BatteryCare is a free battery monitoring and power management utility for Windows laptops. It keeps track of battery use, displays charge and capacity information, and changes selected power settings when the laptop moves between battery and mains power. Its discharge counter also provides reminders for battery gauge calibration.
Discharge cycles
BatteryCare counts the cumulative use of a full battery charge rather than treating every unplugging as a separate cycle. Using half a charge on one occasion and half on another amounts to one cycle, even if the battery was recharged between them.
You can set the number of cycles that triggers a calibration reminder. When that threshold is reached, BatteryCare displays a notification. Calibration concerns the accuracy of the battery’s capacity gauge; it does not restore the chemical capacity lost through wear.
Battery readings
The detailed information window brings together the battery’s manufacturer, capacity figures, wear level and power consumption. These readings help separate the amount of charge remaining now from the capacity the battery can hold when full. Their completeness depends on the information supplied by the battery, and incorrectly reported capacity values can also produce misleading wear figures.
If the laptop reports only its charge percentage, BatteryCare calculates a remaining-time estimate. It measures how long the latest five percentage points took to discharge and uses the average time per point to estimate the remaining runtime. Because that calculation follows recent consumption, its estimate changes with the laptop’s workload.
A compact notification-area popup exposes charge status, remaining time, temperatures and power-plan information. In battery mode, the tray display can show the charge percentage and time remaining as text, with an adjustable text colour for visibility against the taskbar.
Power plans
BatteryCare can automatically select a preferred Windows power plan according to the current power source. You choose the plan for battery operation and the plan for mains power; connecting or disconnecting the adapter triggers the corresponding selection.
Windows services
On older Windows systems, BatteryCare also offers controls for suspending Aero effects and selected services while running on battery. These include SuperFetch, ReadyBoost and SearchIndexer, which perform background disk activity. When mains power returns, BatteryCare restores the suspended services and theme. Service suspension requires administrator privileges.
Hardware temperatures
BatteryCare monitors CPU and hard-drive temperatures and displays them in Celsius or Fahrenheit. These are readings from the laptop’s hardware rather than measurements of the battery itself. Temperature access requires administrator privileges, and readings may remain unavailable when the hardware is incompatible.
