Surface Tip: How to enable Battery Limit feature on Surface devices
In this article, we will walk you through how to enable and verify the battery limit feature on supported Surface devices.
Starting from September 2018, Microsoft started rolling out a new feature called “Battery Limit” to all Surface devices starting from Surface Pro 3 forward. This feature can prolong your Surface’s battery lifespan by limiting the total charge to a maximum of 50%.
Enabling the setting preserves the battery’s ability to take and hold a charge while it’s connected to external power for an extended period of time and is recommended for Surface devices integrated into solutions like kiosks, consoles, and other scenarios where they are constantly connected to an external power supply.
The feature is being rolled out to Surface devices via the Firmware update. In this article, we will walk you through how to enable this feature on your supported Surface devices.
- Battery Limit feature supported Surface devices
- How to enable Battery Limit feature on Surface devices
- How to verify the enabled Battery Limit feature
Battery Limit feature supported Surface devices
Here is the complete list of Surface devices that support the “Battery Limit” feature with the associated firmware updates.
| Surface Model | Required Firmware | UEFI version | EC* version | SA* version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface 3 | Dec 6, 2018 update | 1.51116.218.0 | ||
| Surface Go | Nov 9, 2018 update | 1.0.10.0 | ||
| Surface Go LTE | Jul 23, 2019 update | 1.1.12.0 | ||
| Surface Pro 3 | Sep 10, 2018 update | 3.11.2550.0 | 38.14.80.0 | |
| Surface Pro 4 | Sep 10, 2018 update | 108.2318.769.0 | 103.2241.256.0 | |
| Surface Pro 5 | Aug 1, 2019 update | 239.2660.257.0 | ||
| Surface Pro 6 | Aug 1, 2019 update | 182.1004.139.0 | ||
| Surface Laptop | Jan 24, 2019 update | 137.2439.769 | ||
| Surface Laptop 2 | Jan 24, 2019 update | 137.2439.769 | ||
| Surface Book | Oct 10, 2018 update | 90.2226.256.0 | ||
| Surface Book 2 | Oct 10, 2019 update | 182.1004.139.0 |
*EC = Surface Embedded Controller Firmware
*SA = Surface System Aggregator Firmware
Make sure to check the Microsoft support page for the latest updates.
How to enable Battery Limit feature on Surface devices
You can enable the Battery Limit feature by booting into Surface UEFI. To do so:
- Shut down your Surface.
- Press and hold the Volume Up button on your Surface, then press and release the Power button.
- When you see the Surface logo screen appear, release the Volume Up button. The Surface UEFI screen will appear in a few seconds.
- In Surface UEFI menu, choose Boot Configuration page as below:
- Under Advanced Options, toggle the Enable Battery Limit Mode to On.
- After you have made changes, you can restart your Surface by choose Exit menu and click Restart Now.
How to verify the enabled Battery Limit feature
You can verify the Battery Limit setting by:
- On the Windows taskbar, click on the battery icon, it will popup the battery status windows with the following information
- You will notice that after charging for a while, the battery will cap at 50%.
Best Accessories for Microsoft Surface
With the right set of accessories, you can boost your Surface's productivity to the next level. Here we have some of the best accessories you should get for your Surface devices.
Those are the top must-have accessories for Microsoft Surface devices so far. With Surface Pen, Surface Dock, Surface Precision Mouse, and microSD card will significantly increase your Surface performance, storage, and productivity.
COMMENTS
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We appreciate hearing your thoughts, questions, and ideas about “Surface Tip: How to enable Battery Limit feature on Surface devices”.
So it’s NOT available for the Surface Pro 6 then….?♀️
Battery one will be capped with 50% on SB2 but battery 2 will continue to be charged to 100%.
Does this not entirely counteract the whole purpose of Battery Charge Capping? With this configuration, you will save the lifespan on the base section and end up with a dead battery on the tablet.
But the tablet section will not be replaced or repaired, all you can hope for is a lousy refurb.
Microsoft, Microsoft – can’t you get anything right? And to think it took a whole bl**dy year to serve us this crap.
Hi Patrick, I’m really sorry and thanks for pointing that out. This is my mistake, I’ve double-checked on my Surface Book, and it appears that the Battery 1 is for tablet’s section and Battery 2 is for the keyboard base. I’ve updated the article with the right info. Thanks!
Hi Evan, do you know how to change the battery limit to above 50%?
The 50% limit is too low for me.
I have double-checked the Microsoft support documents site, Currently, there is no way to set a custom battery limit on Surface devices yet.
Why is this feature absent in Surface 8 Pro?
Works on Surface 8 Pro.
However, it would be perfect if you could set it at 75% or so. Would preserve battery life without negatively impacting it’s use as a mobile device – 50% is a bit low. Of course, you can always shut it off when you’re travelling and expect you’ll be working away from a charger.