Steam Deck gets a Battery Charge Limit control in the latest Beta
Steam Deck gets a Battery Charge Limit control in the latest Beta
After a long time of users asking, Valve has actually added an official Battery Charge Limit setting in the latest Steam Deck Beta update so you no longer need to use third-party tools.
This has been possible via the BIOS for a while now, but it's long overdue at the OS level. I love that Value keeps adding little QoL improvements to the steam deck, it's turned out to be one of the best pieces of tech I've ever bought.
I do hope they focus a bit on the UI going forward - we've noticed a lot of silly little bugs while either using the Steam Deck controls or a controller.
A little hard to close a window without focus when using a controller....
Also I literally can't get it to use a plugged controller when docked. Sure, it will charge it and I can pair it with Bluetooth and it works, but it's a little silly that I can't just use it as "pure" USB controller (even though it works flawlessly in that way on multiple PCs, including a Linux desktop, and through weird peripherals like my monitor's USB hub).
Streaming games on the home wifi is also basically non-functional in the OS, even though it works pretty damn well when I do it through Moonlight. I'm assuming the steam version doesn't do enough compression (and yes I have tried tweaking the settings)
...i just assumed they knew how to keep the battery safe already... My deck has stayed plugged in and docked since i got my projector to use with it..fuuuuuck
There’s a big difference between “safe” and “ideal”
All lithium ion batteries degrade quicker at 100% vs 80 or even 60%. But it’s not going to explode and kill you.
Actually thanks, now trust you mention it i should not have used safe. I was not meaning danger, just that i might have damaged the battery life or at least put it at risk at the least. Just assumed that it came optimised to be as ideal as valve usually goes a bit overboard on their hardware from what i remember reading
I think since the beginning if plugged in for some time it decharges to 95% so you are probably fine. You can check the battery health in desktop mode.
I really appreciate this one. Have done this on my other devices too, and while it does cut battery life by a little, your battery health will remain high for considerably longer
What do people set it to?
On my devices where it’s available I usually set it to 80-85%.
Default limit when toggled on is 80%, which generally seems like a good middle ground between usability and battery life. You can also raise the limit higher if you want more battery, or lower if you want to preserve the battery life better.
Plugged in 24/7? I’d set it to 60%. If I have a mix of use 80%.
I implemented the same on my laptop with tlp. It is actually pretty easy to do so.