Hey guys,
in contrast to the numerous posts of disappointed customers, i am quite happy with my Prime - except for some pretty hefty backlight bleeding, everything seems to be alright.
But i would like to hear from you guys, how you are charging thoe 2 batteries on the Prime...I charged the tablet and the dock together, but now i am a little bit reluctant to connect and disconnect the tablet very often, because every time it is connected, it is automatically loaded from the dock. Should not be so beneficial for the tablet batteries lifetime, if it gets 3 half-hour loading cycles per day,don't you think?
So how are you dealing with this?
Gesendet von meinem Transformer Prime TF201 mit Tapatalk
I don't have the dock but I just follow the charge when needed method if battery is low I charge it
for me I only charge the dock and tab together a night. The dock stays plugged in until it is 100% while I use the tablet and only gets used to suppliment my tablet usage. If the dock is charged and I don't need the tab then I just charge the tab directly.
The prime has a lipo/ion battery, which is not susceptible to getting "lazy" from charging.
That fear is a thing of the past, as we no longer use any nickel based rechargeables.
Just tank up whenever you have it just sitting around, it ll be perfectly fine with it.
Sokonomi said:
The prime has a lipo/ion battery, which is not susceptible to getting "lazy" from charging.
That fear is a thing of the past, as we no longer use any nickel based rechargeables.
Just tank up whenever you have it just sitting around, it ll be perfectly fine with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Li ion battery life is dependent on the number of charge cycles, even though they don't get "lazy" in the same way they don't last forever.
However, modern devices stop charging automatically when your device is fully charged to prolong battery life so keeping it on the dock should be no problem.
Related
This is re-posted from the general forum. It probably should be moved here to warn potential dock purchasers about this ongoing problem:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1112835
Basically, the problem is that the dock's (all of them?) batteries deplete at around 5% per hour when attached to the tablet when in standby. The batteries even seem to deplete when docked to the tablet when the tablet is completely turned off. WiFi on or off doesn't seem to effect the drain very much. Just a bit of cautionary advice for potential dock owners.
Another thread on the topic:
http://www.transformerforums.com/fo...eral-discussions/599-tf-dock-battery-log.html
Definitely not a deal breaker though. A lot of people are just disconnecting their docks after each use and the battery in the dock doesn't drain. Personally I just leave it connected all the time because I typically lose about 2-3% an hour which isn't a big deal to me. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future software update.
Some people have reported getting shorter run time with the doc. To me, that's a deal killer. Anyway, hopefully people will hold off buying the dock and Asus will be forced to address the issue.
el_brio said:
Some people have reported getting shorter run time with the doc. To me, that's a deal killer. Anyway, hopefully people will hold off buying the dock and Asus will be forced to address the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about that, my dock has been connected on my Transformer for about 8 hours and it has been sitting there for most of the day 77%. I have use it during the day though. But I don't think 23% after 8 hours is a deal breaker AT ALL. Even less after I know that I have been using it during the day for short periods of time.
Your results are far better than mine. Do you have the battery widget installed that shows the dock and tablet charge separately? The stock battery app behaves strangely sometimes. Sometimes it will show a charge of 77% and then you will close it and open it back up in an hour and find you have lost 15%. Since you are one of the only ones whose dock seems to be working correctly, could you do a test for us?
1. Download the battery widget listed in the thread in the General forum.
2. Charge to 100%
3. Remove from charger the next day and leave the dock connected to the tab. Leave the tab in "sleep" mode
4. check the DOCK battery level after 8 hours
Thanks!
el_brio said:
Your results are far better than mine. Do you have the battery widget installed that shows the dock and tablet charge separately? The stock battery app behaves strangely sometimes. Sometimes it will show a charge of 77% and then you will close it and open it back up in an hour and find you have lost 15%. Since you are one of the only ones whose dock seems to be working correctly, could you do a test for us?
1. Download the battery widget listed in the thread in the General forum.
2. Charge to 100%
3. Remove from charger the next day and leave the dock connected to the tab. Leave the tab in "sleep" mode
4. check the DOCK battery level after 8 hours
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the battery widget that it's available in the development section and so far it has been working great for me. I will do this and post back the results tomorrow.
If yours is losing <3% per hour while in standby, that isn't too bad. Here is another facet of the problem:
If you turn off the tablet (off... not suspend, tablet only). it loses very little charge when left for long periods of time. If you charge and detach the dock, the dock behaves the same way. If, however, you have the tablet connected to the dock and leave it turned off, you will leak about 1-2% per hour.
Check out the other thread if you get a chance.
Overnight the dock dropped to 77% with the tablet in sleep mode and the tablet was at 99%.
