Charging ignores TLP settings

Question

Thinkpad E430, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

I set the thresholds for charging to 85-93% in /etc/default/tlp , restarted the computer. Now it is at 99% and charging.

sudo tlp stat shows that it has successfully loaded the settings and prints the tresholds I set, but the battery is charging anyway. Why?

Solution

From the FAQ:

Why is my battery charged up to 100% – ignoring the charge thresholds?

Possible causes are:

Laptop is not a ThinkPad

Battery charge thresholds and recalibration work with ThinkPads only.

tp-smapi is not installed

…

Installation of package tp-smapi-dkms fails (Ubuntu)

…

Kernel module tp_smapi is not loaded

Symptom: tlp-stat -b shows

tp-smapi = inactive (kernel module 'tp_smapi' load error)

Solution: try to load manually with

sudo modprobe -v tp_smapi

and check tp-smapi Troubleshooting for a solution matching the error message or use adequate forums to resolve your issue with tp-smapi.

tp-smapi does not support the following models:

• ThinkPad SL300/400/500
• ThinkPad X121e (AMD)
• ThinkPad T430(s), T530, W530, X230 and all newer models – see according section below.

…

ThinkPad T420(s)/T520/W520/X220

tp-smapi doesn't support start threshold and recalibration on Sandy Bridge generation ThinkPads. Symptoms are:

tlp-stat -b shows

/sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh = (not available)

tlp setcharge or fullcharge shows the message

start => Warning: cannot set threshold.

tlp discharge or recalibrate show the message

Error: discharge function not available for this ThinkPad model. 

Solution: TLP automatically uses tpacpi-bat when the kernel module acpi_call is available, see Installation.

ThinkPad T430(s)/T530/W530/X230 (or newer models)

Solution: TLP automatically uses tpacpi-bat when the kernel module acpi_call is available, see Installation.

Battery has been removed

By removing (and re-inserting) the battery the charge thresholds are reset to factory settings (96 / 100%). To restore TLP's settings the following two steps are needed:

• Restart system
• Shutdown and power off system

or use

sudo tlp setcharge

See Change Battery Charge Thresholds.

Charge thresholds shown by tlp-stat do not correspond to the configured ones

Possible causes are:

Configuration was not activated

After changes to the configuration it is necessary to reboot. Alternatively use

sudo tlp start

or

sudo tlp setcharge

to activate the thresholds.

ThinkPad Edge (E/S) series, L series, SL410/510

On these models the threshold values shown by tlp-stat do not correspond to the written values. For example the setting START_CHARGE_THRESH_BATx=75 / STOP_CHARGE_THRESH_BATx=80 shows 75 / 74. The described behavior is caused by the firmware, not by TLP. Nonetheless the charge thresholds work as configured.

Comments

[Radovan Bezak]

You are right, tp-smapi was not installed. Thanks

[codegenki]

Just for the sake of completeness and clarity for all the ThinkPad users asking these questions, refer to this ThinkWiki page thinkwiki.org/wiki/Tp_smapi#Model-specific_status to verify if your model is listed in tp_smapi feature support matrix.