Thinkpads Forum

I am looking for a 9cell battery for my 15" widescreen T60. I would like it to be near new with very low cycle count. Let me know what you have.


Sam

Try the lenovo Outlet.
http://stores.channeladvisor.com/Lenovo ... nd%20Dent)

People have been reporting zero cycles.

john

91011 wrote:Try the lenovo Outlet.
http://stores.channeladvisor.com/Lenovo ... nd%20Dent)

People have been reporting zero cycles.

john

I have had extremely bad experiences with the Lenovo Outlet, with multiple orders over the last few months, especially recently. "Scratch and Dent" batteries sent out varied from being as above (0-1 cycle count, manufactured in the last several months) to a 17 month old battery sent to me which I sent back.

With laptop purchases from the outlet I am batting one for 3, and even the 1 that was delivered took almost a month to actually arrive. The other two are in Lenovo-limbo, with misleading online order information, no communication, and no one you can speak to who can help you to figure out what is going on. Take your pick; you can speak with people in India, Canada, or the USA. You can speak with cubicle workers and you can speak with supervisors. In the end you will receive no useful or accurate information regarding the status of your order, and along the way some of these people will question if the item in question even exists. When you finally do get a response from a supervisor it will be an answer to a question you did not even ask.

I have two outlet notebook orders that as I type this are in the ether. After many hours wasted on the telephone I have no more information than I had after I placed the orders weeks ago. The estimated ship dates come and go, and the Lenovo online system automatically advances the estimated ship dates by a week or two, with no notification and no one you can speak with who can sort things out. If you are persistent enough, you may even receive an email from a supervisor giving you the warranty status of your non-shipping and probably non-existent item that was ordered. When you respond to the email saying that this wasn't the question you asked in the first place, you will receive no further response.

Unless you REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want something from the outlet, have LOTS of patience, a very high level of frustration tolerance, and lots of time on your hands to waste, a Lenovo outlet purchase is much more aggravation than any savings you might get if they in fact ever do ship whatever it is that you thought that you ordered.

Please note that I understand that Lenovo reserves the right to cancel outlet orders within a few days after the order is placed if it turns out they have already sold the item. All comments above refer to orders that have been sent, received, accepted, confirmed and entered into their systems as being available and pending shipment by Lenovo.

ken

Ken Fox wrote:I have had extremely bad experiences with the Lenovo Outlet... <snip>

Just reported the above post to the mods with the following remarks:

This guy is rambling about the Lenovo outlet, which has nothing to do with the question of the OP. Everything other than the first sentence is too far off-topic. Mods, please split this post into its own thread or append to one of the many about the Lenovo outlet.

Admin note: While the OP didn't explicitly say that non-forum sources would not be considered in the opening post, it's then fair to suggest the Lenovo Outlet as a way to obtain a near new battery. Oh, and I trimmed your excessively quoted quote .

All I want is a new battery. I did not think it was necessary to discuss the efficiency and quality of service of lenovo's outlet. If I wanted to order from a retail service I would have pursued those routes. I was hoping to find one from someone on this forum. I purchased my laptop and my 6cell battery from this very forum, so I thought this would be the place to look. Please pm if you have an actual offer. I am able to research on my own what retail solutions are available to me.


Thanks,


Sam

sscalf wrote:All I want is a new battery. I did not think it was necessary to discuss the efficiency and quality of service of lenovo's outlet. If I wanted to order from a retail service I would have pursued those routes. I was hoping to find one from someone on this forum. I purchased my laptop and my 6cell battery from this very forum, so I thought this would be the place to look. Please pm if you have an actual offer. I am able to research on my own what retail solutions are available to me.


Thanks,


Sam

ADDENDUM: After looking around it turns out that what I thought was an extra T60 9 cell is in reality a 9 cell for my old T43. The only 9 cell I'm currently using with a T60 is on the T60 I use as a desktop on an advanced dock. It still has almost the whole original charge capacity and I don't want to sell it. Sorry.

