Low-Battery Warning; Conserving Battery Power; Power Management Modes - Dell INSPIRON PP05XB Owner's Manual

Check the Battery Health
NOTE:
You can check battery health in one of two ways: by using the charge gauge on the battery and by using the
Battery Meter window in Dell QuickSet (see "Battery Health" on page 45).
To check the battery health, 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 135 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. For more information about low-battery alarms, see
"Setting Battery Alarms and Actions" on page 49.

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 46 for more information about standby
and hibernate modes.
• 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>. See "Power Management Wizard" on page 48 for more information on using the Power
Management Wizard.
NOTE:
See "Battery Performance" on page 43 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 or battery power while in standby mode, it may lose data.
46
Using a Battery