Surface RT battery and power

Surface RT has an internal lithium-ion battery with up to 8 hours of active-use battery life on a single charge.

You can check the battery status in a few different places.

Lock screen: When you wake up Surface, the battery status appears on the lock screen (lower-left corner).

Charms: When you swipe in from the right-edge of the screen, the battery status appears in the lower-left corner of the screen.

Desktop taskbar: When you’re at the desktop, the battery status appears on the taskbar (lower-right corner). Tap or click the battery icon for info about the charging and battery status, including the percent remaining.

To learn more about the battery icon and status, see Battery: Frequently asked questions.

Windows alerts you when the battery starts to get low. When you’re alerted, be sure to attach the power supply. If you don’t recharge the battery, Surface will eventually save your work and shut down.

At the end of your day or when the battery is low, charge your Surface using the included 24-watt power supply. Here’s how:

1. Insert the plug into an electrical outlet or power strip.
2. Connect the power cord to the charging port on your Surface.
   It clicks into place (either direction is good).

Once connected, a small light appears at the end of the connector to show that Surface is getting power. If the light doesn’t appear, see Surface battery won’t charge.

To make sure your Surface is charging, swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and look in the lower-left corner for the battery status. When charging, the battery icon appears with an electrical plug. Once the battery is fully charged, you can remove the power cord from the charging port.

Note  You can’t charge Surface RT using the USB port. Instead, you need to use the included power supply.

How long does it take to charge Surface?

It takes 2-3 hours to fully charge your Surface RT battery from an empty state.

Having battery or power problems?

• If your battery isn’t charging or if you see a low-battery warning, see Surface battery won’t charge.
• If Surface RT won’t turn on, see Surface RT won’t turn on.

You can buy an extra 24-watt power supply or a 48-watt power supply with a USB charging port (both sold separately). The 48-watt power supply doesn’t charge Surface RT faster than the 24-watt power supply, but the USB port is handy when you want to charge a cell phone or other USB device while your Surface charges. (The 48-watt power supply is not available in all countries or regions. To see what’s available where you are, see Surface accessories.)

There's really no need to turn off (shut down) Surface RT completely. If you don’t use Surface for a few minutes, it goes into standby mode, and the screen turns off and locks. When this happens, Surface stays connected to your wireless network and app notifications (such as how many new email messages you have) appear on the lock screen.

If you want to turn off Surface, open the Settings charm, tap or click Power, and then tap or click Shut down. For more info, see Power states: On, off, sleep, and restart.

You can change when the screen dims or turns off. Here’s how:

1. Open the Search charm, enter edit power plan, and then tap or click Settings.
2. Tap or click Edit power plan in the search results.
3. Choose the display settings that you want to use when your Surface is running on battery and when it's plugged in.
4. Tap or click Save changes.

Note  A power plan is a collection of hardware and system settings that control how your Surface uses power. For more info about power plans, see Power Plans: Frequently asked questions (Surface RT supports connected standby.)

Here are some ways you can make your battery last longer:

• Reduce the screen brightness: Open the Settings charm, click or tap Screen, and then move the slider. The brighter the screen, the more power it uses.
• Turn off Wi-Fi: If you don’t need Wi-Fi for a while, you can turn it off to conserve battery life. To do this, open the Settings charm, tap the wireless network icon, and then slide Airplane mode to On.
• Turn off or remove devices that you aren't using: Many USB devices use power just by being connected, so you might want to unplug these devices when you're not using them.

• Operating temperature: Surface is designed to work between 32°F and 95°F (or 0°C to 35°C). Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to high temperatures, so keep your Surface out of the sun and don’t leave it in a hot car.
• Recharge anytime: The battery doesn’t need to be empty or low before you recharge. You can recharge the battery whenever you’d like. However, it’s best to let the battery run down at least once per month before you recharge it.