Dell PP23LA owner manual Conserving Battery Power, Low-Battery Warning, Power Management Modes

Check the Battery Health

To check the battery health using the charge gauge, press and hold the status button on the battery charge gauge for at least 3 seconds. If no lights appear, the battery is in good condition, and more than 80 percent of its original charge capacity remains. Each light represents incremental degradation. If five lights appear, less than 60 percent of the charge capacity remains, and you should consider replacing the battery. See "Specifications" on page 133 for more information about the battery operating time.

Low-Battery Warning

NOTICE: To avoid losing or corrupting data, save your work immediately after a low-battery warning, and then connect the computer to an electrical outlet. If the battery runs completely out of power, hibernate mode begins automatically.

By default, a pop-up window warns you when the battery charge is approximately 90 percent depleted. You can change the settings for the battery alarms. See "Configuring Power Management Settings" on page 43 for information about accessing the Power Options Properties window.

Conserving Battery Power

Perform the following actions to conserve battery power:

•Connect the computer to an electrical outlet when possible because battery life is largely determined by the number of times the battery is used and recharged.

•Place the computer in standby mode or hibernate mode when you leave the computer unattended for long periods of time. See "Power Management Modes" on page 41 for more information about standby and hibernate modes.

•Select options to optimize your computer’s power usage. These options can also be set to change when you press the power button, close the display, or press <Fn><Esc>. See "Configuring Power Management Settings" on page 43 for more information.

NOTE: See "Battery Performance" on page 39 for more information on conserving battery power.

Power Management Modes

Standby Mode

Standby mode conserves power by turning off the display and the hard drive after a predetermined period of inactivity (a time-out). When the computer exits standby mode, it returns to the same operating state it was in before entering standby mode.

NOTICE: If your computer loses AC and battery power while in standby mode, it may lose data.

Using a Battery

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