Hello folks,
What do folks recommend as good practices to use a laptop as an always on, always plugged-in server? Specifically, how to manage the battery and some of the potential cautions/dangers of keeping it plugged in.
I have a spare Dell workstation laptop that I’d like to use as a Proxmox node. I’ve seen a number of posts where folks will mention that using a spare laptop works well because it has a built in ‘UPS’, but then in the comments there’s caution about the battery being plugged in all the time.
I’m curious what folks do in terms of battery management, assuming I want to keep this as hands-off/low maintenance (but fireproof) as possible.
Thank you all so much, ~M
Update: thank you all so much for the great advice. This is a Dell Workstation and it does have a ‘Primarily AC use’ power setting in the BIOS, as well as custom charge levels available. Appreciate it and I hope this discussion helps other folks looking to do the same!
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Dell bios settings often include battery charge limit settings. I have mine set to a 70% limit which provides hours of backup with the display off.
Modern laptop batteries when kept cool and undamaged are extremely safe despite what you might read in these comments, especially when you limit the charge. Parking your car in your garage is hundreds of times more hazardous.
I’d just take it out if it’s removable. If you really care about keeping it on during power outages, I’d get an actual UPS to have router and potentially other equipment also plugged in, because I don’t see a “remote” laptop on its own as being very useful without at least the local network up.
if you decide to leave it plugged in, you can configure it to stop charging at e.g. 80% and charge it again at e.g. 30%, that way it keeps a percentage that will extend the battery life.
take it out. I had more than one ballon on me when I left them in.
there are lots of reasons it can happen,but since this was in a closet I didn’t notice it and I suppose could’ve been a fire hazard eventually.
some laptops might have reduced performance in this configuration though.
There’s no supposing necessary. It was a fire hazard, and presently not eventually. When something has caused a fire, it’s no longer a hazard, it’s just, you know, a fire.
As others have stated, if your model is able to have the battery removed and have it still run off power, no problem, do so.
You should be using a dedicated UPS for something like that if you’re concerned about power going out , For a power input that a laptop requires, you could very easily find a $30 or $40 one at your closest big box retail store.
If you must keep the battery in it be careful to monitor it. I ran a laptop as a server for almost four years. It does work really nice. But depending on model, they may be prone to having the battery expand if it’s on 24-7. And even if it doesn’t, that battery is going to be shot after two or three years of constant use anyway.
You can mitigate the battery health issue by making sure you have some form of battery management software running where it stops charging the battery once it hits like 80-85%. and allows it to discharge on its own. But realistically using a laptop battery as a backup power source isn’t super recommended.
Plus with a UPS, you could also hook your router and modem/ONT up to it, which means that not only is your laptop going to remain on, but usually your network will remain up as well since communication lines are quite a bit more durable and generally stay alive even if the power goes down
As others have said, cap charging at ~80%. Unless you have a spare $150 for a nice UPS, I would use the built-in battery.
Check your preferred distro for a “kiosk mode” that keeps it charged to ~50%
If it’s a relatively recent laptop, it should be fine.
Many of them will let you set custom charge limits. If yours supports that, limit it to like 60% or thereabouts. Long enough that you can get some UPS use out of it but not full enough it’s ever gonna go spicy pillow on you.
If it won’t let you set a charge limit, they’ll still kind of float around full charge but not stay at 100% all the time. Even plugged in, mine will drop down from 100% to eventually 92% before it will start charging back to 100 again. That’s over the course of several days to a week.
If the laptop is older than about 2017 or so, or still has a removable battery, you might want to just take the battery out and use an external UPS as those typically don’t have the extra charge management features newer ones do.
To run them full time, you either want to remove the screen or “tent” them because a lot of heat is dissipated through the keyboard, and it’s normally expected to be open while running because of that. By “tent”, I mean open it halfway and put the screen facing down so it’s standing up and shaped like a tent.
a lot of dell workstation class laptops have an “always plugged in” option in the bios for situations where the battery won’t be exercised much.
On my XPS you can set always plugged in in the BIOS perhaps yours has the same setting
It does have a ‘Primarily AC use” setting in power management, thanks so much for the lead there!
I’ll go ahead and remove the battery. At least check on it regularly. I’ve had the spicy pillow syndrome in some of my laptops and phones. Other ones were fine. But better not have that plugged in and trickle charged for half a year.
I love the project of using laptops as compute! I’ve only had one had the battery fail, I had to remove it and it’s still running like a champ
I had a laptop server back in the day. I took the battery out just because it was one less thing to worry about. YMMV. At the very least, there are ways to cap the charge level on the battery, tho I have no experience doing that. Perhaps others may chime in if that is a route you choose.
Google and/or the Arch Wiki should have you covered. For my Dell laptop I just clicked on Settings->Battery and set it to “Preserver Battery Health”. Done.
If you have an option in the BIOS or drivers to set the battery charging threshhold to stop charging at 80% or possibly even lower (I believe Lithium Ion/Polymer cells are happiest at around 40-60% state of charge, which is why they are usually shipped that way). Sometimes this feature exists, but only vaguely described as “battery life optimization” or some similar wankery that they never properly explain.
You can also just remove the battery entirely if it will be always plugged in, but setting it to a low/modest maximum charge gives you a nice, reliable, built-in UPS in case of power interruptions.
My primary server is an Acer laptop running Debian. It ran on power with no modification or trouble for a couple of years, but I heard some horror stories about spicy pillows so I found a way to clamp the battery’s charge level to 80%. Now it just sits there like that. I know how to do it with an Acer laptop - not sure about Dell.
But nothing has burnt down and it’s been running for several years.Don’t risk it, it’s not made for that. It’s not made for running with the lid closed even, so consider removing it.
If the laptop doesn’t turn on without the battery, there are guides for modding.
This is FUD. Dell workstation class laptops are absolutely designed for running at full power with the lid closed (and for use with a docking station, in fact). That’s why it’s called a “workstation”. Business class laptops are a totally different beast than consumer-grade/“gaming” laptops. They are typically quite durable, quite tolerant, and quite repairable. Exceptions, obviously, exist, and we don’t know the exact model OP is talking about, but there’s no reason to assume they will have any issues running it as intended.
I run several old consumer grade laptops as light servers, permanently closed, and they’ve been perfectly fine for years.
i run several mass-market consumer model laptops with the lid closed. as long as the vents aren’t obstructed, not a problem here. mine are all lower-wattage soc with integrated gpu, though; the most demanding one that’s on 24/7 is still only ~ 15w cpu at 100% load, and it never runs at that; it rarely even throttles up from the 800mhz it idles at. i stand them on end so the vents are clear, and use some lego to enforce spacing between 'em.
Lego, the original 3D printer
