Boston Power Sonata batteries for ThinkPads

[tamasrepus]

I'm sure you guys have heard of Boston Power's Sonata Batteries. It's a next-gen LiON cell technology with: (1) higher power concentration → more battery life for future devices, (2) fast charging, supposedly 80% capacity within 30 minutes, and (3) less degradation during the battery's lifespans (i.e. that 4400 mAh battery may actually still provide 4400 mAh 2-3 yrs down the road).

They've been vaporware devices since 2006, but they appear to finally becoming available now. There's a third-party battery manufacturer, Dr. Battery, that is selling ThinkPad batteries with Sonata cells. They have the same mAh as Lenovo OEM batteries (so no longer battery life), but they still have ther other next-gen characteristics I mentioned above. While they don't have a battery for my X61 Tablet, they do for my older T42p, as well as a lot of other, older ThinkPad models (T*, R*, etc).

Some of you guys with these models probably would be very interested, especially with the latest Lenovo battery recall (which screwed me personally). While my next laptop will still probably be a ThinkPad, I don't want to fork over cash for a OEM Lenovo battery ever again.

Dr. Battery appears to be an OEM themselves—they don't sell directly to customers. I'm waiting on a reply about who sells these things in the USA.

[Harryc]

This site looks like a retailer for those batteries -
http://www.laptopcharge.com/Default.aspx

[GomJabbar]

Timely information for me. Thanks, guys!

Just ordered one Dr. Battery from Harryc's link for my T42. My existing battery is a bit long-in-the-tooth with less than 1/2 its original capacity. Price with shipping (UPS ground) $78.33. 3-year warranty.

[Harryc]

Good deal...I'll do the same if they ever come up with an X60s 8 cell Dr.Battery. That's the only battery I need at the moment. You really can't beat a 3 year battery warranty at that price.

[tamasrepus]

Just got a reply from them—yep, their online store is laptopcharge.com.

Please let us know how the new battery is! I'm going to pick one up as well as soon as they have something for the X61 tablet (I don't use my T42p enough to justify a new battery).

[killer]

It sounds interesting. The site you quote is North America only (USA & Canada). Anyone know if these batteries are sold in Europe?

[tamasrepus]

It sounds interesting. The site you quote is North America only (USA & Canada). Anyone know if these batteries are sold in Europe?

drbattery.com has a contact form. I'd ask who their resellers are in Europe. When you find out, please add to this thread?

[killer]

OK, it wasn't a busy day so I sent them a note. Their reply was, "We currently do not ship outside of the US or Canada, but we are working on implementing international shipping. Please check back with us in a couple of weeks."

That's about it.

[GomJabbar]

I ordered the battery Monday, shipped UPS ground, and received it Friday. Not too bad.

The battery according to the Battery MaxiMiser Gauge in Win XP is rated at 48.84 Wh. The status shows it with a Full Charge Capacity of 52.54 Wh with a Remaining Capacity of 52.54 Wh. On the box it says 10.8V/4400mAh. My original battery had about 15 Wh remaining capacity. I can say it definitely holds a charge several times longer than the battery I was using (of course).

It states on the box the following:

Warranty
- 3-year Limited Product Warranty
- Dr. Battery's products are designed to
meet or exceed the OEM specifications
for capacity, voltage, and cell life.

Long Lasting Battery Life
- Provides like-new performance for over 3 years.
- With at least THREE times more service life,
ONE Green Series battery can last as long as
THREE conventional batteries.

Environmentally Sustainable
The first and only rechargeable lithium-ion battery
that is accredited by both the Nordic Ecolabel and
China Environmental United Certification Center
organizations.

Also, the Boston Power name and logo is on the box.

[tilneford]

To GomJabbar:

When you ordered the battery, was it advertised as a "Green Series" battery? In looking at the sight, I see some batteries are listed as "Green" and others are not. I do not know if the Green label really makes a difference nor do I know if the website is consistent in placing the "Green" label on Boston Power batteries.

