this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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34
Steam Deck Beta Client Update: Added Battery Charge Limit control - This option allows you to set a maximum charge limit for your Steam Deck. (store.steampowered.com)
submitted 8 hours ago by alessandro@lemmy.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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[–] Sirence@feddit.org 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

This can be useful if your Steam Deck is constantly being charged (i.e. docked), or very rarely has its battery depleted.

I was under the impression the steam deck used pass through charging? I mean it's still useful and I'll definitely set it to 80%, but it should be more useful for those who do charge it a lot instead of those who rarely charge?

[–] Obelix@feddit.org 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Batteries really do not like to be at 100% charge. So if you use your SteamDeck mostly docked, it will be always at 100% charge and this prevents this. It's a nice, useful feature.

[–] Sirence@feddit.org 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Well yes, but what batteries like even less than being at 100 is being charged to 100 constantly. So why is docked the use case they decided to feature?

[–] Obelix@feddit.org 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Because you can now just set the charging level to 80%, plugin your Deck into your dock and it will stop charging at 80% and then just use passthrough power.

[–] Sirence@feddit.org 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

But why is this more important than non docked usage?

[–] Obelix@feddit.org 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

If your deck is docked, it will always be at 100% charge

[–] Sirence@feddit.org 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

I think you're missing what I am asking. If the deck is not docked it will get charged from x to 100 more often then when it's docked, which hurts the battery just as much if not more than staying at 100. The cycles from 80 to 100 are exponentially more harmful than 30 to 80. So why is the case for docked so much more important that it is the only one being mentioning in the changelog? Now people who don't use it dock will assume it's not important for their use case when they would in fact profit from enabling it.

[–] Obelix@feddit.org 3 points 5 hours ago

I think it is because it is also harmful to be at 100%, not only to charge there. So a docked deck will be longer in a harmful state than a mobile one. In the case of a mobile deck there is a clear use case for charging to 100%: Longer battery life.

But you are also correct: If you're not using the full battery charge during everyday operations, you should also enable that and also buy one of those 4-5m USB-C charging cables