What is Reserve Battery Level? How does it differ from Critical Battery Level?

On a Windows 10 laptop, you must have seen the battery level warnings. These notifications ask Windows users to save the job and turn off the computer or connect the laptop to a power source or change the battery. There are two types of warnings – Battery backup and Critical battery. In this post, we will understand what they mean and the difference between them.

Reserve battery level relative to the critical battery level

There are 3 levels of battery: low battery, reserve battery and critical battery.

1. When the load is low, the battery icon in the notification area indicates a low battery level. The value by default is 10%.
2. When your battery charge reaches the reserve level, Windows notifies you that you are using reserve power. The default is 7% (or 9% depending on your brand). At this point, you need to save your work, then search for another source of power or stop using the computer.
3. When your battery is running out of power, the battery icon indicates a critical battery level, and then your laptop goes into hibernation. The default is 5% (or 3% depending on your brand).

We will examine the following topics in this post:

1. What is Reserve Battery Level in Windows Laptops?
2. What is the critical battery level?
3. Difference between the reserve battery level and the critical battery level
4. How to change the reserve battery level in Windows 10?

1) What is Reserve Battery Level in Windows Laptops?

The Windows 10 operating system marks a certain percentage of the battery's capacity as a reserve. When he reaches this level, he asks the end user to start recording his work. It also launches essential services to preserve the state of the computer. The Low Battery Warning or Battery Reserve prompts the user to start recording his work and to switch to an additional power source.

2) What is the critical battery level?

The critical battery level is where Windows 10 initiates a normal action such as Standby, Hibernate, or Shutdown, depending on the settings. When the battery reaches a certain percentage, it will not wait for the user, but will instantly launch one of the actions intended to protect any sudden shutdown and any data loss.

3) Difference between the reserve battery level and the critical battery level

I will make an analogy here. Imagine your computer as a car and a battery as a tank of gasoline. The level of the reserve battery is nothing more than the reserve of your gas tank. You can use gasoline in reserve to drive the car for a while, but not for long. The critical battery level is when your gas tank is nearly empty and the vehicle stops the engine to protect it from damage.

4) How to change the reserve battery level in Windows 10

Windows 10 allows you to change the percentage of battery charge and what the laptop does for both. The default percentage of the spare battery level is 9%. If you have a laptop with a larger battery storage capacity, then 9% means that you can use it longer compared to other laptops that have lower battery capacity. For example, 9% of 5000 mAh is greater than 9% of the 3000 mAh capacity.

How to increase or decrease the power reserve in Windows 10 power options

1. Go to Settings> System> Power & Standby> Additional Power Settings.
2. Then select one of the modes, then click Edit Plan Settings> and click again on the Edit Advanced Power Settings hyperlink.
3. Scroll down and expand Drums section.
4. Locate the Reserve battery level and change the percentage to what you want.
5. Similarly, you can change the percentage of the Critical battery level

If you set the percentage to 0 or 1, you may not have enough time before the battery reaches the critical level, which will turn off the computer or take the appropriate action: standby, stop. Hibernation is the best option as it will be much faster, save your work and save the battery for a longer time.

Now that you have a good understanding of both levels, adjust it accordingly, be sure to save the work and turn off the computer in a timely manner. It's not a good idea to drain the battery below 10% each time, or stay connected all the time.