Dell Inspiron/ Mint Cinnamon Inconsistent Battery Charing
by jude7 from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5J16V)
I have a Dell Inspiron "P66F", running Mint 18.2 Cinnamon 3.4.3, that sometimes charges very slowly for no obvious reason. Today for instance, it took way too long to charge from under 5% to 71%, stating, at 71%: "1hr, 40 min" remaining until fully charged.Then the charge went to 80% fairly quickly, but then gave the remaining charge time as "2hr,55min" !?!
I have noticed this type of behavior before, where the charge rate seems to vary widely for no obvious reason, and the alleged remaining time to full charge also varies widely and seemningly randomly, often unconnected to the indicated charge %.
I have a charger rated the same as the spec on the bottom of the machine (19.5V, 3.34 A), it is a Chinese no-name knock-off, but since the charge time is often fast, I don't think that is the problem.
Before I invest in a new battery, I want to rule-out any sort of charge algorithm issues.
Is it possible to reset the software, to assure something isn't amiss there?
P.S. : In just the 10 minutes or so it took to post the above, the indicated charge went from 82 % to 100% !


I have noticed this type of behavior before, where the charge rate seems to vary widely for no obvious reason, and the alleged remaining time to full charge also varies widely and seemningly randomly, often unconnected to the indicated charge %.
I have a charger rated the same as the spec on the bottom of the machine (19.5V, 3.34 A), it is a Chinese no-name knock-off, but since the charge time is often fast, I don't think that is the problem.
Before I invest in a new battery, I want to rule-out any sort of charge algorithm issues.
Is it possible to reset the software, to assure something isn't amiss there?
P.S. : In just the 10 minutes or so it took to post the above, the indicated charge went from 82 % to 100% !