Where is 'Battery Life Extender' ?!!? (Samsung notebook, Windows 8)

About two weeks ago I bought a Samsung notebook which uses Windows 8. In the 'user guide' pdf file it mentions about extending the battery life by reducing the max. battery charge from 100% to 80%.

It claims this is in Settings / Power Management / Battery Life Extender.

I have opened the 'Charms menu' on the right of the screen, clicked 'settings' ....but there is no 'Power management', (just 'power' with 3 options).

Opening Control Panel / Hardware & Sound / Power options ........it's not in there.

Opening -
Charms menu / search / apps
Charms menu / search / settings
Charms menu / search / files

......reveals NOTHING for 'battery extender'.


Where the hell is it ???!!?


It's possible to do it in the bios but I'd rather not have to go into the bios !

This is what the 'User Guide' pdf file says --

Settings and Upgrade Battery -
Extending the Battery Life (Optional)
In the Settings program, click Power Management and set the
Battery Life Extender to ON or OFF.

OFF
This mode maintains 100% of the battery
charge when using the computer on AC power.
In this case, although the battery use time
increases, the battery life is reduced.

ON
This mode maintains 80% of the battery charge
when using the computer on AC power. In this
case, although the battery use time decreases,
the battery life is extended.

Alternatively, to extend the battery life
Press the F2 key when the Samsung logo appears in the
booting sequence to enter the BIOS Setup, select Advanced
> Battery Life Cycle Extension, and set it to Enable.
Then you can use the battery life cycle extension mode.

Thanks.

 

If you really want to use that feature, just follow the second set of instructions and set it in the BIOS. However, I wouldn't recommend it.

Using 80% of your battery's capacity will decrease the time you can use your computer on battery by 20% (i.e. you can use a five hour battery for four hours) at all times. Meanwhile, the difference in battery wear shouldn't be significant - you would probably need to use your system like this for at least three years to see any benefit, and that would be three years in which you were getting less-than-advertised battery life.

 

UPDATE :

I did manage to find 'battery extender' in the start menu (I installed 'classic shell' to get back the start button) under ' Programs / Samsung / settings / power management

I rarely use the laptop on the battery (mainly just while moving it from room to room) so it might be a good thing to reduce the battery to 80% storage, or even just not ever charge it to more than 50%, then in 3-4 years time when I come to sell it on by then I hopefully won't have needed to buy a new battery for it (even assuming they are still available for the particular model) .


This is what Samsung say on their website (how much is corporate propaganda I don't know?) --

Tips & Tricks: Extending Notebook Battery Life | Samsung Articles & Insights



Keep Your Battery Going with PowerPlus

PowerPlus is a technology offered on Samsung notebooks designed to let you discharge and recharge your laptop battery up to 1,000 times. That’s better than three times the longevity of a standard laptop battery, which typically wears out after 300 cycles and three years of daily use.

Most battery damage occurs when the cells inside are at or near capacity. That’s because batteries get a bit hot under the collar when they max out their charge at 100 percent. This heat causes the delicate structures within to start to break down, which ultimately makes the battery less capable of holding a charge. Eventually capacity drops to the point where the battery won’t hold a charge at all and it has to be replaced.

PowerPlus works to avoid this problem by keeping your battery properly conditioned, thanks to a set of technologies that helps prevent this kind of damage to the delicate electronics inside.
Battery Life Extender

One of the key features of PowerPlus is a simple setting you’ll find on your Samsung laptop called Battery Life Extender. You’ll find Battery Life Extender under the Samsung folder, inside “All Programs” in your Start menu. Here you’ll find the option to either leave your battery in Normal mode (which lets the battery charge to 100 percent of its capacity) or engage the Battery Life Extender mode, which caps the charge at 80 percent.

Battery Life Extender helps keep the battery from overcharging and overheating, which protects it from being damaged. The result is a battery that keeps on going for years. And of course, it’s an option you can turn off or on at any time. If you find you need a little extra juice for a long flight, the setting can always be returned to Normal mode, giving you full access to 100 percent of the battery’s capacity.

 

I know this is old, but just in case anyone else has this problem, I wanted to tell you how to do it from the desktop without having to change shells or go from BIOS...when they say "Settings", they mean that icon in your toolbar that looks like a radio dial. If you click on that, there is an option for "Power Management" and you can change it from there.

 

For whatever reason Samsung meanwhile has dropped that feature all together in their new Ativ Book Series: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...nding-easy-setting-battery-life-extender.html

 

I have been sending a bit ga ga looking for the 'battery life extender'. I actually found it when I bought the notebook about 8 months ago, turned it on and my battery never charges over 80%. Since then I have tried many times find this setting without success as it is not any of the usual expected places.
I have now found it and this is how you do it. Press the Windows Button to get the Window 8 start menu (the tablet like menu). If you have Win 8.1 press your 'down' arrow on the cursor pad then click on the on the resultant screen downward pointing arrow to show all programs rather than the standard tiles. (Win 8.0 press the Ctl key to do the same). Scroll along to the Samsung group of programs and you will find a 'Settings' program. Open it and you will see 'Power Management' as one of the menu items on the left hand side. The middle menu for this option is 'Battery Life Extender' Turn it on or off depending on what you want to do.