Dell Latitude D830: Check the Battery Health Low-Battery Warning Conserving Battery Power Power Management Modes Standby Mode

Check the Battery Health

NOTE: You can check battery health in one of two ways: by using the charge gauge on the battery as described

below and by using the Battery Meter in Dell QuickSet. For information about QuickSet, right-click the QuickSet

®

®

icon in the Microsoft

Windows

taskbar, and click Help.

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" in your online User’s Guide 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. 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 in QuickSet or the Power Options Properties window.

See "Configuring Power Management Settings" on page 17 for information about accessing QuickSet or

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 15).

• Use the Power Management Wizard

to 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>.

NOTE: See "Power Management Modes" on page 15 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.

Quick Reference Guide 15