I assumed this was the effect of waste from a trickle charge. Either way I definitely cant say the batter life is shorter with the dock. Its longer, how much I dont know but the girlfriend and i used it solid for a few hours flying with games and such and it didnt even make a dent in the batteries.
didn't happen to me though.. it takes more than 24 hours for a fully my charged dock to drop its battery to 98%...
My dock sat in the closet charged for 5 days because my tf didn't get here till after. When I plugged it in to the tf with the battery widget it had about 60%. I charged it from my friends charger, he didn't get a keyboard. I did the firmware update though. I personally like it.
The drain only occurs when the dock is connected to the tablet.
I think that the 70-90% is kind of awkward and highly overuses the tablet inner lipo charge cycles.
Imho Asus should make a utility that alows the user to decide wheter:
The tablet runs from the dock battery with no charge of inner battery
The tablet is being charged from the dock up to 90% as it is reasonable for charge process
The tablet runs on it's own battery without recharge from the dock even though the dock has some juice left.
Any other scheme proposals are welcome .
Above should however vastly improve the quality of our batteries.
At least an option to disable the charge from dock to tablet is imho a must have
ankhazam said:
I think that the 70-90% is kind of awkward and highly overuses the tablet inner lipo charge cycles.
Imho Asus should make a utility that alows the user to decide wheter:
The tablet runs from the dock battery with no charge of inner battery
The tablet is being charged from the dock up to 90% as it is reasonable for charge process
The tablet runs on it's own battery without recharge from the dock even though the dock has some juice left.
Any other scheme proposals are welcome .
Above should however vastly improve the quality of our batteries.
At least an option to disable the charge from dock to tablet is imho a must have
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could be possible via kernel mods... but you are right, i kinda dislike the current method too.
It's stupid that once I disconnect 2 fully charged modules the tablet battery gets few extra charges from the dock.
That way I cannot treat the dock as a backup battery for running or recharge for when I it is really needed.
Someone please stick this thread and make another offensive on Asus.
It would be sad to root/void the warranty just to get such a must have when it should be done on stock.
agree in 100%
Could someone explain what is the current 'charge policy'?
As as owner of the original Transformer and the headaches it came with the dock discharging charging the tablet all the time and dealing with a dock battery that had issues being registered as charged or recharging (I RMA'd and others had the same issues as well), I love, love, love the way the new charging method is.
With that said, I think choices are good and having ASUS provide a way to let you use it how you want would be nice.
jyan_osu said:
As as owner of the original Transformer and the headaches it came with the dock discharging charging the tablet all the time and dealing with a dock battery that had issues being registered as charged or recharging (I RMA'd and others had the same issues as well), I love, love, love the way the new charging method is.
With that said, I think choices are good and having ASUS provide a way to let you use it how you want would be nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the new charging method?
kristovaher said:
What is the new charging method?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of always charging from the dock, when docked in it only starts charging the tablet when the tablet gets to around 70% or so.. then it charges the tablet up to around 90% and then runs off the tablet and the cycle continues. So both the tablet and the dock discharge X amount at a time.
Hm, can see both sides to the argument, depends on whether you look at the dock as a battery booster or just to aid the tablet.
A utility would be a good idea to let the user choose, just have an option in the 'ASUS Customised Settings' menu.
jyan_osu said:
Instead of always charging from the dock, when docked in it only starts charging the tablet when the tablet gets to around 70% or so.. then it charges the tablet up to around 90% and then runs off the tablet and the cycle continues. So both the tablet and the dock discharge X amount at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this mean that when tablet is docked, it sometimes uses tablets own battery and -not- dock battery even when dock battery is charged!? What is the point in that?
I thought that the dock gets discharged first before tablet touches its own battery.
kristovaher said:
Does this mean that when tablet is docket, it sometimes uses tablets own battery and -not- dock battery even when dock battery is charged!? What is the point in that?
I thought that the dock gets discharged first before tablet touches its own battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point maybe to address the issue with the dock in the original design where it did discharge first and causes some issues. It's still using the dock battery when docked, just a different method from how the first one was. You'll still get 16 hours or whatever out if you use both together.
Either way, it's not getting to a point on the tablet where it's going leave you with like an hour left to play with should you undock it.. mid 70s seem to be the lowest it will go so if you do go all day with it docked and in use, the dock battery will get to 0 and the tablet will be around 90
yes there could be a time where you take it off the dock at 75 with some juice left in the dock.
Just to me it's a lot better coming from the original Transformer.
I can understand some folks who would rather just use dock's power first and then the tablet. But again, as an owner of both and seeing how both work, for me this is a better way
If the dock has no battery but the tab has loads, and you plug the dock in... would it work? If no, then I can see why it doesn't discharge first, if it does then there really isn't any point.
kevinm2k said:
If the dock has no battery but the tab has loads, and you plug the dock in... would it work? If no, then I can see why it doesn't discharge first, if it does then there really isn't any point.
