Most Dell laptop batteries have a test light/button that allows you to see how much charge the battery presently has and how many charge cycles are left in the lifetime of the battery.

To check the remaining battery charge, press the button & release. The number of lights that appear will tell you charge amount. If all 5 lights come on the battery is nearly 100% charged. If only one of five illuminate the battery has approximately a 20% charge.

To check the battery’s remaining charge cycles or life, press and hold the button for 4 seconds. If no lights illuminate, the battery has 80% or more of it’s original life span left. Every light that illuminates represents incremental degradation. If five lights illuminate the battery has less than 60% of it’s original charge capacity.