Plasma Mobile CE Pinephone - battery not fully charging

[PineSupporter]

I just received the Plasma Mobile CE Pinephone the other day and I wanted to fully charge it before using it, so I charged it for several hours while off.  When I turned it on it was only about 80%.  So I charged it more, and when I checked it again it's still only at about 85%.  I've since tried to charge it several hours while off and the most I've ever gotten is 87%. 
I don't know if OS makes a difference, since the phone is off anyway but I've also tried charging with PostmarketOS on a SD card, and it still won't charge past 85%. 

Is anyone else having this problem?  Is it a defective battery I need to request a replacement for?

(And yes, I removed the plastic tab of the battery before charging)

[Regula]

It's intended. The kernel limits the charging to prevent overheating.

[PineSupporter]

It's intended. The kernel limits the charging to prevent overheating.

That seems odd, no other computer has to do that.  Every other electronics battery charges to 100%.  
I got a reply from Pine64 support and they asked me to try Mobian, so I did and it charged to 99%.  But three other distros I tried all charged to mid 80s only: 
Plasma Mobile, PostmarketOS, and Manjaro Lomiri.

[deedend]

It's intended. The kernel limits the charging to prevent overheating.

I don't really think it's intended

[gracefullyparanoid]

It's intended. The kernel limits the charging to prevent overheating.

I don't really think it's intended

No, it really is intended.  It was written into Megi's Kernel for battery safety.  There was some good information on the Manjaro site that had links about this and why it was done.  Here is a link to that https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...e/39446/21

[desca]

That seems odd, no other computer has to do that.  Every other electronics battery charges to 100%.

With Thinkpads under Linux it had long been a thing where you could use tp_smapi to set battery charge thresholds to something like 80 or 90 percent to extend battery life.

[deedend]

No, it really is intended.  It was written into Megi's Kernel for battery safety.  There was some good information on the Manjaro site that had links about this and why it was done.  Here is a link to that https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...e/39446/21

I see, it's a temporary solution for the battery safety issue. Good to know, mine was charging normally but I've used it too little to notice that

[PineSupporter]

That seems odd, no other computer has to do that.  Every other electronics battery charges to 100%.

With Thinkpads under Linux it had long been a thing where you could use tp_smapi to set battery charge thresholds to something like 80 or 90 percent to extend battery life.

That's interesting, I didn't know that, thanks for the info 

---

It's intended. The kernel limits the charging to prevent overheating.

I don't really think it's intended

No, it really is intended.  It was written into Megi's Kernel for battery safety.  There was some good information on the Manjaro site that had links about this and why it was done.  Here is a link to that https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-arm-...e/39446/21

oh good info to know!  Thanks for link

[The3DmaN]

I am in agreement that this was intended. There are also other systems and devices do similar things they just hide it better and display 100% to the users when “fully charged” while still limiting total charge capacity in the back end. In my opinion the same thing should be done here to eliminate user confusion. If 85% is the max it will ever be able to charge, then to the user that should display 100% in the UI when it is “Fully Charged”. The user should not even have to know there is a limit in place unless they look for it. Just my opinion.

[PineSupporter]

I am in agreement that this was intended. There are also other systems and devices do similar things they just hide it better and display 100% to the users when “fully charged” while still limiting total charge capacity in the back end. In my opinion the same thing should be done here to eliminate user confusion. If 85% is the max it will ever be able to charge, then to the user that should display 100% in the UI when it is “Fully Charged”. The user should not even have to know there is a limit in place unless they look for it. Just my opinion.

That's exactly what I was wondering was being done in the background for other devices.  I completely agree, because it causes people to think there's something wrong if it never hits 100%.