I have some T60 batteries, but I'd have to look around on my various systems, and in the fridge, to determine what is surplus to my needs. The 9 cells are more or less useless to me since I never use my T60s away from an electrical outlet. Please note that all of my T60s are 14 and 15" 4:3 screen (not widescreen) models, so if there is a compatibility issue with widescreen models I would have nothing of interest to you.

If you will let me know by PM what you are looking for in terms of charge capacity (e.g. what is acceptable to you, as these things obviously do deteriorate as they age), and approximately how much you are willing to pay, by PM, then I'll know whether or not I have something I can sell you.

If you are looking for a 9 cell for $20 including shipping, I'm honestly not willing to go through the effort to try to find something to sell you.

ken

basketb wrote: Just reported the above post to the mods with the following remarks:
This guy is rambling about the Lenovo outlet, which has nothing to do with the question of the OP. Everything other than the first sentence is too far off-topic. Mods, please split this post into its own thread or append to one of the many about the Lenovo outlet.
Admin note: While the OP didn't explicitly say that non-forum sources would not be considered in the opening post, it's then fair to suggest the Lenovo Outlet as a way to obtain a near new battery. Oh, and I trimmed your excessively quoted quote .

@basketb:
You've got to be kidding.

Ken Fox, a widely respected forum member and first-class citizen and gentleman, not only mentioned the Lenovo outlet's batteries, which are mentioned in this thread and are therefore relevant, but he relayed an accurate shopping experience that may save fellow forum members a great deal of frustration. It's widely known to those of us who frequent this and other IBM/Lenovo forums that the Lenovo outlet is hit-or-miss, but Ken's account may be of benefit to those not as familiar with the outlet store. Because someone else suggested them as a source of the desired batteries, Ken's points are especially important. Was it really necessary to report him to a moderator? Nothing in his post is offensive in any way; if you don't care for the tenor or length of his post, skip it. I doubt Mr. Morrow and others who actually moderate the discussion here want forum members to be afraid to hold forth and post true accounts of dealings with lenovo that can prove useful to others, lest they be reported and castigated.

In the spirit of helpfulness and community this forum helps foster, let's be a bit more lenient with reporting, eh?

Written in the spirit of goodwill,
~tdr.

I just received two 6-cell scratch and dent batteries for my T6X series units from Lenovo Outlet in exactly 7 days from the order date. One was new with zero cycles and not a scratch or dent that I could find and it works fine. The other had 8 cycles and was 12 months old with no scratches or dents. It also works fine with more than full original design voltage capacity after performing a battery reset operation. Both my T61 units originally came with the larger 9-Cell units which make for a tight fit in my traveling cases and hamper access to rear connectors on my Advanced Mini-Dock.

$36 each with free shipping vs $159 ea at the regular Lenovo Store.

I wonder how Lenovo can sell them so cheap and still make a profit?

Anyway, no complaints here folks.

eecon wrote:I just received two 6-cell scratch and dent batteries for my T6X series units from Lenovo Outlet in exactly 7 days from the order date. One was new with zero cycles and not a scratch or dent that I could find and it works fine. The other had 8 cycles and was 12 months old with no scratches or dents. It also works fine with more than full original design voltage capacity after performing a battery reset operation.

$36 each with free shipping vs $159 ea at the regular Lenovo Store.

I wonder how Lenovo can sell them so cheap and still make a profit?

Anyway, no complaints here folks.

As Ken Fox said, sometimes the lenovo outlet operates as a normal business and delivers product in a timely way; other times they don't. When they don't, they fail epically and demonstrate profound ineptitude.

I'm glad you found what you wanted for a good price.

Cheers,
~tdr.