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Click to collapse
Yes it works fine. Had this issue on the original one all the time.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
My wife got her CG dock last night, and while I had no intention of getting one for my AG one, after using it for about 30 seconds, I decided to go out and get one.
I've read through the Charge Policy thread but wanted to confirm the behavior I'm seeing today.
Scenario:
Dock Charge Level- 100%
Tablet Charge Level- 100%
AC Charging adapter is plugged into the dock and the AC outlet.
Tablet screen is on.
Slowly, the tablet charge decreases.
I would expect the tablet and dock to remain at 100% while the AC adapter is plugged in, but understand there may be some other behavior by design.
Is what I'm experiencing normal or an issue with my dock/tablet or configuration?
Thanks for any help.
2 Primes, no problems with either other than weak GPS...
Thats probably normal.
chamberc said:
My wife got her CG dock last night, and while I had no intention of getting one for my AG one, after using it for about 30 seconds, I decided to go out and get one.
I've read through the Charge Policy thread but wanted to confirm the behavior I'm seeing today.
Scenario:
Dock Charge Level- 100%
Tablet Charge Level- 100%
AC Charging adapter is plugged into the dock and the AC outlet.
Tablet screen is on.
Slowly, the tablet charge decreases.
I would expect the tablet and dock to remain at 100% while the AC adapter is plugged in, but understand there may be some other behavior by design.
Is what I'm experiencing normal or an issue with my dock/tablet or configuration?
Thanks for any help.
2 Primes, no problems with either other than weak GPS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for me, starting with the OG Transformer. I was "Thinking on the KB/Dock" when a friend at work let me try his dock on my tablet. Bought it like 15 minutes later on Amazon, LOL!
I think what you are seeing is normal, but keep an eye on it. My OG Transformer would completely discharge the dock, and only then start draining the tablet. On the Prime, it seems to drain Tablet to 70-%, then lets that dock sacrifice it's electrons for the Tablets sake. Then the Tablet drains some more and so on. Makes sense, as with the TF101 the Tablet was never getting cycled most days, I would take it to work, and at the end of the day stick it back on charger, and the dock would recharge, tablet never having drained other than a percent or two. Still I would live to understand the algorithms they use to determine optimal performance. Its never efficient to let a battery charge a battery as there will always be losses, but with this design, that's an acceptable loss.
SmartAs$Phone said:
Same for me, starting with the OG Transformer. I was "Thinking on the KB/Dock" when a friend at work let me try his dock on my tablet. Bought it like 15 minutes later on Amazon, LOL!
I think what you are seeing is normal, but keep an eye on it. My OG Transformer would completely discharge the dock, and only then start draining the tablet. On the Prime, it seems to drain Tablet to 70-%, then lets that dock sacrifice it's electrons for the Tablets sake. Then the Tablet drains some more and so on. Makes sense, as with the TF101 the Tablet was never getting cycled most days, I would take it to work, and at the end of the day stick it back on charger, and the dock would recharge, tablet never having drained other than a percent or two. Still I would live to understand the algorithms they use to determine optimal performance. Its never efficient to let a battery charge a battery as there will always be losses, but with this design, that's an acceptable loss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the right answer.
By design, it doesn't keep the tablet topped off, but waits until it falls to a particular battery level -- IIRC, around 70%. This optimizes battery life between both batteries and is a more efficient use of energy.
Thanks, i agree i observed it all day and thats how it works.
NeoteriX said:
This is the right answer.
By design, it doesn't keep the tablet topped off, but waits until it falls to a particular battery level -- IIRC, around 70%. This optimizes battery life between both batteries and is a more efficient use of energy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its an ingenious idea from Asus. My OG Transformer's dock constantly charged the tablet.
hi guys,
so when i'm at home i found myself using the prime more and more and often with the dock for writing posts and also for using it as a stand while watching youtube or playing a game with gamepad.
Since the dock empties itself as soon as the Tablet dropped to ~75% i'm a bit concerned. I know that li-po batteries dont like to stay at low voltage/low charge for long times.
So the Tablet is at 80% and the dock is empty. 80% can mean days of medium usage, so the dock will be at 0% for a pretty long time.
Should i prevent that and always charge the dock as soon as it runs out? Would be nice to know how the dock handles voltage and charge. It could also be that it still has plenty reserve charge when it displays 0%..
any thoughts?*
Shouldn't be a problem. The dock is going to use the power of the tablet to power itself.
clouds5 said:
hi guys,
so when i'm at home i found myself using the prime more and more and often with the dock for writing posts and also for using it as a stand while watching youtube or playing a game with gamepad.