On Laptopcharge website, the battery I want for an x60s is not labeled as "Green", while the battery is listed on the DrBattery website and seems to be the newer technology. Do you know if DrBattery lists batteries which are not the newer technology?

[GomJabbar]

I believe all the "Green" batteries are the Dr. Battery/Boston Power/Sonata batteries. You should be able to tell from the warranty. If it has a 3-year warranty and is listed as "Green", you should be good to go. This is just my opinion though. I did not even know about these batteries until I read this thread, and I have never previously done business with http://www.laptopcharge.com/Default.aspx

[tamasrepus]

Last I checked (which was just a few minutes ago), there aren't any Boston Sonata cell-powered batteries for the X60 or most newer ThinkPads. The batteries you're seeing are conventional ones (same as you'd get from Lenovo), NOT Sonata-powered ones.

I'm not an expert with ThinkPad battery design, but several models' batteries have differently-shaped Li-Ion cells within the same battery. The X61t does definitely; it has both cylindrical cells (used in the "handle"-part of the battery) and flat “button”/”pad”-shaped cells (used in the square-shaped part of the battery that fits into the interior of the laptop).

AFAIK the Boston Sonata cells are only available as cylindrical cells. The ThinkPad T42p, for which a Sonata-powered battery is available from drbattery.com, uses only cylindrical batteries as well as all the "green" batteries they offer. Again, this is completely my conjecture, so I may be totally wrong.

So, we're out of luck. Also to note, some of the newer, thinner ThinkPad models (such as the X300 series) use Li-Ion polymer batteries (same as in Apple laptops), which aren't cells at all. Folks with those models are permanently out of luck unless Lenovo offers something new (unlikely).

[jeffcrilly]

anyone know if the 6600mah version will work with the dock?

http://www.laptopcharge.com/category/no ... b042x.aspx

it looks to be the same as the 9 cell version but whats this bit about laptop sitting at an angle?

thx

[GomJabbar]

Seems pretty clear to me...

The battery will protrude out the (bottom/side) of the laptop and will cause your laptop to sit at an angle. You may not be able to connect to a docking station with the extended battery.

I can say that the housing of the 6-cell Dr. Battery battery I received is slightly different than the original ThinkPad battery on my T42. Doesn't bother me any though. I don't use a dock either.

You can mouse over the image to see the differences on the 6-cell Dr. Battery for the T42 (it says this battery is also not compatible with a docking station). The 9-cell image in your link does not provide as much detail.
http://www.laptopcharge.com/category/no ... 42-gs.aspx

[jeffcrilly]

Hmm.. I use a dock alot. One at home, one at work. The only time I use the T42 not docked is where there's no place to plugin.

It does appear that battery is "thicker" and hence will not work with the dock - thinkpad has to sit flat on the dock.

I suppose I could keep the ultrabay battery plugged in, and then pop out the main battery when docking.. but that sorta defeats the purpose of the dock, e.g. at work that is how I charge (and get connected to the net, etc)

hmm..

[SaberX]

So just wondering how do you guys rate this green battery VS the IBM one's? This is after a little use.The ones with 3 year warrenty.
My buddy needs a 6 cell battery for his T60P.

[GomJabbar]

I am hardly ever on battery, but the displayed capacity is higher than the rated capacity. I haven't used the battery from full charge to low charge yet.

[spronkey]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but would those guys with Dr Battery replacements care to comment on their performance many months down track?

[GomJabbar]

Mine is still working great. No complaints.

[GomJabbar]

Mine is still working great. No complaints.

Time to complain!

My battery died suddenly just over a month ago. While the company I bought the battery from is located in Washington state, the return department is located in British Columbia, Canada. Took about a week to get a RMA authorization so that I could return the battery for testing and a warranty exchange. About a month after that, I received an email that they determined my battery was defective, but the replacement "Green Series" battery is currently out of stock and the next shipment "will take at least 2 months to arrive in our warehouse."

They offered to replace my Green Series battery with a standard non-Green Series battery and extend the warranty to match the original, but "I want my Maypo"! It was a great battery while it lasted. At least I have an old battery that does work, although it doesn't hold a charge more than a half hour or so when using it.