I decided to just go ahead and order one from the outlet. I had not received any offers on a battery. I use my laptop for taking notes in class and I need to be able to go more than one class on battery power. I hope that it all comes out with lenovo. I ordered saturday night. I still have not received a confirmation email. I hope that is not a sign of impending doom... I will update after I receive the battery.


Thanks

Sam

BTW .... Should I perform a battery reset on my 9-cell units then drain them to about 45% and seal them in Zip-Lock air-tight plastic baggies for long term shelf storage? Is the refrigerator storage really necessary? I wonder if my wine celler's 55°F steady temperature environment would be adequate?

My wife says "no-way" to placing them next to our food in either of our two household refrigerators.

sscalf wrote:I decided to just go ahead and order one from the outlet. I had not received any offers on a battery. I use my laptop for taking notes in class and I need to be able to go more than one class on battery power. I hope that it all comes out with lenovo. I ordered saturday night. I still have not received a confirmation email. I hope that is not a sign of impending doom... I will update after I receive the battery.


Thanks

Sam

Sam,

I hope your experience is a positive one. I've ordered two machines from the outlet and never had a problem with communication, order status, or shipping, and the refurbished machines arrived in superb condition and weren't discernible from new. However, I recently ordered a scratch-and-dent X60 tablet sleeve and, like you, have received no communication whatsoever about the order--not even a charge authorization on my method of payment. I don't know if the order has disappeared into the ether, is in "Lenovo-limbo," if a cubicle worker or manager hasn't processed it, if it has been processed and shipped and will come tomorrow, next week, or next month. I suppose I might call about it in a few days, but Ken's experience tells us this will be a waste of time. So, I'll just wait and see if the item arrives and will hope that, if it does come, it's worth keeping. I can't imagine the returns process is any more efficient than ordering something.

Cheers,
~tdr.

eecon wrote:BTW .... Should I perform a battery reset on my 9-cell units then drain them to about 45% and seal them in Zip-Lock air-tight plastic baggies for long term shelf storage? Is the refrigerator storage really necessary? I wonder if my wine celler's 55°F steady temperature environment would be adequate?

My wife says "no-way" to placing them next to our food in either of our two household refrigerators.

eecon,

I recently messaged Ken Fox about refrigerated storage of batteries. Because my PM box is nearing capacity, I replied and then deleted the message, so I no longer have that text at hand. However, Ken is a gentleman and wonderful conversationalist--not to mention a hell of a nice guy--and will very likely be glad to speak with you about storing batteries.

Cheers,
~tdr.

I'm no expert on battery storage. From what I have read, refrigerator temperatures slow down the inevitable degradation of lithium ion batteries to approximately 1/3 the normal rate. I have no independent proof of that statement. My own experience is that I've started putting unused batteries into plastic baggies and then into the fridge. Over a period of a bit more than a year, I have noticed little degradation of batteries stored this way, in comparison to some I've kept at room temperature that have lost 10-20% or more of their stated capacity on Power Manager software. What I don't know is whether those batteries from the fridge would deteriorate more rapidly once one started to use them.

It seems logical that storage in a cooler environment than room temperature (such as in a cool basement or wine cellar) would have an intermediate benefit between room temperature storage and storage at refrigerator temperatures, however sometimes the world does not function as we would like it to so it probably would be better than nothing but I have no proof of that.

At worst, refrigerator storage is not going to do any harm and may greatly delay the deterioration of your batteries. This is not a scientific observation and I can't make any claims for what it will do for your batteries stored in your refrigerator.

eecon wrote:BTW .... Should I perform a battery reset on my 9-cell units then drain them to about 45% and seal them in Zip-Lock air-tight plastic baggies for long term shelf storage? Is the refrigerator storage really necessary? I wonder if my wine celler's 55°F steady temperature environment would be adequate?

My wife says "no-way" to placing them next to our food in either of our two household refrigerators.

