How To Read Battery Report Windows 10

Battery life is an often vague and nebulous concept. In theory, information technology can be represented by a single number but, in practice, literally hundreds of factors can shorten or lengthen endurance. That's frustrating if you're trying to gauge the battery life and health of your notebook, especially if yous're trying to determine if it's time to buy a new laptop.

Windows has a secret feature called Bombardment Report that can help. It's what nosotros use while testing notebook endurance at PCWorld. Here's how to access Battery Report and understand what information technology reveals you virtually your laptop.

How to create a Battery Written report

Battery Report is not a new feature, but information technology remains under-the-radar considering there's no way to access it through Windows' settings menus. Y'all can only create a Battery Report through the Command Prompt. Here's how to practice it:

Perform a Windows Search for CMD or Control Prompt. You'll see Command Prompt announced and the search results. Open up it. Alternatively, y'all tin notice Command Prompt listed nether Windows Organization in the Windows Start menu.
Once open, yous'll see a command line starting with C: and ending with the name of your user account. A blinking cursor volition appear at the cease of this command line. Blazon powercfg /batteryreport and press Enter on your keyboard.
If successful, the Control Prompt will tell you a battery life written report was saved to your user folder.
Navigate to the folder listed in the Control Prompt. This will be your default user folder, which is C:Users<yourusername>

command prompt — The Windows Control Prompt.

You can access the Battery Report either by using File Explorer to navigate to your user folder, or past performing a Windows Search for battery written report. Notation that it may have several minutes for Windows Search to index the new study and permit you to search for it, and so File Explorer might be faster.

The Battery Report is saved every bit an HTML document, then y'all can open up it with the spider web browser of your selection. Once open you lot'll find a long certificate that is packed with information. Hither's how to decipher what each section means.

How to use Battery Report to estimate battery life

The Bombardment Report tin be used to gauge battery life in a few ways, but most people volition want to ringlet to the bottom of the report where you'll notice the Battery life estimates section.

This does the math calculating how long the battery could last based on how long yous've used it each day or calendar week. The gauge is handy because you don't have to fully bleed the battery.

Take a look at the Agile column under At Full Charge. This volition prove a result formatted in hours, minutes, and seconds. If the column says iv:56:22, for example, that ways the battery was estimated to concluding four hours, 56 minutes, and 22 seconds.

You volition also find the log lists At Full Charge and At Design Capacity. The At Full Charge column is the guess you desire to pay attention to, as it creates an judge based on the maximum charge your laptop'due south battery can handle right now.

The At Design Chapters cavalcade creates an gauge based on the maximum battery charge of your laptop when information technology was new. This is a useful comparison for an older laptop.

The log is not perfect. The approximate is based on how yous used the battery in the past so information technology will be off if you change how you use the PC in the future. Even a minor change, like switching the web browser you use, tin can throw off the estimate.

Battery report's math tin can also show a bit…odd, at times. You volition encounter errors when a system is used for just a brusk menses of time or in short bursts throughout the day. Y'all may besides detect errors if the system is not used at all for several weeks.

How to apply Battery Study to mensurate battery life

The bombardment life judge is useful for a quick glance, but yous'll need to go deeper if y'all want an accurate result.

Accept a expect at the Bombardment usage section of the study. This shows you how the battery was really used in the last three days. You can endeavour to piece together battery life using these snippets, but it's tough.

Y'all can just record an accurate result by forcing your laptop to discharge its unabridged battery in 1 go. It's possible to do this while using the laptop ordinarily, but it's easier to use a video, script, or benchmark that can run unattended. Here'south a few suggestions:

A YouTube video that'south ten hours long, or longer.
Use the Basemark Web iii.0 benchmark. Bank check the benchmark'south configuration options and turn on Battery Life manner, which infinitely loops the criterion.
Use iMacros to create a custom web browsing macro and then use the loop feature to run the macro until the battery is drained.
Apply a program like Macro Recorder to create a loop that repeats infinitely.

As well plough off all sleep and hibernation features, including those that turn off or dim the display.

Start your chosen exam and wait until the laptop reaches its disquisitional battery land. It will automatically ability off. Connect the laptop to ability, turn it on, and run the battery report again. The Battery usage section of the study volition tell y'all how long the battery endured.

Running this examination will requite yous an authentic endurance baseline. You tin can compare it to similar tests from other people who own the same system, or yous tin run the test every month to see how battery life holds upwards over time.

How to use Battery Report to measure battery wellness

Battery Study offers two more ways to determine if your bombardment is over the colina.

The first is Cycle Count, which you'll find near the top of the written report under Installed Batteries. Wheel count is an approximate of how many times your laptop'southward full bombardment capacity has been discharged.

This is cumulative: one bike can hateful the bombardment was discharged past twenty percent five times, or 100 percent one time. A typical laptop battery should handle several hundred charge cycles before in that location's any meaningful change in battery capacity. Most tin handle 500 to one,000 cycles earlier battery capacity becomes a problem.

You can also examine the Bombardment capacity history department found halfway through the report. This provides a log of measured battery capacity and also, for convenience, shows the battery's design chapters, which is how much ability the battery should concur if it performed as intended.

Many new laptops will show a full charge chapters that's a bit higher than the design capacity, merely the full charge capacity volition decrease every bit the battery ages. The laptop above, for instance, is approaching its 10th altogether.

A full charge capacity that'due south xx per centum lower than the original pattern capacity, or lower, indicates an older battery. In that location'south nix to stop you from running a battery into the ground, though. A modern laptop bombardment will finish working entirely long earlier its full charge capacity reaches zero.