Is it common knowledge that SP3 powers off with 7% battery left?

tanyet

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I've been trying to gauge battery life pretty closely and I noticed that the surface pro 3 turns off with 7% battery life left. I changed that setting to 1% in the power options and I'm now getting 40 mins extra. Is this common knowledge? Seems odd to me.
 
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ssapre

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I see with my SP2 its going till 3% and then power off. Normally I noticed with my SP2, wireless stops working after 6% warning message.
 

tanyet

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I just wondered about all the battery tests reviewers were doing. If this setting is not changed there is no way to accurately compare the battery life of 2 different tablets or pc's. I mean we're talking about almost 10% difference here. I broke 9 hrs today since I changed this setting.
 

anon(5383410)

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Does anyone know if there's a particular reason this is the default? Could it possibly be better for the long term life of the battery to not let it drop below a certain level regularly?
 

BaritoneGuy

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Does anyone know if there's a particular reason this is the default? Could it possibly be better for the long term life of the battery to not let it drop below a certain level regularly?

I think it is dual purpose. As you suggest to preserve the battery from damage as complete discharge on this type of battery is not good for it, but also to insure that it has enough juice to get into hibernate mode so no data is lost.
 

Taylor Tollison

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I went to my power settings and don't see how to change the power option so it turns off after 1%. Right now mine turns off at 9%. HOw did you change your settings.
 

Guzzler3

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Desktop Control Panel
System and Security
Power options/Change Battery options
Change Plan Settings
Change advanced power settings
Battery (scroll down to the bottom of the list)
Low battery level (usually 10% by default, but is actually set by the manufacturer's ACPI settings)
Critical battery level (usually 5% by default, but is actually set by the manufacturer's ACPI settings)

You can do two changes to make your computer run longer: Change the Low and Critical battery levels, and change the Low and Critical battery actions. You can set the Low battery action to: Do Nothing, but I would keep the Critical battery action at "hibernate", and leave the "Reserve Battery level" alone.
 

stephen_az

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The 7% threshold is primarily to preserve your data by giving a low power buffer for sleep/hibernate if/when you run extremely low. It may seem like an inconvenience but it is really not something most people should touch. With respect to 1%, you should consider that if you are working on something you are within minutes or even seconds of losing it if the battery runs out. Since those are always estimates, 1% could be a lot closer to zero which means you could have it simply shut down rather than hibernate or not have enough power to successfully hibernate. FWIW, much like hypermiling, I just don't see the point. The risks and Inconveniences just to squeeze more out than was designed for practical use just are not worth it. If in a place with power outlets, an extra power adapter isn't really all that much and turning of WiFi when not needed is probably worth more than that 7%. If traveling a pocket inverter can plug into most vehicle outlets. Just my opinion but this definitely something one does at their own risk..
 

JamesPTao

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I've been trying to gauge battery life pretty closely and I noticed that the surface pro 3 turns off with 7% battery life left. I changed that setting to 1% in the power options and I'm now getting 40 mins extra. Is this common knowledge? Seems odd to me.
One of the main points of this too is to protect the battery. It would obviously be difficult to replace for the average consumer. And consumer perception of the battery would go Dow if the average person could use it down to 1% as most would and several times leave it that way for a while before plugging it in. Doing so kills a modern battery quick. So this is the default to protect from this as most tech consumers are horrible with battery care then complain and bad mouth the manufacturer when it dies prematurely. Perfect example is my wife she killed two new batteries within 6 months because she would either just leave it on till it died or use it till it died and them leave it like that for a day or so. I had to change her battery management to give a low war ing at 30% and shut down at 15%. Since them battery still works great and that was almost a year and a half ago. In this day and age perception is everything.
 

rkarolak

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This sounds like the Critical battery level setting. It's fairly common and isn't too surprising. It's intended to leave some battery left so you can still transport the computer in sleep or prevent you from completely using the battery up.
 

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