I am very wary of using Lenovo software to "reset" or "recondition" batteries. The two times I have done that has resulted in batteries that became nonfunctional, either immediately or very shortly thereafter. I'm no expert on the chemistry of batteries, but I doubt there is anything much you can do for a battery (that is positive) after it starts to seriously deteriorate. If I was inclined to do anything along that line, I think I would simply drain the battery down as close to zero as I could using it to power the notebook, then recharge it fully and see what happens. As long as your expectations are low enough, you probably won't be too disappointed.

eecon wrote:I just received two 6-cell scratch and dent batteries for my T6X series units from Lenovo Outlet in exactly 7 days from the order date. One was new with zero cycles and not a scratch or dent that I could find and it works fine. The other had 8 cycles and was 12 months old with no scratches or dents. It also works fine with more than full original design voltage capacity after performing a battery reset operation. Both units originally came with the larger 9-Cell units which make for a tight fit in my traveling cases and hamper access to rear connectors on my Advanced Mini-Dock.

$36 each with free shipping vs $159 ea at the regular Lenovo Store.

I wonder how Lenovo can sell them so cheap and still make a profit?

Anyway, no complaints here folks.

I would absolutely, positively, return that 2nd battery while the opportunity still exists to do so (if it does). A 12 month old battery with 8 cycles on it, with an unknown history (storage, usage, etc.) is very unlikely to please you a few months down the road, and I don't know how Lenovo will treat you then when you try to return it.

In my opinion only, it is bad business on the part of Lenovo to sell directly a product like that to any consumer for any price. If they want to try to get some money out of it, they should sell it to the sort of business that has a sales table at computer shows, and that sells used merchandise in an "as-is" condition.

sscalf wrote:I decided to just go ahead and order one from the outlet. I had not received any offers on a battery. I use my laptop for taking notes in class and I need to be able to go more than one class on battery power. I hope that it all comes out with lenovo. I ordered saturday night. I still have not received a confirmation email. I hope that is not a sign of impending doom... I will update after I receive the battery.


Thanks

Sam

I have two slim X61s batteries that I received from the Lenovo outlet at a cheap price ($39 delivered). Both of those were satisfactory in physical appearance and had 1 or no cycles and were only 3 or 4 months old. This contrasts with the 17 month old used "extended" X6x series battery they also sent me, which I returned.

See what they send you, and don't be shy about calling them up on the phone if you are not happy, and asking them to return it (at their expense). I think you will find that they will be accommodating (assuming they actually ship you anything) in taking it back, if you are dissatisfied.

Ken Fox wrote:
I would absolutely, positively, return that 2nd battery while the opportunity still exists to do so (if it does). A 12 month old battery with 8 cycles on it, with an unknown history (storage, usage, etc.) is very unlikely to please you a few months down the road, and I don't know how Lenovo will treat you then when you try to return it.

In my opinion only, it is bad business on the part of Lenovo to sell directly a product like that to any consumer for any price. If they want to try to get some money out of it, they should sell it to the sort of business that has a sales table at computer shows, and that sells used merchandise in an "as-is" condition.

Ken,

Do those computer shows still exist? I'd religiously scrounge around the ones that came through my area in the mid-to-late nineties. I've not seen an ad for such a show in several years. I never bought anything from those fly-by-night operations, but it was fun to waste an afternoon among various and sundry hardware.

Cheers,
~tdr.

sscalf wrote:I decided to just go ahead and order one from the outlet. I had not received any offers on a battery. I use my laptop for taking notes in class and I need to be able to go more than one class on battery power. I hope that it all comes out with lenovo. I ordered saturday night. I still have not received a confirmation email. I hope that is not a sign of impending doom... I will update after I receive the battery.


Thanks

Sam

Ken Fox wrote:I have two slim X61s batteries that I received from the Lenovo outlet at a cheap price ($39 delivered). Both of those were satisfactory in physical appearance and had 1 or no cycles and were only 3 or 4 months old. This contrasts with the 17 month old used "extended" X6x series battery they also sent me, which I returned.

