TLP

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From the project page:

TLP is a feature-rich command line utility for Linux, saving laptop battery power without the need to delve deeper into technical details.
TLP’s default settings are already optimized for battery life and implement Powertop’s recommendations out of the box. So you may just install and forget it.
Nevertheless TLP is highly customizable to fulfil your specific requirements.

Installation

Install the tlp package. Installing the optional dependencies may help provide additional power saving.

Enable/start tlp.service.

Radio Device Wizard (tlp-rdw)

When using the Radio Device Wizard (tlp-rdw), it is required to use NetworkManager and enabling NetworkManager-dispatcher.service.

One should also mask the service systemd-rfkill.service and socket systemd-rfkill.socket to avoid conflicts and assure proper operation of TLP's radio device switching options.

See TLP settings for details.

ThinkPads only

For advanced battery functions, i.e. charge thresholds and recalibration, install the following package(s):

  • tp_smapi – tp-smapi is needed for battery charge thresholds, recalibration and specific status output of tlp-stat
  • acpi_call – acpi-call is needed for battery charge thresholds and recalibration on Sandy Bridge and newer models (X220/T420, X230/T430 et al.). Use acpi_call-dkms if not running kernels from official repositories.

See the TLP FAQ, section "Which kernel module do I need for my ThinkPad?", for details.

Controlling the charge thresholds using D-Bus without root privileges is possible using threshyAUR and its example Qt user interface threshy-guiAUR.

Front end

  • tlpui-gitAUR is a GTK user interface for TLP written in Python.
  • slimbookbatteryAUR is a different GTK interface that works with additional drivers like AMD and NVIDIA.

Configuration

The configuration file is located at /etc/tlp.conf and provides a largely optimized power saving by default. For a full explanation of options see: TLP settings.

USB autosuspend

When starting TLP with the default configuration, some USB devices such as audio DACs will be powered down when running on battery due to TLP's autosuspend feature. Some devices such as keyboards and scanners are blacklisted from autosuspend by default.

You may simply want to disable USB autosuspend entirely with the following setting: 

/etc/tlp.conf
# Do not suspend USB devices
USB_AUTOSUSPEND=0

Or blacklist specific devices from being auto-suspended. See the TLP documentation on USB devices for details.

Force battery (BAT) configuration

When no power supply can be detected, the setting for AC will be used on devices like desktops and embedded hardware.

You may want to force the battery (BAT) settings when using TLP on these devices to enable more power saving: 

/etc/tlp.conf
# Operation mode when no power supply can be detected: AC, BAT.
TLP_DEFAULT_MODE=BAT

# Operation mode select: 0=depend on power source, 1=always use TLP_DEFAULT_MODE
TLP_PERSISTENT_DEFAULT=1

Bumblebee with NVIDIA driver

If you are running Bumblebee with NVIDIA driver, you need to disable power management for the GPU in TLP in order to make Bumblebee control the power of the GPU.

Depending on the driver(s) that you are using, blacklist one or more of them, preventing TLP from managing their power state: 

/etc/tlp.conf
RUNTIME_PM_DRIVER_DENYLIST="nouveau nvidia"

PCI(e) runtime power management on AC

Enabling runtime power management for PCI(e) bus devices while on AC may improve power saving on some laptops. This is enabled by default on battery, but not on AC. To enable on AC, set: 

/etc/tlp.conf
RUNTIME_PM_ON_AC=auto

Command line

TLP provides several command line tools. See TLP commands.

Debugging

You can display information about the currently used Mode(AC/BAT) and applied configurations: 

# tlp-stat

hci0: link tx timeout

If your bluetooth headphones suddenly stop working and you see this error from dmesg, it may be caused by TLP suspending your device. Add device ID to USB_BLACKLIST in /etc/tlp.conf: 

# Disable bluetooth autosuspend
USB_DENYLIST="8087:0aaa"

Get the device ID for your bluetooth device from lsusb -v. Restart TLP and the bluetooth service.

Features intentionally excluded

See also