[tamasrepus]

Hrm, bah humbug.

On the bright side: it's cheaper than anything from Lenovo, and head over heals better than random eBay batteries?

[GomJabbar]

This is plain ridiculous!

I sent my battery in December 6th, 2010. Received a reply January 6th, 2011 that the Green Series battery was not is stock and would not be available for "at least 2 months". It has been over 6 months since I sent my battery in, and over 5 months since I was informed that it would not be available for "at least 2 months". Just called today. They are still telling me 1 to 2 months before it is available!

I do not recommend ordering batteries from: http://www.laptopcharge.com/

In the interest of full disclosure, they did offer [today] to send me a loaner battery in the meantime. Since I do have an old battery with 30% capacity, I declined their offer.

[RealBlackStuff]

Looks like the T40 series Green batteries has vanished in thin air...

[jdrou]

Going to the DrBattery site directly it appears they currently only have batteries for 2007-2009 Thinkpads (maybe also 2010 if they use the same packs as 2009). i.e. T60-T500 (and no X-series).

[vtohthree]

My battery died suddenly just over a month ago. While the company I bought the battery from is located in Washington state, the return department is located in British Columbia, Canada. Took about a week to get a RMA authorization so that I could return the battery for testing and a warranty exchange. About a month after that, I received an email that they determined my battery was defective, but the replacement "Green Series" battery is currently out of stock and the next shipment "will take at least 2 months to arrive in our warehouse."

They offered to replace my Green Series battery with a standard non-Green Series battery and extend the warranty to match the original, but "I want my Maypo"! It was a great battery while it lasted. At least I have an old battery that does work, although it doesn't hold a charge more than a half hour or so when using it.

Interesting...I had a non-OEM battery suddenly die on me as well. I remember a while back there was all this rage about how Windows 7 was reportedly killing laptop batteries to a point where they no longer hold charge nor could be charged. There was an alarmingly amount of cases, yet from what I gathered no conclusion could be found(wasn't sure if it was how windows 7 handled anything differently or what..not to mention I didn't find any proof that it was that).

Any how, I've been looking for a replacement and was looking for a Boston Power Green series...however like you posted, they're not in stock and it perpetually seems to say 1-2months for shipment. I was hoping Boston Power would be a suitable replacement but we'll see...

[GomJabbar]

It's been so long I even forgot about it.
Been using my new X220 these days.

Just called them again today. The woman in the RMA department is going to find out if they ever are going to make the green series battery for the T42. I am supposed to get an email with the answer in the next couple of days.

It wasn't Windows 7 that killed my battery. I was installing Linux when this happened. Thought the power adapter was plugged in, but it wasn't plugged in all the way

[vtohthree]

It's been so long I even forgot about it.
Been using my new X220 these days.

Just called them again today. The woman in the RMA department is going to find out if they ever are going to make the green series battery for the T42. I am supposed to get an email with the answer in the next couple of days.

It wasn't Windows 7 that killed my battery. I was installing Linux when this happened. Thought the power adapter was plugged in, but it wasn't plugged in all the way

I just looked on their site and they seem to have replaced all the Sonata cells with "Leyden" cells.

http://www.laptopcharge.com/category/no ... 00-ap.aspx

..and now with 2 year warranties instead of 3, guess they lost their contract with Boston Power, but from the sound of it..they were overrated anyways.

[loyukfai]

Leyden's 18650 high temperature cycling test looks interesting...

http://www.leydenenergy.com/index.php?p ... page=18650

Would be good if it's real.

Cheers.

[vtohthree]

Leyden's 18650 high temperature cycling test looks interesting...

http://www.leydenenergy.com/index.php?p ... page=18650

Would be good if it's real.

Cheers.

They do sound interesting, especially if they can deliver. Only thing I'm wondering is why the specs don't match up on the dr.battery product. 2200mah per cell... and the final 6-cell product is rated at 4400mah... gosh, I'm tempted to just go ahead and order this and give it a try, price is reasonable.