See what they send you, and don't be shy about calling them up on the phone if you are not happy, and asking them to return it (at their expense). I think you will find that they will be accommodating (assuming they actually ship you anything) in taking it back, if you are dissatisfied.

Ken,

I've an outlet experience for you (and the other forum members). Earlier on this page, I mentioned ordering a scratch-and-dent X60 tablet sleeve from the Lenovo Outlet for ~$20.00. Having had nothing but good experiences with the outlet heretofore, I figured I'd place an order and give this product a try if my X60T returns from Lenovo offices in Morrisville--it's there for repair of the bezel that separated from the SXGA+ LCD. Days have passed since the order; before this evening, there was no communication whatever about the order. Just now, I've received seven e-mails--yes, seven--from the Outlet about this order, and it also mentions a trackpoint cover assortment (QTY: 0) for $5.99, and that's calculated into my order total. What's more, one of the e-mail messages contains a UPS tracking number that shows delivery to Newport News, VA today (I'm not in Newport News), so I've no idea what's going on, and I'm sure the outlet won't know either. Not only is my order somewhere along the continuum of Lenovo limbo, but extra items were added to the order total and the contents of that order (or someone else's, or mine and someone else's), were delivered to someone else. I'll take a risk and call and see what happens, but I'm not expecting anything other than a bunch of excuses and nonsense. I'll probably be better served by calling Citi and disputing the charge(s) from this order attempt.

Chalk up another one for the outlet.

Ken Fox wrote:I would absolutely, positively, return that 2nd battery while the opportunity still exists to do so (if it does). A 12 month old battery with 8 cycles on it, with an unknown history (storage, usage, etc.) is very unlikely to please you a few months down the road, and I don't know how Lenovo will treat you then when you try to return it.

Ken .... thanks for all the info.

Regarding that second battery, I only needed a 6-Cell battery in any condition to replace my larger 9-Cell unit that came with my T61p which stays docked 100% of the time. The larger size of the 9-Cell battery made access to the Advanced Mini-Dock's rear connectors somewhat difficult. I'm using that 12 month old Lenovo Outlet 6-Cell battery right now ..... it still charges to the original Watt-hr design capacity. I performed one reset so it now has 9 cycles and I then drained it to 50% and set my power manager charging thresholds to keep it between 45% and 49%. It's simply not worth my time or effort to pull it out, pack it up, and send it back to the Outlet (considering the intended light-duty service and its very small $36 price tag). Heck, I'd probably use more than that in aviation or boat fuel to get it back to my nearest town for pickup because there is no real UPS/FedEx Service yet in my neck of the woods and we only get into town once every few weeks (or maybe sooner, if we're expecting a delivery from UPS, etc). I really doubt I'll need to physically touch that battery again for at least a couple of years.

FWIW, I've been mindlessly doing regular Power Manager battery resets as recommended by IBM/Lenovo every few months without incident on every one of the 7 or 8 ThinkPads I've owned since 1992 ... except for one. The one ThinkPad that I did not perform any resets, I let sit on the shelf for a year at a time and it was the only one who's battery's maximum charge degraded to less than 50% of its original capacity after about 3 years. All my other units still achieved at least charging to 80% of their original battery capacity (even after 4 or 5 years). My guess is the the resets every couple of months may have had something to do with it.

So I'm pretty well sold on the benefits (versus the risks) of regular IBM/Lenovo battery resets at this point in life (but who knows, next month a reset could finally go bad on me and my mind could be easily changed about this issue).

eecon wrote:
Regarding that second battery, I only needed a 6-Cell battery in any condition to replace my larger 9-Cell unit that came with my T61p which stays docked 100% of the time. The larger size of the 9-Cell battery made access to the Advanced Mini-Dock's rear connectors somewhat difficult. I'm using that 12 month old Lenovo Outlet 6-Cell battery right now ..... it still charges to the original Watt-hr design capacity. . . . .. I really doubt I'll need to physically touch that battery again for at least a couple of years.

