If you use the computer while the battery is charging, the battery provides a bit of charge to the computer, and the charger charges the battery.

If the battery is not charged and the charger only powers the computer, then the charge that was initially sent to the battery is sent to the laptop instead. By that reasoning, measuring the power consumption will not tell you if the battery is being drained or not.

Therefor, the best way to know if your battery is being used or the charger is being used, is by running power intensive tasks and see if the battery drains or not, and compare this to running the same task with battery removed if you have that option. Also compare to the same task of only running on battery power to see how much slow down you experience.

This should tell you if your battery drains and gets charged, if it keeps charging to 100% or what else happens.

If you use the computer while the battery is charging, the battery provides a bit of charge to the computer, and the charger charges the battery.

If the battery is not charged and the charger only powers the computer, then the charge that was initially sent to the battery is sent to the laptop instead. By that reasoning, measuring the power consumption will not tell you if the battery is being drained or not.

Therefor, the best way to know if your battery is being used or the charger is being used, is by running power intensive tasks and see if the battery drains or not, and compare this to running the same task with battery removed if you have that option (only to test, not a permanent solution). Also compare to the same task of only running on battery power to see how much slow down you experience.

This should tell you if your battery drains and gets charged, if it keeps charging to 100% or what else happens.