Despite your best practices, your gadget’s rechargeable battery won’t last forever. After a few years of use and continuous charge and recharge cycles, your battery will eventually wear out and it won’t charge as efficiently as before.
You will inevitably notice that your laptop’s battery level reading is off and horribly wrong. It may say that you have an hour of battery life left, but after a few minutes, it is depleting and shutting down.
This can mean two things – one, your laptop battery is really draining, and second, your battery level needs recalibration.
battery level re-calibration
To get a clear overview of your laptop’s battery status, to prevent false battery level readings and false alarms, you’ll need to re-calibrate your laptop’s battery. That way you can prevent sudden shutdowns and assess whether you really need a new battery. Here’s how you do it on Windows 10:
1. Change Your Power Plan
Before starting the recalibration process, please change the power plan settings of your Windows 10 laptop to prevent it from going to sleep or hibernate mode too soon. You want to set the display to never turn off when it is idle.
Next, on the Settings window, click “Additional power settings”, then click “Change computer sleep times” on the left pane.
On the next page, select “Never” on the drop-down boxes on both “Turn off the display” and “Put the computer to sleep.”
Now, click on “Change advanced power settings”. Click the plus sign next to “Battery” to expand it, then under this section, expand “Critical battery level.” Here, set the “on battery” and “plugged in” percentages to as low as possible (preferably less than 5 percent). Click Apply >> OK >> Save Changes and you’re done.
2. Fully recharge your battery
Once your power plan settings are set to prevent your laptop from going into sleep or hibernate mode, plug it in and then charge it to 100 percent.
Keep an eye on its charge level. Once it hits 100 percent, let it rest but leave it plugged in for an additional two hours to let the battery cool down.
3. Unplug Then Discharge
After letting your laptop battery cool for two hours, you can now unplug it from power and then fully discharge it.
If you have modified your power plan properly, it should not go into sleep or hibernate mode during the discharge process. You can use the laptop at this time and play the looping video to speed up the discharge process.
4. Charge It Back
After your laptop’s battery is completely drained (it will power itself off), plug it back in and recharge it back to 100 percent. Don’t worry about leaving your laptop idle as you can use it normally during the recharge process.
Once it’s all backed up, your battery should be properly calibrated and Windows 10 will give you more accurate level readings.
Don’t forget to change your laptop’s power plan to your desired settings once you’re done.
Also, for consistent battery level readings, it is recommended that you recalculate your laptop battery on a regular basis, preferably every few months.