Surface Battery Limit setting
The Battery Limit option is a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) setting that changes how the Surface device battery is charged and might prolong its longevity. This firmware setting (similar to BIOS) is recommended for devices intended to be always connected to power. Examples include devices configured for point of sale, RFID, and related kiosk scenarios. The Battery Limit UEFI setting is built into Surface devices by default including:
- Surface Go (all generations)
- Surface Pro 7 and later
- Surface Laptop 3 and later
- Surface Book 3
- Surface Laptop Studio (all generations)
- Surface Laptop Go (all generations)
- Surface Laptop SE
Many other devices also support Battery Limit with a firmware update, as described in the following section: Battery Limit support on other Surface devices.
How it works
When you enable the Battery Limit setting, the battery stops charging when it reaches 50% of maximum charge capacity. If you enable Battery Limit when your device is more than 50% charged, the battery doesn't resume charging until it drops below 50% of maximum charge.
Enable Battery Limit via one of the following methods:
- Modify Surface UEFI on an individual device
- Create a Surface UEFI configuration package for remote deployment to multiple devices
Modify Surface UEFI on an individual device
Boot into Surface UEFI: Press Power + Vol Up when turning on the device.
Choose Boot configuration > Advanced Options, and toggle Enable Battery Limit to On.
Tip
On Surface Go (all generations): Choose Boot configuration > Kiosk Mode, and move the slider to the right to set Battery Limit to Enabled.
Create a Surface UEFI configuration package for remote deployment to multiple devices
If you're an advanced IT admin, you can use UEFI Configurator to modify Surface UEFI and remotely deploy it to multiple devices via Surface Enterprise Management Mode (SEMM). Alternatively, you can use Surface UEFI Manager PowerShell scripts available from the Surface IT Toolkit.
Note
To use SEMM, most eligible devices must be commercial SKUs, branded as "Surface for Business." For a complete list of compatible devices, see Supported devices.
Use Microsoft Surface UEFI Configurator
- Open UEFI Configurator.
- Under the Advanced Settings, select Kiosk Overrides and Toggle Battery Limit to On.
Use Surface UEFI Manager PowerShell scripts
The battery limit feature is controlled via the following setting:
407 = Battery Profile
Description: Active management scheme for battery usage pattern
Default: 0
Configure setting to 1 to enable Battery Limit.
Battery Limit support on other Surface devices
The following devices require a firmware update to support this feature:
Surface Pro 3 - September 10, 2018 update. Surface Embedded Controller firmware version 38.14.80.0 and later versions.
Surface 3 - December 6, 2018 update. Surface UEFI firmware version 1.51116.218.0 and later versions.
Surface Pro 4 - September 10, 2018 update. Surface Embedded Controller firmware version 103.2241.256.0 and later versions.
Surface Book - October 10, 2018 update. Surface Embedded controller firmware version 90.2226.256.0 and later versions.
Note
This feature only applies to the battery in the detachable clipboard.
Surface Laptop (1st gen) - January 24, 2019 update. Surface System Aggregator firmware version 145.106.139.09 and later versions.
Surface Pro (5th gen) and Surface Pro with Advanced LTE Model 1807 - August 1, 2019 update. Surface System Aggregator firmware version 239.2660.257.0 and later versions.
Surface Book 2 - July 9, 2020 update. Surface System Aggregator firmware version 182.2107.139.0 and later versions apply Battery Limit Mode on the battery in the keyboard base, in addition to the detachable clipboard.
Surface Go - November 9, 2018 update. Surface UEFI firmware Version 1.0.10.0 and later versions.
Surface Pro 6 - August 1, 2019 update. Surface System Aggregator firmware version 239.3101.139.0 and later versions.
Surface Laptop 2 - January 24, 2019 update. Surface System Aggregator firmware version 145.106.1339.0 and later versions.
Surface Go with LTE Advanced - July 23, 2019 update. Surface UEFI firmware version 1.1.12.0 and later versions.