topic Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly in Device Management

CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

mincho — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:23:35 GMT

I have noticed and confirmed that some battery statuses are misreported on CN 50 terminals. For example: On Charge status is never reported. If terminal is on charge, batterry strength is reported as VeryLow. I have done an .NET application (attached) to prove it. Everything works ok on CN3 (Windows Mobile 6.1) but is funny on CN50

Terminal = CN 50

Firmware = 1.40.1.6

IVA = 5.6.72.3187

OS = 5.2.20774 (Build 20774.1.4.8)

I am attaching source file in C#

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

GeorgeBrown — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:54:29 GMT

If, as you say, this code works on the CN3 WM6.1 but not the CN50, then you should open a case with our product support folks. You can do so by following the link below.

http://intermec.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/intermec.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_sid=DFTv9SMj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=&p_li=

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

Stephanj — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:08:56 GMT

Why you don't use the Microsoft.SmartDevice.Connectivity ?

SystemInfo info = device.GetSystemInfo();


if (info.ACLineStatus == 1)
    {
       Console.WriteLine("AC Line plugged in.");
    }
else if(info.ACLineStatus == 0)
    {
       Console.WriteLine("AC Line unplugged.");
    }
Console.WriteLine("Main Battery Flag:  " + info.BatteryFlag.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("   Capacity:  " + nfo.BatteryFullLifetime.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("   Percent:  " + info.BatteryLifePercent.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("   Life:  " + info.BatteryLifetime.ToString());

More Infos here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/de-de/library/microsoft.smartdevice.connectivity.systeminfo.aspx

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

hjgode — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:04:09 GMT

Although it is a nice approach to try to get more informations remotely, it does not give usefull informations:

Device Properties:
    OS_Version: 5010
Total Page File:  0
Available Page File:  0
Page Size:  4096

Total RAM:  71106560
Available RAM:  28221440

Total Virtual Memory:  33554432
Available Virtual Memory:  30212096

AC Line unplugged.
Main Battery Flag:  0
   Capacity:  0
   Percent:  0
   Life:  0
Device Time:  10.12.2009 13:40:28
Processor Architecture:  Arm
Instruction Set:  Armv4i
Number of CPU:  1
OS:  5.2.20774
Locale ID:  1033

I have been informed that the Battery APIs have not implemented in the battery driver to save costs. So there ist actually no way to get better Battery infos.

~Josef

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

Stephanj — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:58:13 GMT

And what happend when you use the coredll.dll?

You can use the GetSystemPowerStatusEx()...

Add Reference:

- Microsoft.WindowsMobile

- Microsoft.WindowsMobile.Status

Here is my Codesnippet...

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Microsoft.Win32;
using System.IO;
using Microsoft.WindowsMobile.Status;

namespace SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS_EX
{

public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        [DllImport("coredll")]
        private static extern uint GetSystemPowerStatusEx(SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS_EX lpSystemPowerStatus, bool fUpdate);

        public class SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS_EX
        {
            public byte ACLineStatus;
            public byte BatteryFlag;
            public byte BatteryLifePercent;
            public byte Reserved1;
            public uint BatteryLifeTime;
            public uint BatteryFullLifeTime;
            public byte Reserved2;
            public byte BackupBatteryFlag;
            public byte BackupBatteryLifePercent;
            public byte Reserved3;
            public uint BackupBatteryLifeTime;
            public uint BackupBatteryFullLifeTime;

        }


        SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS_EX status = new SYSTEM_POWER_STATUS_EX();



        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            UpdateProgressMessage("");
            UpdateACLineMsg("");
            UpdateStatusMessage("");


        }

        public void UpdateProgressMessage(string Message)
        {
            lblProgress.Text = Message + "%";
            lblProgress.Refresh();
        }

        public void UpdateStatusMessage(string Statusmsg)
        {
            lblStatus.Text = Statusmsg;
            lblStatus.Refresh();
        }

        public void UpdateACLineMsg(string aclinemsg)
        {
            lblACLine.Text = aclinemsg;
            lblACLine.Refresh();
        }


        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            timer1.Enabled = true;


        }

        private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            timer1.Enabled = false;
            this.Close();
        }

        private void batteryflag(uint i)
        { 
           switch(i)
                {
                    case 1:UpdateStatusMessage("High");
                        break;
                    case 2:UpdateStatusMessage("Low");
                        break;
                    case 4: UpdateStatusMessage("Critical");
                        break;
                    case 8: UpdateStatusMessage("Charging");
                        break;
                    case 128: UpdateStatusMessage("No system battery");
                        break;
                    case 255: UpdateStatusMessage("Unknown status");
                        break;
                }
           }

        private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            
            if (GetSystemPowerStatusEx(status, true) == 1)
            {
                
