How to check battery discharge rate on Windows 10
Windows 10 can track power usage by apps on a laptop. It only tracks this usage for when your laptop is running on battery. Windows 10 reports battery usage as a percentage of total capacity but it doesn’t tell you how much charge it is losing. You can see how long the battery will last in terms of hours and minutes by hovering the cursor over the battery icon in the system tray. If you’d like to see the battery discharge rate in terms of power/wattage on a Windows 10 laptop, you will have to use third-party apps. Here are two great options for you to try.
Battery Mon
Battery Mon is a great, free app that lets you pick and choose when to monitor the battery charge and discharge rate. Download the app, and run it. Click the Start button to start monitoring the battery discharge rate. You will see a graph that will show the battery discharging. At the top right corner, you can see the discharge rate in milliwatts. If you look at the column on the right, you will see a field for the Discharge rate. This will show you how much time is left with the current discharge rate.
BatteryInfoView
BatteryInfoView is another free utility for monitoring your battery. It doesn’t have a graph like BatteryMon does and you cannot turn monitoring on/off at will. Download and run the app and look for the Charge/Discharge field which will show you in milliwatts how much the battery is discharging. The negative sign means it is discharging and when you plug your laptop in, it will disappear.
Understanding discharge rates
The battery discharge rate is important when you’re trying to determine the health of your battery. Older batteries hold less charge but will still discharge based on use. A damaged battery will discharge much more quickly, regardless of its age. The discharge rate will also change based on what you are using your laptop for. If you’re working on a simple document, the battery won’t discharge as quickly but if you’re watching a movie or have a browser open with loads of tabs, the battery will discharge much faster.
If you think the battery is depleting too quickly, you may want to look at replacing it or examining what you’re using your machine for on battery power. Remember to look at the discharge rate as one parameter and examine all others that determine battery health. Both the apps on this list can also show you the battery charge rate so take that into account as well if you’re having trouble with your battery.