Since the dock empties itself as soon as the Tablet dropped to ~75% i'm a bit concerned. I know that li-po batteries dont like to stay at low voltage/low charge for long times.
So the Tablet is at 80% and the dock is empty. 80% can mean days of medium usage, so the dock will be at 0% for a pretty long time.
Should i prevent that and always charge the dock as soon as it runs out? Would be nice to know how the dock handles voltage and charge. It could also be that it still has plenty reserve charge when it displays 0%..
any thoughts?*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't think any of us have had the TF201 long enough to have a dock battery degrade, maybe TF101 owners can advise. but your concern is fundamentally sound. the dock has a lithium ion battery in it like any other. all li-on batteries are prone to having their cells dry out if they spend a lot of time fully discharged. the net effect is that the battery will diminish it's capacity over time.
asus made a good design decision with the TF201 by not having the dock charge the tablet until the tablet depletes to 70% capacity, because li-on batteries also degrade when constantly being held at 100% charge. but imo they should have put in another threshold for the dock battery, say at 25%, where the dock stops charging the tablet until the tablet gets dangerously low. in lieu of this, my personal opinion is that it is wise to give the dock a charge (or disconnect it from the tablet) once it dips below 20%.
Hey guys,
My dock has been acting kind of weird lately (see my thread in the Q/A section if you're curious - dock battery showed as 0% even when charging). What I'm wondering now is how others are doing with battery life in terms of the dock recharging the prime.
When I first got the tablet + dock, I used to be able to recharge the prime 2-3 times when the tab dropped to 70%. That would usually drain my dock battery all the way.
Fast forward to today and the past two weeks...My prime just finished recharging my tab up to about 90%, while it was being used to annotate lecture notes with some mild browsing and emailing in the background, the dock dropped to about 60%. This is what's concerning to me...It seems to be taking double the battery from the dock to recharge it to about the same, or less than, what it did before on the dock.
My use today has been pretty constant. I recharged both to 100% last night, and when I opened it up today at 12:30 pm, the tab was at 96% and the dock at 98%. Since then, my dock dropped to 88% while the tab drained in the same time to about 70%. It then started to charge my tablet to about 90% but the dock dropped to 34% where it is now. I have been using this constantly for the past 3.5 hours.
Here are my concerns, which I hope you guys can help me address:
Is this normal battery drain for 3.5 hours of moderate-heavy use?
Is this drain software related? It seems to have been fine way back on .11 (I'm on .15 now)
Is my dock battery shot? (ie should I RMA it)
Does the dock battery drain EVEN MORE if it's recharging the tablet while you're typing notes, etc on it?
Does a USB peripheral (ie wireless mouse) increase battery drain SIGNIFICANTLY?
I would attach a battery screenshot, but my settings battery menu doesn't have it tracked since it's docked.
I'm hoping this is a meaningful and useful thread so please try to avoid stating something obvious lol
Thanks guys
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
What performance modes, brightnesses are you using? Can you give us more info about what would be draining the battery?
It's quite possible your prime could be using a percent of the dock for every percent it receives, making it seem like your dock isn't working well, when in actuality it could be your tablet.
.15 was a battery killer for me, since I put virtuous on my prime and underclocked the cpu as the battery gets lower, it's fixed my battery life.
ickkii said:
What performance modes, brightnesses are you using? Can you give us more info about what would be draining the battery?
It's quite possible your prime could be using a percent of the dock for every percent it receives, making it seem like your dock isn't working well, when in actuality it could be your tablet.
.15 was a battery killer for me, since I put virtuous on my prime and underclocked the cpu as the battery gets lower, it's fixed my battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry - forgot to include that. I'm on the normal regular mode with auto brightness. With SetCPU, I had it on On Demand up until this afternoon around when I wrote this post. Then I switched it to interactive.
And as for your second point, I agree that it's possible that's what's happening, but because I'm using it for hours on end, I'm not quite sure if that's what's happening, part of why I started this thread.
Have other people seen improvements from .15 to Virtuous?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD app
Another question, along the same line.....If the tablet's battery is low, the dock is fully charged, and unplugged, will the juice in the battery partially charge the tablet, so that I can remove it from the dock and use it separately until I get to a charging station? Or will the tablet ONLY run off of the dock's battery?
Thanks,
Bob......impatiently waiting for my champagne dock to come
robertg9 said:
Another question, along the same line.....If the tablet's battery is low, the dock is fully charged, and unplugged, will the juice in the battery partially charge the tablet, so that I can remove it from the dock and use it separately until I get to a charging station? Or will the tablet ONLY run off of the dock's battery?
Thanks,
Bob......impatiently waiting for my champagne dock to come
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, the dock charges the dock when it's plugged into the tablet.