Stops charging at 80% (OLED)

[Delano]

SOLVED. IT'S A BUG WITH YOUR DECKY PLUGIN POWERTOOLS, read this thread:

https://reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/18m0kzf/powertools_charge_limit_bug/

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So I got my Steamdeck oled this week. It seems to be great, everything works well etc. But, it charges very strangely. I've tested this with the original charger and a good quality 100w pd charger, both do the exact same. I also kept it on and turned it to sleep and off, that doesn't matter either, it happens in all states (both chargers, both on and off, all the same).

From 0% to 80% it charges fast. Around 50% it still says it needs 50 minutes to full. Then, it reaches 80% and stops charging completely. It still shows as charging, it doesn't have the slow charging icon I saw other mention online, and it doesn't stop charging. However the time (after plugging in) goes from 3h and starts climbing to 100h and ?h?m where it stays. I also tried plugging it in earlier, it doesn't matter. It doesn't go above 80% unless:

I've tried to keep it plugged for 4 hours and it went to 82%.

I think this started happening after I put the SD in "battery storage mode" via the bios 2 days ago, when I wanted to replace the backplate. However now it's staying like this every time and I don't know what to do. I'd like to leave the house with a full battery.

The battery health is at 102%.

I installed powertools and tried changing the charging settings (limit at 90% etc) but that did nothing. PS I already had this issue before I installed powertools.

[nickk]

Hey there,

Sorry to hear about the issues you're having. Could you help gather some information for me to help with this issue? You'll need to be comfortable with going to desktop mode.

• Go to desktop mode by holding the power button for a few moments until the power settings menu pops up. Select "Switch to Desktop"
  
• From the desktop, click the start button and search for "Konsole". Open the program.
  
• In the command line on Konsole type the folllowing: "upower -d". Copy-paste the entire output of this command and send it to me here.
  
• If you don't have a good way to get the text from your Steam Deck to your main computer, feel free to take a picture with your phone, upload to an image sharing site, and link it here. If you take a photo, make sure to scroll the view to show everything in the section: "Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT1"

Let me know if you need any help doing these instructions.

[nickk]

Hey there,

One more thing just came to mind:

If possible, could you get the unit into the state where you're stuck at 80% while using the official power supply before you run the command I've provided? It would help provide additional info on what the problem is. If not, no worries.

Thanks!

[Delano]

Originally posted by nickk:

Hey there,

One more thing just came to mind:

If possible, could you get the unit into the state where you're stuck at 80% while using the official power supply before you run the command I've provided? It would help provide additional info on what the problem is. If not, no worries.

Thanks!

Hello Nick,
Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get an email of your comment.

Here's the requested images, while stuck, with the official charger.
https://imgur.com/a/HJlI9LF

Ps I have already requested a return for this Steamdeck (512gb) and also ordered a 1tb version already. I will sent it away tomorrow. But I thought I would still share this info so you can look into it / know about it if you like.

Kind regards, Delano.

[Taty16.94]

I have the same problem and dont know what to do

[Delano]

Originally posted by Taty16.94:

I have the same problem and dont know what to do

In my case it actually was a stuck Decky plugin, powertools. Did you have that at some point?

[DonCapilleary]

This happened to me as well. `upower -d` revealed that it was stuck at ~42.1 Wh (showing 79%). No charging was happening after that. Not with the included charger, not with any additional charger. Trying with an USB-C cable that measures the current, it shows 0 W when the screen is off. A restart doesn't help, going into desktop mode doesn't help. Using the latest SteamOS.

It looked pretty much like the firmware glitched out. Normally on desktop computers you could reset the CMOS by special jumpers, buttons, or removing the battery (unpowering the CMOS resets it). So that's what I did:

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any damange that comes out of this. If you don't know how electricity works, and never worked with sensitive wires, you might break something and then you won't have even the 80% battery. Think about it, and stop here if you're not doing stuff like this regularly. A good measure is: do you even have the proper screw bit? Also, it's a good idea to ground yourself somehow.

1. Unscrew all 8 screws from the back, then using a plastic pry tool, gently release all clamps from all sides.
2. Unscrew the 2 vertical screws from the metal plate from the back.
3. Gently raise the plastic lever (white) from the left side (right controller part) that holds the wide cable that's stuck to the metal plate. When you raise it, you can safely remove the cable from it.
4. Gently remove the small slot with wires from underneath the bottom of the metal plate. Don't pull from the wires, use your nails on the plastic bit.
5. Now you can raise the plate safely, revealing the battery connection. Using your nails, catch the plastic part of the connector and pull it out.

Ideally that should do it, but for good measure I also put everything else back together (without screwing it together), and plugged it in. But this is risky and probably unnecessary.

Then, I did the whole thing in reverse, put it all back together. Be aware, after you screw the 2 screws for the metal plate back in, the lower-right side might be misaligned. Align the holes together, otherwise you won't be able to screw back one of the screws.

Now I'm looking at how it's charging at 13W (it gets lower as it approaches 100%), while it now sits at 92% charge. My problem was solved. I hope this helps you solve it.

[Wilbur Walsh]

I have the exact same issue now as OP. For me it actually started when my battery got depleted during an RE:4 session and SD hibernated itself. Since then, I tried many things, e.g. battery storage mode, even re-image the OS, but didn’t help, battery charging won’t go beyond 80%. I reported the issue via support and they would now organize an RMA.

[Delano]

Originally posted by DonCapilleary:

This happened to me as well.

Originally posted by Wilbur Walsh:

I have the exact same issue now as OP..

Guys, I solved my issue. It was a stuck Decky plugin, powertools. Did you have that at some point?