FWIW, I've been mindlessly doing regular Power Manager battery resets as recommended by IBM/Lenovo every few months without incident on every one of the 7 or 8 ThinkPads I've owned since 1992 ... except for one. The one ThinkPad that I did not perform any resets, I let sit on the shelf for a year at a time and it was the only one who's battery's maximum charge degraded to less than 50% of its original capacity after about 3 years. All my other units still achieved at least charging to 80% of their original battery capacity (even after 4 or 5 years). My guess is the the resets every couple of months may have had something to do with it.

So I'm pretty well sold on the benefits (versus the risks) of regular IBM/Lenovo battery resets at this point in life (but who knows, next month a reset could finally go bad on me and my mind could be easily changed about this issue).

My "desktop" is actually a T60 on an advanced dock with a Radeon 1300 series PCIE card in it. With the advanced dock, the 9 cell battery's overhang doesn't block anything, and in fact I put the 9 cell from another T60 onto that machine (which I 'm using now). For thirty something dollars, you really don't have a hell of a lot to lose either way with the battery they sent you.

I've never done regular reconditionings of my Lenovo batteries so I can't comment on that. What I can comment on is that IF the Lenovo power manager software PROMPTS you to "recondition" your battery, it is probably way beyond the point that anything other than a requiem mass can help

ken
p.s. there are basically two things that can go wrong with Lenovo batteries, from my own experience. #1 is the usual degradation of the lithium cells. There are services (batteryrefill.com as an example) that will change out the lithium cells in your battery, for a fee, which may or may not be worth doing. #2 is that the electronics can go wonky on you, which can prevent the battery from functioning at all. This has happened to me a couple of times and those batteries are goners, plain and simple.

Ken Fox wrote:My "desktop" is actually a T60 on an advanced dock with a Radeon 1300 series PCIE card in it. With the advanced dock, the 9 cell battery's overhang doesn't block anything, and in fact I put the 9 cell from another T60 onto that machine (which I 'm using now). For thirty something dollars, you really don't have a hell of a lot to lose either way with the battery they sent you.

I'm using the lesser Advanced Mini-docks with external monitors and the the 9-Cell overhang on my T61 and T61p makes all 9 of my input/output cables difficult to access because I can't see the ports (the overhang blocks my view) and the docks are tucked away at the far back corners of my desk. The newly inserted 6-Cell is pure heaven because I can see the ports and save about 10 seconds stooping over when occasionally trying to plug something in (thus my lower back is much happier now).

Ken Fox wrote:I've never done regular reconditionings of my Lenovo batteries so I can't comment on that. What I can comment on is that IF the Lenovo power manager software PROMPTS you to "recondition" your battery, it is probably way beyond the point that anything other than a requiem mass can help

I've never let things go that far .... I've gone two months at most and never saw a prompt. In fact, the one that sat on a shelf for a year at a time also never gave me a prompt even though I had specified the settings to prompt me. Maybe that part of the PM Software is buggy and never gives a prompt?

Ken Fox wrote:p.s. there are basically two things that can go wrong with Lenovo batteries, from my own experience. #1 is the usual degradation of the lithium cells. There are services (batteryrefill.com as an example) that will change out the lithium cells in your battery, for a fee, which may or may not be worth doing. #2 is that the electronics can go wonky on you, which can prevent the battery from functioning at all. This has happened to me a couple of times and those batteries are goners, plain and simple.

A former colleague once tried those services 18 month ago for nearly $90 and was not satisfied with the results. I offered yesterday to buy him an Outlet battery for less than half what he spent (I sold him that laptop that had sat on a shelf for a year at a time) but his drunken son dropped the machine into the ocean last year while sailing into Cancun for Spring Break. I'm not sure which was more stupid .... Taking a laptop with him on vacation, or getting so drunk that he dropped it overboard