Battery Management for Laptops Running NAS4Free

[chlysm]

I have a slightly modified (mainly to prevent overheating) laptop running NAS4Free as my NAS and I know that it's really not good to leave the battery when plugged in 24/7/365 so I don't do this.

However I was recently thinking that for people doing this (I doubt that I'm the only one) if it would be possible to set up an extension or script that would essentially perform these two functions:

* have the battery stop charging and remain idle at 75%
* in the event that it loses AC power; to send a shutdown signal when the battery reaches 25% to gracefully shutdown the machine.

If it's possible, it could act as an onboard UPS for brief power outages.


FWIW, I understand that laptops aren't generally the best idea to use as a NAS for a variety of reasons (unless you make some changes) and so I understand reasons for not doing anything to encourage this course of action, but something as simple as a script or a detailed 'how-to' for those of use who are willing to do so would be nice.

[ChriZathens]

Can't think of a script right now, but my understanding is that modern laptop batteries don't have any issues while plugged in all the time
Regarding the script, you can Google about a FreeBSD tool that monitors laptop battery, and install it if not there already. Then assemble a script to send shutdown -p when it detects the amount of battery you wish.
A cron job could do the trick.

And just as a disclaimer (because I feel the need to add it...) you need to worry more about your data than your battery.

[jamaroney]

....modern laptop batteries don't have any issues while plugged in all the time.

Quite true!