From 12791d37142e95c07c3e7178ad6eee969c4848eb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Alex Parker Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:37:24 +0000 Subject: Update Battery Benchmark plugin in the manual to correct some out-of-date information, and rewrite some sections to improve the English. git-svn-id: svn://svn.rockbox.org/rockbox/trunk@20352 a1c6a512-1295-4272-9138-f99709370657 --- manual/plugins/batterybenchmark.tex | 97 +++++++++++++++++-------------------- 1 file changed, 45 insertions(+), 52 deletions(-) (limited to 'manual/plugins/batterybenchmark.tex') diff --git a/manual/plugins/batterybenchmark.tex b/manual/plugins/batterybenchmark.tex index ab7774c2c4..fb7c64dfa0 100644 --- a/manual/plugins/batterybenchmark.tex +++ b/manual/plugins/batterybenchmark.tex @@ -1,20 +1,19 @@ \subsection{Battery Benchmark} -The Battery Benchmark Plugin enables you to test your battery's performance, -while making normal use of your \dap. Once loaded it will run in the -background (TSR plugin), reading various info about your battery while you use -it. Once you finish your session you can find the benchmark output data in a -file on your \dap\ \fname{/battery\_bench.txt}. -Please submit your results to the Rockbox wiki. -\wikilink{BatteryRuntime} +The \setting{Battery Benchmark} plugin enables you to test your battery's +performance whilst using your \dap\ normally. Results can be submitted +to the \wikilink{BatteryRuntime} wiki page. \subsubsection{How it works} -After you load the plug-in the operation of your \dap\ continues as normal. -You can do whatever you could do before loading the plugin except loading -another plugin. If you happen to load a plugin while benchmarking, a splash -screen will inform you about the termination of the benchmark. -While you operate it will log various battery related information every time -the disk is activated by external causes, (buffer refill, open directory, -USB mode) or an hour passes without updating the log file.\\ +Once loaded, \setting{Battery Benchmark} runs in the +background recording various information about your battery to memory. +A new point is written to memory every minute. +Every time the disk is accessed for any reason +(such as refilling the audio buffer, opening a directory or entering +USB mode etc.) then the information in memory is written to disk. +Once the memory becomes full (after many hours), then the data +are written to disk anyway. This is done so that the data are not biased by +excessive additional disk accesses. The file is written to the root +directory of your \dap\ and is called \fname{battery\_bench.txt}. The plugin will continue to log info until: \begin{itemize} @@ -22,49 +21,43 @@ The plugin will continue to log info until: \item The \dap\ is shut down. \item The battery is empty. \end{itemize} -Between disk activity (or an hour), it will log info in memory (every -measurement is captured when the voltage changes). If there are too many -measurements older entries will be deleted and the log file will inform the -user about the interval where entries were lost. Benchmarks can be resumed if -you accidentally load a plugin, or turn off your \dap, as long as the log -file \fname{/battery\_bench.txt} is not deleted. + +Benchmarks can be resumed if +you accidentally load a plugin, or turn off your \dap, so long as the log +file \fname{battery\_bench.txt} is not deleted. \subsubsection{Information explained} -On the top of the file you will see various info on how to use the plugin. +At the top of the \fname{battery\_bench.txt} file is various +information on how to use the plugin, followed by the data themselves. + \begin{description} \item[Time] This column reports the total time of operation of the \dap. It is -not the time that you started the plug-in. If you have your player on for 5 +not the time that you started the plug-in. If you have your \dap\ on for 5 minutes and then start the plugin, it will start measuring from 5 minutes. -\item[Seconds] As time, it shows time passed in seconds. Nothing special, it is -there because it is free and maybe someone might want to make graphs with -seconds. -\item[Level] The percent level of the battery estimated by Rockbox. This is an -estimation and not an accurate result. Using the real percentage (current -battery voltage / top battery voltage) * 100) we can calculate the difference -between the estimation. Goal of this column is to make the estimation algorithm -of Rockbox more accurate. -\item[Time Left] It shows the estimated (by Rockbox) remaining time until -shutdown. Again, as with Level(above), this column can be used to see -differences between real time left and estimated time left. This could help -make time left more accurate. -\item[Voltage] The battery voltage, the moment the measurement was captured. -Measurements are captured when this number changes while benchmarking. -This column can be used to give quite interesting graphs in a spreadsheet -program. (Excel, Calc, e.t.c) -\item[M/DA] (Measurements per Disk Activity) The number of measurements stored -temporarily in memory, before written on the log file. This can give you an -idea of how many voltage changes there are between disk activity (or one hour). -\item[C] Stands for Charger. An "A" in that column shows if there was the power -adapter attached to the unit, at the time of the measurement. -\item[S] The "S" column shows the state of the device (Charging, or not). The -"C" indicated that the unit was charging when the measurement was captured. +\item[Seconds] The same as \config{Time}, except measured in seconds. +\item[Level] The percent level of the battery estimated by Rockbox, and not the +actual battery level. The actual battery level can be seen from the +\config{Voltage} column +\item[Time Left] This shows the time remaining until the battery is empty, +again as estimated by Rockbox. +\item[Voltage] The battery voltage in mV at the moment the measurement +was taken. +\item[C] This stands for Charger. An "A" in that column shows if the power +adapter was attached to the unit at the time of the measurement. \item[U] USB powered. Only for targets that support this. A "U" will indicate -if the unit was using the USB port for powering. +if the unit was using the USB port for power at the time of the measurement. \end{description} -\subsubsection{Making graphs} -While you can tell how long your battery lasted, with a single look at the last -line of the battery log (\fname{/battery\_bench.txt}), the most useful purpose of -Battery Benchmark is to make graphs using a spreadsheet program like Excel or -Calc. The battery log (\fname{/battery\_bench.txt}) is in CSV format (comma separated) -so you can quite easily import it to a spreadsheet program. +\subsubsection{Usage} +The log file can be used to tell you how long the battery lasted (with some +limitations, see below), but it is most useful for graphing discharge curves +in order to improve Rockbox's estimation of battery level and time remaining. +The battery log (\fname{battery\_bench.txt}) is in CSV format +(comma separated variables) and thus can be easily imported into a spreadsheet +or similar program. + +\subsubsection{Limitations} +As \setting{Battery Benchmark} needs to write the data held in memory to +disk in order to save them, it is possible that should Rockbox shut down +due to low battery then there will not be enough power remaining to write the +data to disk. Therefore all measurements since the previous save will be lost. -- cgit v1.2.3