                UpdateProgressMessage(status.BatteryLifePercent.ToString());
                batteryflag(status.BatteryFlag);

                if (status.ACLineStatus == 1)
                {
                    UpdateACLineMsg("charging...");
                }
                else if (status.ACLineStatus == 0)
                {
                    UpdateACLineMsg("on battery");
                }
                else
                {
                    UpdateACLineMsg("undefiniert - "+status.ACLineStatus.ToString());
                }
                
            }
        }


    }
}

I don't can test it, because i haven't CN50 here.... but i think the coredll.dll is already in it...

greetz

stephan

i attached my sample....

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

hjgode — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:45:16 GMT

Hello

thanks for the c# code, but I already tested GetSystemPowerStatusEx on a CN50, there are no usefull returned data.

As already metioned the API is not implemented, it always returns dummy data (zeros and FF).

Believe me

~Josef

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

Stephanj — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:48:01 GMT

mhh but the function is in the coredll.dll...

Why it doesn't works?

Can you explain?

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

hjgode — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:01:52 GMT

See my post on 10. of december, 2:04

"I have been informed that the Battery APIs have not implemented in the battery driver to save costs. So there ist actually no way to get better Battery infos."

An OEM of windows mobile can decide more or less, which APIs to implement and which will be just fakes. This is especially true for hardware related API functions or the SIM toolkit API calls.

Sorry

Josef

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

Stephanj — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:34:53 GMT

Okay i have read some thing about APIs ;)

BUT...

there was a way to read the level from registry in WM5..

Maybe this key is allready there....

Reading battery level

You can read the remaining battery charge from this key. In my system it shows 5308416 when fully charged.

 HKLM\System\State\Battery\Main (DWORD value)

greetz Stephan

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

hjgode — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:00:03 GMT

Hello again

just to report:

The CN50 reports always the same value at HKLM\System\State\Battery\Main

I let go the battery of a cn50 down to 70 %. Interestingly the power applet shows a bar of about 70% and the number at the right of the bar always is 100! Only in SmartSystems or by using an xml query I got the 70% reported.

There is some work to do for the engineers.

~josef

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

Stephanj — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:52:54 GMT

yes i think so too...

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

Arkanian — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:41:49 GMT

I like to add my 2 cents. During my testing the GetSystemPowerStatusEx call would give me the correct battery level if I was on battery power. As soon as I plugged the device in, the battery level will report as 255 (unknown). So what I do is check to see if the device is on AC power if I get a 255. I also check to see if the battery is charging to determine the state of the battery. If it is on AC and the battery is not charging then I assume that the battery is charged and that the percent is 100.

You can also get this from the following key:

HKLM\Software\Intermec\DeviceMonitor\Values\Battery

Probably the same information that you get if you make the smartsystem call directly.

EDIT: looks like the registry key for the smartsystem value also shows 255 when charging.

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

DarrenBeckley — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:03:01 GMT

Testing with GetSystemPowerStatusEx() on CN50 UMTS OS 1.40.06.0001. It does return valid percentage when on battery power. It returns 255 (BATTERY_PERCENTAGE_UNKNOWN) when on charge. I noticed that the Battery applet also hides the percentage bar when on charge, so I guess this is expected behaviour on the CN50.

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

JohnR — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:48:01 GMT

DarrenBeckley wrote:

Testing with GetSystemPowerStatusEx() on CN50 UMTS OS 1.40.06.0001. It does return valid percentage when on battery power. It returns 255 (BATTERY_PERCENTAGE_UNKNOWN) when on charge. I noticed that the Battery applet also hides the percentage bar when on charge, so I guess this is expected behaviour on the CN50.

BATTERY_FLAG_UNKNOWN is an acceptable flag (or, 255 is an acceptable value, if you prefer)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms940384.aspx

BatteryLifePercent

Percentage of full battery charge remaining. This member can be a value in the range 0 to 100, or BATTERY_FLAG_UNKNOWN if status is unknown. All other values are reserved.

Re: CN 50 Does Not Report Battery Status Correctly

mincho — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:57:14 GMT

Here is C# code (provided form Intermec support people) to get around:

if ((SystemState.PowerBatteryState == BatteryState.Charging) ||

(SystemState.PowerBatteryState == BatteryState.NotPresent) ||

((int)SystemState.PowerBatteryState == ((int)BatteryState.Charging |

(int)BatteryState.NotPresent)))

Best Regards!