70% charge performance is remaining - 69 – 65% charge performance is remaining - 64 – 60% charge performance is remaining - 59% or less charge performance is remaining Back to Top » System Battery/Charge LED The hinge or system battery LED can indicate many battery states. The LED can blink and change color representing the battery's current operational condition. The LED indicates the following states (click the image for a larger view in a new window): - Temporary Battery Failure - Fatal Battery Failure - Unsupported (non-Dell) Batter - Battery Below Low Battery 2 Threshold - Battery Below Low Battery 1 Threshold - Battery Being Charged - Battery in Trickle Charge Mode Back to Top » Troubleshooting Battery Codes No Power When Using Only the AC Adapter on a Dell™ Laptop Computer Date Published: 8/14/2003 Last Revised: 10/2/2008 STEP: Shut Down the System Additional Information 1 Click Start. 2 Click Shutdown. 3 Choose Shutdown from the menu. 4 Click OK. 5 Allow the system to power off. Note: If the system does not complete the power down cycle, hold the power button down for 10 seconds or until the system powers down.